For Professionals in Electronic / Digital Court Technology in this issue AAERT Board of Directors President's Message Electronic Reporting -- Judge James Ardaiz Recently Certified Members Boats, Whales, and E-Reporting 2004 Directory Additions Ulyn Sawyer Transcriber of the Year Joe Schafer Reporter of the Year Convention Recap Time Management New Benefit for AAERT CER/Ts Membership Application Left to right, back row: Treasurer William Wagner (Washington); President Janet Harris (Wisconsin); Kimberly McCright-Young (Arizona); Luis Gomez (Florida). Front row: Vice President Gillian Lawrence (Florida); Secretary Sherry Simmons (Delaware). AAERT's 2004-2005 board of directors election occurred June 24th at the Association's annual business meeting in Orlando, Florida. The board then selected its officers for the next year, as noted above. Completing their terms of office were outgoing board members Karen Samcoe, Neal Gross, and Sue Miller. We all very much appreciate their important services to E-Reporting. Neal Gross will continue to serve as Government Relations / PAC chair. CERTIFICATION COMMITTEE Jim Bowen (New Jersey), outgoing Certification Committee chair, was given special thanks at the Assocation banquet June 26th. Jim began as chair in 1996 when AAERT's certification test program was first inaugurated, and his continued leadership has contributed greatly to its success. The new chair of the Certification Committee is Steve Simon (Florida). AAERT's 2004 - 2005 Board of Directors 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 10 11 13 15 16 Volume 9, Issue 3
Transcript
For Professionals in Electronic / Digital Court Technology
in this issue
AAERT Board of Directors
President's Message
Electronic Reporting -- Judge James Ardaiz
Recently Certified Members
Boats, Whales, and E-Reporting
2004 Directory Additions
Ulyn Sawyer Transcriber of the Year
Joe Schafer Reporter of the Year
Convention Recap
Time Management
New Benefit for AAERT CER/Ts
Membership Application
Left to right, back row: Treasurer William Wagner (Washington); President JanetHarris (Wisconsin); Kimberly McCright-Young (Arizona); Luis Gomez (Florida).Front row: Vice President Gillian Lawrence (Florida); Secretary Sherry Simmons(Delaware).
AAERT's 2004-2005 board of directors election occurred June 24that the Association's annual business meeting in Orlando, Florida.The board then selected its officers for the next year, as noted above.
Completing their terms of office were outgoing board membersKaren Samcoe, Neal Gross, and Sue Miller. We all very muchappreciate their important services to E-Reporting. Neal Gross willcontinue to serve as Government Relations / PAC chair.
CERTIFICATION COMMITTEE
Jim Bowen (New Jersey), outgoing Certification Committee chair,was given special thanks at the Assocation banquet June 26th. Jimbegan as chair in 1996 when AAERT's certification test program wasfirst inaugurated, and his continued leadership has contributedgreatly to its success. The new chair of the Certification Committeeis Steve Simon (Florida).
AAERT's 2004 - 2005 Board of Directors
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Volume 9, Issue 3
2 AAERT The Court Reporter
Once again, AAERT’s convention attendees left reenergized and excitedabout our future. New alliances and
friendships were created, this time spanningacross the globe. An international paneldiscussion at our annual conference showed thateven using the same tools different ways, we canaccomplish the same goal -- producing averbatim Record. Australia, Canada, and theUnited States, all using the same recordingsoftware/hardware, are successfully producing court records. HongKong’s bilingual courts produce bilingual transcripts. Digital reportingpreserves the native language and protects litigants frommisinterpretations. Digital recordings are used in Canada alone or forbackup to traditional methods of capturing the record. In Australia,digital reporting is the norm. The difference is that the United States iscaught up in a struggle with one association which wants to control itall, using only one tool, one instrument.
I, like many, was not surprised that NCRA, the stenographic reportersassociation, voted down an amendment to extend membership tovoicewriters. In my opinion, this was simply an effort to invite newplayers to join the band, but never let them on stage.
