New Reporter question for all my Court Reporter virtual mentors out there :D

[Jena Macato]

I have a scenario and I'm a little stumped. I know you guys will come through and help me out.

Question: What do you do if the attorney actually skips over an exhibit that he's marking? He was going along saying "I'll mark this as Exhibit blah blah" and we were suppose to be on 3, but then he says "I'll mark next Exhibit 5" -- What? And the thing is he didn't give them to me to mark until after the depo was over, and he had his stickies marking all the exhibits he marked and in his stickie he actually does have an exhibit 4.

Am I reading too much into this. Should I just forget about it? If he didn't actually mark it out loud during the depo, do I just leave it out of the transcript? Oh, BTW, he does actually refer to a document and I know that document is Exhibit 4, but he just never marks it out loud. Is that too confusing?

[Cathryn Bauer]

It is really great to see a new reporter being so conscientious and detail-oriented. Warning: I think you might get some different answers on this one.

I keep an eye on when the exhibit is marked and write a note to myself that it's marked regardless of whether or not it's said on the record. And then, yes, I do put the parenthetical that the exhibit was marked. If he didn't "mark it out loud," it was still marked. A sticker was put on it; therefore, it's marked.

Lots of reporters won't let attorneys put the stickers on, but I think it saves time and keeps the train of thought going if I don't have to take my hands off the machine to do it.

[Jena Macato]

Yeah, well this attorney was flying, so I had no time to do anything. I couldn't even itch my nose :D, he was talking so fast.

But the attorney just put post-its as he was going along, and then at the end had me replace his post-its w/ my exhibit stickers. If that changes anything, but I don't think it does. I just wasn't sure if I could still put my "parenthetical blurb in the body of the transcript" if he didn't actually say it? It jus looked weird to me. But I saw him write it on his stickie. Like I said, he talked so fast he even lost his train of thought. haha

Thanks Cathryn for responding, and Happy Valentine's Day!

[Phil Stillerman]

Jena
You can only report/write what they say. You can't interpret what they mean. You can't get into their minds to find out what they mean. I report on the theory "you say it, I write it". I wouldn't worry about it. But, that's me.

[Kyung]

Sometimes if you get there early and you're waiting around, I ask the attorney if there are any exhibits he wants marked. Sometimes they want to mark the depo notice and few other exhibits. Then we go on the record and all of a sudden they're referring to Exhibit 1 or Exhibit 3. Are those exhibits not marked? Of course not.

In fact, you usually put those blurbs at the beginning before the sworn-in blurb; right? At least I do.

So just bec. he doesn't say Document so and so is marked as Exhibit 4 doesn't necessarily mean he didn't mark it. Especially if he put a sticker on it and then referred to it.

Much crazier when they decide to mark two different exhibits w/the same number. Now, that's fun.

[Jena Macato]

It was a 2-day depo, so the next day when I got there the attorney was early and he was sprawling out all these documents on the table and putting post-its on them. I watched him for a while and when it looked like he was done, I asked him if he wanted me to put my exhibit stickers on now and have them all pre-marked so it will save us time at the end of the day. He said no. He did not want me to put my exhibit stickers on them yet?? Go figure. I guess, he just wanted to be difficult.

Thank you all for responding! I appreciate it. You guys are my virtual court reporter mentors. I don't know what I'd do without you guys. This site is awesome, Monti!!

[Kyung]

Sometimes an attorney is not sure in which order he's going to introduce something, so he doesn't want the final exhibit sticker on there bec. he may decide to introduce something earlier or "out of order."

[Cathryn Bauer]

When they want to use the same number, suggest they make it 2A and 2B. Happens. Sometimes the exhibits are similar, or one's a part of the other, or some such. Ours not to reason why/Ours but to do or die.