What Does a Court Reporter Do?
December 29th, 2018 by admin
A court reporter is an impartial observer for a legal hearing, who transcribes oral statements into a written record of the proceedings in order to provide a permanent document of what was said. This record has a variety of uses, for example, the attorneys may decide whether to proceed to trial or to make (or accept) an offer to settle based on the record of every person who was deposed prior to a court trial.
Where Does a Court Reporter Work?Typically a court reporter is physically present at whatever location the attorney(s) are having their proceeding at. This could range from a conference room at a law firm, to a courtroom, to a stockholder meeting, or more. Los Angeles is currently experiencing a shortage in court reporters, and virtual reporting is becoming more prevalent.
When Do You Want a Court Reporter?Here are just a few examples of situations where you need to have a court reporter present. In many of these cases, you must have a court reporter in order to proceed.
- Deposition - a fact finding procedure that occurs before a case goes to trial. One of the most important processes for most cases.
- Arbitration - an informal trial, instead of a judge there is an arbitrator and the goal is to resolve an issue without the lengthy trial process.
- Mediation - a conflict resolution process that tries to settle the issue without needing to escalate it further. The more contentious the matter, the more likely the parties will want a good record of what was said by each side.
- Hearings - oftentimes more complicated due to potentially multiple speakers talking at the same time. The experience of the individual court reporter plays a greater role here.
- Civil Trials - a courtroom trial where one side is claiming that the other side has failed to adhere to a legal duty owed them. With the shortage, the courts are frequently only providing court reporters for criminal trials.
- Corporate Meetings - certain stockholder meetings may desire a court reporter to be present to ensure an accurate recording.
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Posted in: about, court reporting