One thing I’ve learned in business over the last 15 years is, there willalways be obstacles, challenges, and naysayers to our profession aselectronic/digital reporters. Equipment is equipment, still isequipment. The skilled operation of the equipment is the role of theReporter. I am not a steno machine, I am not a stenomask, nor amI a recording device. Whatever comes next, I will not be merely thetool of my trade, I will remain a live reporter. (And let me tell you,a darn good one, at that!)
AAERT’s focus this next year is to obtain funding to create trainingmodules for digital reporting users, so everyone is in the band, so tospeak. Our international allies will be sharing information with us andAAERT will share our certification process with them. Theorchestration of our efforts no doubt will draw a much larger audiencethan those soloists still singing the same old song. We welcome allreporters, regardless of method, who are in some way usingelectronic/digital recordings to assist in producing a verbatim Record.And we welcome any individual who needs information or advicewithin our industry.
AAERT PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Poor Johnny One-NoteBOARD OF DIRECTORS
President Janet B. Harris (Wisconsin)Vice President Gillian Lawrence (Florida)Secretary Sherry Simmons (Delaware)Treasurer William E. Wagner (Washington)Directors Luis Gomez (Florida) Kimberly McCright-Young
(Arizona)
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
Certification Steve Simon (Florida)Convention Sherry Simmons (Delaware) Gillian Lawrence (Florida)Government Relations Neal R. Gross (Washington, DC)Newsletter Gillian Lawrence (Florida)Website Karl Fuss (Washington)
Correspondence: 23812 Rock Circle Bothell, WA 98021-8573 www.aaert.org
Janet B. Harris
AAERT The Court Reporter 3
James Ardaiz is the presiding justice of the Fifth DistrictCourt of Appeal in Fresno, California. He chairs theJudicial Council’s Reporting of the Record Task Force.
Confronted with a reduced budget and recognition of emergent technology, the
judiciary has proposed implementation ofdiscretionary use of digital electronic recording incourtrooms in California. These courtrooms wouldpreferably be in low transcript volume courts suchas family, probate, law and motion and limitedjurisdiction proceedings.
Frequently referred to by opponents as tapesystems, these are instead highly sophisticateddigital recording devices. California is one of the
very few jurisdictions that preclude discretionaryelectronic recording by statute. Even federal courtspermit it.
What is proposed is the availability of digitalrecordings that can be converted to certifiedtranscripts as needed by the user. Most evaluationsof a court proceeding require a transcript in order toaccurately evaluate what occurred. A digitalrecording allows users to evaluate what transpiredand make a decision whether a transcript isnecessary or desirable.
Opponents claim it will increase costs of transcriptsand lower accuracy. There is no question that costand accuracy are issues that must be considered.What is at issue for the judiciary is the ability tocontrol cost and implement modern technology.What is not in issue is the judiciary’s insistence thatcosts are contained and accuracy is preserved.
First, current digital systems can be installed at aone-time cost not exceeding $15,000 per courtroom.These systems will allow recordings that can be soldto the parties for minimal cost and high userflexibility. Highly accurate transcripts can be easilyprepared in fairly short time periods. Immediateavailability to users, electronic transmission,minimization of copy costs all become a reality.
Why digital recording? The answer is costs andshortage of personnel. Courts are facing a shortageof court reporters that court reporter organizationsacknowledge is a national problem. Lack ofreporters inhibits flexible court operations andrequires expensive per diem reporters.
Second, a highly trained certified court reportercosts a statewide average of $89,000 a year forsalary and benefits. Reporters must be in courtseven when the actual demand for transcripts is low.Putting reporters in courts with low transcript
Electronic Reportingby James Ardaiz
(Printed with permission, California Bar Journal)
(Continued next page)
demand makes little economic sense. Most familylaw judges would agree, for example, that very fewfamily law cases require transcription.
The justification for electronic recording is simple:significantly reduced recordation costs; enhancedcourt flexibility in dealing with reporter shortages;enhanced ability to control costs; increasedaccessibility of the record; and less expense forlitigants.
Opponents argue that these systems will not savemoney because monitors must be hired to ensurethe machine is working. It is correct that thesystems need someone to monitor that they areworking, but dedicated monitors in addition totraditional court personnel have not provennecessary in most cases.
Opponents argue transcript accuracy will suffer.Unbiased studies show that the accuracy level is ashigh or higher than certified reporters. A recordingcan be checked for errors and resolves differences ofopinion.
