A TRIBUTE TO ONE OF OUR OWN

The New Hampshire Court Reporters Association held its fall seminar the weekend of October 14-16, 2011.  Its theme was “Heroes Among and Within Us – a 9/11 Tribute.”

When fellow court reporter Julie Brandau was killed in an Atlanta courtroom in 2005, Jan Garnett Lopez, RPR, decided to honor her memory by forming the Julie Brandau Community Service Memorial Project in partnership with the Search Dog Foundation.  The Search Dog Foundation rescues dogs from shelters and trains them to assist in search-and-rescue missions whenever a disaster occurs at home or around the globe. Those in attendance were fortunate enough to watch a live demonstration of these dogs in action by Lt. Chet Clark and his dog, Elvis, from Oklahoma and Lt. Patti Krafft and her dog, Hula, from Dallas.

It costs $10,000 to train a dog to become one of the elite few, from rescue to evaluation to rigorous training and eventually FEMA certification.  NCRA members, through their generous donations, have given over $63,000, enough to sponsor six dogs, in Julie’s memory.  One of the dogs sponsored by NCRA, Pearl, was named ASPCA’s 2010 Dog of the Year.

A new facility is being planned that will house these rescued dogs and give them the medical care and rigorous training they need to prepare them for any circumstance they may encounter in the field.

If you would like to help, or if you would like more information, please  visit www.searchdogfoundation.org.

Other seminar speakers included Danny Deters and his involvement with the New York Says Thank You Foundation; JoAnne Schottler, Care Package Coordinator for Pease Greeters; Meg Heckman, author of We Went to War; Camille Palladino-Duffy, LCR, RPR, who spoke about the history of the American flag; and Bianca Monroe from the American Red Cross who spoke about emergency preparedness.

In Business for Almost 45 Years - How things have changed

"I am amazed at how the field of stenographic court reporting has changed in the 44 years of my firm's existence.  Before the late 1970s, court reporters either typed or dictated from our steno notes.  Now, in the 21st century, we are offering same day transcripts along with a myriad of litigation support products such as condensed transcripts in various formats (ASCII or PDF), electronic files, and scanned exhibits, all of which can be and are sent over the Internet.'

"In addition, we offer videotaped depositions and have equipped our three conference rooms with state-of-the-art video conferencing equipment.'

"Technology has greatly impacted the way our clients do business.  I am proud to say that my office has kept up with each and every iteration, and we are able to provide whatever services our clients need.'

"We are proudly looking forward to celebrating our 45th year as Boston's foremost court reporting agency. "

- Doris O. Wong, RMR, President `

GOOD TIMES AT A GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION SEMINAR

Court reporters are a unique bunch.  Who else would spend six hours on a Saturday learning about using a comma versus a semicolon, a dash or an ellipsis, or whether there are one or two spaces after a period?  And who else but court reporters would actually voice strong opinions either way in heated debate?

About 100 court reporters did just that when the Massachusetts Court Reporters Association held its Fall Punctuation Workshop on October 1, 2011, at the Westford Regency Inn & Conference Center.  Margie Wakeman Wells, punctuation expert and author of  Court Reporting:  Bad Grammar/Good Punctuation, taught all in attendance the basic punctuation rules and how to apply them to the various complicated sentence structures that court reporters come across when transcribing.

Ms. Wells said, “We are in the business of unbelievable precision,” meaning all decisions we make when transcribing must follow specific predetermined rules of punctuation.  A transcript must not only be readable, but it must accurately reflect the intent of the speakers.  Here is just one example of the importance of comma placement:  “I’d like to thank my parents, Anne Smith and God.”

Ms. Wells gave examples of the many times she has had to call news stations, newspapers, or teachers to bring errors to their attention.  She urged all of us to be vigilant in our duties not only as keepers of the record but also in our daily lives as consumers.  We need to safeguard the proper use of the English language.  If not us, then who? 

All those in attendance were lucky enough to receive a copy of her book for future reference.

Keeping up with Technology

Linda Fifield will be heading to Savannah, GA, for The Society for the Technological Advancement of Reporting's annual meeting on October 12, 2011.  Newly nominated for a three-year term on its Board of Directors, Linda has been a proud member of STAR since its inception in 1993.  STAR encourages all court reporter professionals to learn and incorporate the best that technology has to offer for themselves and for the legal community.