Any lawyer who has spent time settling the record ina case can appreciate this issue. Logic dictates that arecording only enhances accuracy. That is why somany reporters currently record testimonysimultaneously with stenographic recordation inorder to confirm their accuracy.
Finally, technology has simply changed the waybusiness has been done in the past. Moderntechnology allows accurate recordation, ease of useand efficient operation and cost. That is not to saythat court reporters should not be used in certaintypes of courts. Court reporters provide speed oftranscription and real time reporting that is notavailable with current technology. However, notevery courtroom requires real time technology andimmediate conversion of stenography to transcript.
The proposal by the judiciary seeks to addresscurrent practices and costs that are no longer
Electronic Reporting (Continued from page 3)
4 AAERT The Court Reporter
technologically justifiable. The judiciary’s proposalseeks to preserve the jobs of our current courtreporter employees and maximize their flexibility.
At issue is whether current technology justifies costsbased on the significantly more labor-intensivepractices of the days before personal computers andhigh-speed printers. An example is the charge of $.41for a copy of an original page in addition to theaverage charge of $2.34 for the original page. Shouldthe courts pay $.41 to copy a page given currenttechnology? Much of what is statutorily protected isan historical evolution based on practices of manyyears ago and not the current available process.
Courts cannot avoid seeking changes which willminimize costs to attorneys and the public simplybecause they are politically difficult or a different wayof delivering good service.
Phoenix, March 2004Gainesville and Orlando, FL, June 2004
Washington State is technologically blessed asthe home of Microsoft -- and arguments
before the state Supreme Court are even televisedlive. That being said, not allits jurisdictions have as yetmoved forward into the digitalage. Nevertheless, anexcellent example has beenset, which other courtadministrations will surelyfollow as they observe themany benefits of E-Reportingin the San Juans.
--Karl Fuss, CERT (Washington)
San Juan County, Washington, is a collection of
172 islands in Puget Sound just north of Seattle,best known for its fishing fleets and pods of orcawhales.
But surprisingly for such a fragmentedcounty, it boasts a state-of-the-art digitalaudio/video system in its Superior Court.
Deputy Clerk Jack Casey described theirJAVS installation as “easy to use andunderstand. I have never had aninstance where the record wasinaudible” (as quoted in Courts Today,spring 2004; bolding supplied).
Superior Court Clerk Mary Jean Cahailexpects the system’s video component,when fully implemented, will permit“distance arraignment” in criminal cases, atsignificant savings when compared to thecosts associated with ferrying suspects tothe county seat, Friday Harbor, from themainland jail. This will also providedefinite security advantages.
BOATS, WHALES, AND E-REPORTING
AAERT The Court Reporter 5
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AAERT The Court Reporter 7
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Ulyn Sawyer, Digital Court Reporter with the Ninth Judicial Circuit (Florida), received AAERT’sTranscriber of the Year Award at our 11th Annual Conference in Orlando. She has been a member since
1999.
Born in Trinidad, Ulyn was always near the top of her classes in school on the island. Her godfather wasparticularly influential in her education — quite literally carrying her to college entrance examinations aftershe had broken her leg just before the tests. She attended Point Fortin College in Trinidad. Ulyn had plannedto follow her sister’s example and enter nursing, but opportunities in the field were limited, so after college shebegan working for the government of Trinidad and Tobago. She learned the Pittman shorthand method, andsoon was secretary to the Borough of Point Fortin. Ulyn says her interest in transcribing began then, as shewould take shorthand notes attown meetings and thentranscribe them.
She came to the U.S. in the1980s, working for DuquesneLight in Pittsburgh. Here shewas introduced to computersand word processing, and met acivil rights lawyer, C. VernonMason, who offered her aposition with his law firm inNew York City. EventuallyUlyn transferred to the PortAuthority. In 1990 shedecided to move to Orlando,and began working for theDepartment of Corrections as aword processing systemsoperator.
One day she noticed an ad forelectronic court reporter with theNinth Judicial Circuit. It said, “Willtrain,” so she applied for the job and was hired. She credits Annette Florin, now electronic court reportingsupervisor at the Juvenile Center of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, for her reporter training. But of all her manyjob duties, Ulyn enjoys court transcription the most.
Ulyn has always been a very busy woman, raising her children — and yes, also earning certification as anursing assistant. Her husband, Charles, owns a photography studio in Nassau, Bahamas. Ulyn and Charlesgo back and forth between their homes in Nassau and Orlando. She enjoys spending time with her husband,children, and two granddaughters, yet still finds time to travel, even with her busy schedule. When she finallydoes stop to rest, how do you imagine she relaxes? Ulyn loves to crochet!
AAERT The Court Reporter 9
Meet-A-Member: Ulyn Sawyer, 2004's Transcriber of the Year
Janet Harris, AAERT President (left) , and Steve Simon, Certification CommitteeChair, present 2004's Transcriber of the Year Award to Ulyn Sawyer.
-- by Gillian Lawrence
10 AAERT The Court Reporter
Our 11th Annual Convention in Orlando recognized Joe Schafer as 2004's Reporter of the Year. Joe is acharter member of AAERT and has attended nine of our eleven conventions. Celeste, his wife, was at the
banquet to see him receive this award.
He was born in Laredo, Texas, went to junior college in Corpus Christi, and graduated from St. Mary’sUniversity in San Antonio in 1968 with a BA in political science. On the last day of college, he received a draftnotice, and entered officer training school. He served in Vietnam as an artillery officer, spending four years,three days, and fifteen minutes in the military – give or take five minutes.
After ten years with a map company doingeverything but drafting the actual maps,Joe was introduced to the world of courtreporting by his cousin, an attorney. Joeformed Litigation Services of South Texas,Inc., in 1986 in San Antonio. At one timehe was covering Air Force depositionsacross the U.S. Thinking he might needhelp, Joe engaged another reporter fromOklahoma, but at the last minute foundthis was unnecessary. Upon returning toTexas, he learned that his erstwhileassociate had murdered his own wife,driven to Dallas and left the body there,then fled to the Philippines.
Joe first heard “Your Honor, may Iapproach the witness?” when he wassubpoenaed in the trial of the man chargedwith hiring Charles Harrelson (father ofactor Woody Harrelson) to assassinate a
federal judge. Joe was to authenticate a map to prove that it was not possible to have shot the judge andgotten to the airport in a given time. This was his first time in court, so when he heard an attorney ask, “YourHonor, may I approach the witness?” Joe had no idea what was going to happen to him!
He has reported for over 40 government agencies, covering proceedings in more than 60 cities across ninestates. Although an associate often records hearings for him, Joe usually does all the transcribing himself.He’s been an independent court reporter for 17 years, and can only think of a couple of times when he was allcaught up, with nothing scheduled. He receives most of his business by word-of-mouth referrals.
Joe and Celeste have been married for 34 years. Celeste teaches third grade in a parochial school. They havetwo grown children. Their son works in customer service for EarthLink in San Antonio, and their daughter isan animal trainer at Wild Animal Park (San Diego Zoo). Joe says he works 24/7. But he manages to garden –with a pager on. And he always carries a mystery novel to assignments, prepared for any downtime.
Meet-A-Member: Joe Schafer, 2004's Reporter of the Year
-- by Gillian Lawrence
Joe and Celeste Schafer at the Awards Banquet as his award is announced.
AAERT The Court Reporter 11
2004 Convention June 23 - 27, Orlando, Florida
2004 Conference SponsorsThank you for making this year’s meeting a
High Criteria, Inc.Litigation Services of South Texas, Inc.
Neal R. Gross & Company, Inc.Wagner-Fuss Digital Transcription
The Contemporary Resort at Disney World was adelightful backdrop for our educational and
entertaining conference. People attended from fourcountries and 16 states. Guests included arepresentative from Florida’s Administrative Officeof the Courts and the president-elect of the NationalVerbatim Reporters Association.
OF PARTICULAR NOTE:
BANQUET SPEAKER: Judge Amy Karan helpedimplement electronic court reporting in Miami-Dade County. Her keynote address, with its videointerviews of attorneys and judges discussing theoverwhelming benefits of E-Reporting, was aninformative blend of education and entertainment.(A DVD of Judge Karan’s presentation will beavailable at www.aaert.org/store.htm.)
THE INTERNATIONAL PANEL: Neil Griffin(Victoria, Australia), Andrew Brown (HongKong), Tammy Archer (Ontario, Canada), andKim Allard (Utah) discussed E-Reporting issuesfrom their jurisdictions’ unique perspectives.(Example: in Hong Kong, transcripts are oftenproduced simultaneously in Chinese and English.)
The International Panel: At podium, Janet Harris (Wisconsin); at front table facing audience, left to right:Tammy Archer (Canada), Andrew Brown (Hong Kong), Kim Allard (Utah), and Neil Griffin (Australia).
(Continued next page)
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After this session, at an informal meeting interestedparties continued to explore creating a formalrelationship between AAERT and E-Reportersoutside the United States — the goal: to developallied “sister associations” in Australia, Canada, andAsia.
GRANT PROPOSALS: We met with a consultant todiscuss obtaining grants from governmental sourcesor private foundations for AAERT’s futuredevelopment. We explored what proposal writingentails. If you are interested in helping toprepare a grant proposal or havesuggestions, e-mail the Association [email protected].
Our special thanks to the courtadministration of Oceola County, Florida,for allowing us to visit and tour theirsplendid courthouse facility.
FTR and Mercom/Veri-Scribe each hosted anevening presentation at the conference. Theydemonstrated their court reporting systems,answered questions — all while providing attendeeswith wonderful receptions.Mercom and JAVS, Inc., also maintaineddisplay booths during the conference.
President Janet Harris and Director KimberlyMcCright-Young shared their visions ofeducation, training, and certification for electroniccourt reporters and transcribers. Future emphasiswill, no doubt, center on distance-learning as a wayto overcome geographic dispersal problems, yetstill provide uniform direction within the industry.
Their presentation was followed by Rick Hussey(15th Judicial Circuit, West Palm Beach, Florida)reviewing the experience of his circuit inestablishing E-Reporting as a proven method ofcapturing a truly verifiable courtroom record.
In 2005 we will convene in Washington, D.C.
Osceola County, Florida, courtroom monitoring staff.
There’s something about a nice crunchy pickle, isn’t there? I mean the aroma may make some people
puke, but for me it’s the taste and the juice forcing itselfinto your mouth like a divine cascade of flavor. As awise man once said, “It’s like a taste explosion in yourmouth!”
Well, this article really has nothing to do with pickles,nor does it have anything to do with eating, or wise menat all. In fact, this article has nothing to do withanything tangible, unless you choose to follow along.Though you don’t have to, I would strongly suggest it asyou could have quite the nifty little craft project by theend of this piece!
The Jar
Time Management theories have come andgone. I’ve tried many of these and most havefailed because of the sheer amount of time Ineeded to commit to the theory in orderto save some time. The return just neverseemed to justify the cost, if you knowwhat I mean.
The latest theory of Time ManagementI heard has actually caused me to stopand think about how I run my entire life.This kind of thing doesn’t happen veryoften, and no, I don’t mean thinking, cheekyreaders! The theory that was recently taught in aLeadership course I’m enduring is called the Pickle JarTheory.
The Theory
Imagine if you will an, or for those crafty people amongyou just go get an, empty pickle jar. Big pickle jar, youcould fit at least three of the largest pickles you’ve everimagined inside of it. For those of you who don’t likepickles, I apologize, feel free to substitute the words“pancake jar” for “pickle jar” as needed.
Okay, so you’ve got yourself a pickle jar. Now, put somelarge rocks in it. Put in as many as you possibly can. Letme know when it’s full. Now, I know you think it’s full,
but put a couple more in anyway.
Okay, you’ve got a full pickle jar that you can’t fitanything else into, right? Now, put some pebbles in. Putas many in as you can possibly fit, and raise your handand bark like a pig when you feel your jar is full.
Now, take your full jar and take sand and, you guessedit, fill that jar until you can’t possibly fit anymore in,and then add some water.
I am sure the significance of this little exercise hasn’tescaped any of you. Each of us has many large prioritiesin our life, represented by the large rocks. We also havethings which we enjoy doing, such as the pebbles. We
have other things we have to do, like the sand. Andfinally, we have things that simply clutter up our
lives and get in everywhere: water.
None of these are bad things. After all, we needthe gamut of these objects—from large
priorities to times of rest— in order to feeltruly fulfilled. No Time Managementtheory should be without balance, and thePickle Jar theory is all about balance. Youmake time for everything, and everythingsimply fits well where it is supposed to fit.
Me and My Day
As an example of my pre-pickle day, my little to-do list looked a lot like this:
8:00: check and respond to email 8:30: check various community sites and respondwhere required 9:00: ensure all web properties are runningproperly 9:15: set priorities for the day 9:30: go for a walk, grab some water 10:00: do website maintenance and removeoutdated content 11:00: draft an article 11:30: polish next article to go out 12:00: ensure all things web-related are handled,running well and all questions are answered
(Continued next page)
AAERT The Court Reporter 13
Time Management: the Pickle Jar Theory by Jeremy Wright
Reprinted by permission of author
12:30: lunch 1:30: do programming on latest large project 2:30: write letters to clients to keep them abreastof changes in the last three days to their projects 3:30: check with team on progress, deal with issues 4:30: … etc., etc., etc.
Now, I may have actually accomplished a lot in thistype of day; in fact, I typically did. All my websites wererunning properly, I’d written an article or two, I’d doneactual work, I’d built client relationships, I’d ensuredmy team was working properly, so what could bewrong?
Well, take a look at the first five hours of my day.Between 8am and 1pm, all I manage to actually getdone that couldn’t fit into other times when my mindtends to wander (and I tend to do these things anyway)was a little bit of article writing.
This part of the day was really a supreme waste of time.I often went to lunch feeling like I was convincingmyself that I had been productive. At the end of the dayI always believed that a lot got done, but my lunchtimes always felt slightly depressing.
Beyond that, this schedule did not work if a clientwalked in and needed an exceptional amount of workdone, if a site had crashed overnight, or if I had anemail that required more than five minutes of attention.If anything unexpected happened, which we all knowshould actually be expected, my whole morning andoften my entire day fell apart.
My New, Improved Day
In these post-pickle days, my schedule looks ratherdifferent. I now schedule in times when my rocksshould get done and let my other priorities, theunexpected and little things I do all day, like surf the
web, fill in the gaps. New schedule:
800: figure out rocks for the day (literally, this iswhat it says!) and deal with emergencies 8:30: article writing as appropriate 10:00: programming 1:00: client correspondence
Suddenly I have what feels like a more open day. I havemore time for programming, I get things done earlier, Iam more relaxed, my schedule is more fluid. It allworks incredibly well.
In the post-pickle days I realized that I needed to reallyfigure out what my big rocks were during the day andnot schedule time for anything else in my daily routine.Email is not a rock: I can go a few minutes and, wonderof wonders, even a day or two without touching it.
Email is a lot like the phone in that even though we allhave our phones on just in case an important callhappens, when we look back on our year it is rare thatwe can remember more than one or two occasionswhere we absolutely needed to answer our phone oremail at that precise instant.
The Detractors
There are of course those in the audience who will neverhave practiced Time Management techniques in thepast. They feel they are productive enough and get“enough” done. I’m glad, way to go, give yourselves ahand. Now, grab your jar again. Empty it.
Fill your jar with water until it is completely full. Nowtry to add some sand. What do you mean it didn’t work?
This is the essence of the Pickle (or Pancake) JarTheory. By first ensuring that your large priorities aretackled, scheduled, and done for the day, you can thenlet the smaller but less important things in until youhave somehow allowed time in your day for everythingyou needed to do, while still relaxing and having fun.
The Value of Water
I strongly encourage everyone to use at least one TimeManagement System. It empowers you to actually doinstead of scurrying about without any goals in sight.Whether you choose this particular system or not,remember: eat the pickles before you empty the jar,they are so good!
--- Jeremy Wright is a designer and developer. Notbig on titles, he loves doing anything that will helpfolks out, and has been doing so through articles andtutorials for nearly a decade. He can be contacted atwww.ensight.org.
14 AAERT The Court Reporter
Time Management (Continued from p. 13)
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