What would you do in this situation?

[Lisa Breiter]

Here is the testimony. I don't know why I didn't ask them afterward. It was a long day and I was tired.


Q What's his address in Florida?
A It is 10 Main Street.
MR. SMITH: Why don't we deal with giving you the address privately, can we agree on that? My client's been shot at by somebody. I don't want his address in a public document.
MS. JONES: You mean you just want this off the record, his address?
MR. SMITH: Yeah. Can we strike the part about the address?
MR. JONES: We can strike that and counsel will write it down for me at the deposition today.
MR. SMITH: That's fine.
MS. JONES: I mean, she can just state it off the record. We just won't go on the record.

Would you put the address in the transcript or not? I was doing this realtime so the attorney's got it anyway.

Thanks!
Lisa

[Cathryn Bauer]

Very effective here, certainly.

[Glen Warner]

Cathryn --

Sometimes fear is the best teacher -- though it's not my favorite method to use (I prefer humor with the occasional bad pun) ... but whatever works ...!

--gdw
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"For a Good (steno) Time ...."
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[Cathryn Bauer]

Redacting doesn't come naturally, at least first. But there is precedent. And everybody learned -- online CR life at its best.

And who knew that gdw had such a flair for using graphic examples to make a point >gggg<.

[Lisa Breiter]

Thanks, everyone, for your help! I did end up redacting it per the suggestions. I was also taught to put everything in even if they say "strike that," but I also thought I didn't want to be responsible for having the guy gunned down at his home.

[Cathryn Bauer]

When it's off the record, I simply put the usual parenthetical, (Discussion held off the record.) and go back on the record once it's agreed to by all parties. And substituting one of these phrases would work: (Redacted.) (Redacted per agreement of counsel.) (Redacted per stipulation of counsel.).

This is one of those rare but nonetheless actual situations where "verbatim" becomes a relative term.

Blessings, Cathryn

[Glen Warner]

Bobbie --

Yes, that was a horrible thought -- and precisely why I wrote it. I'd rather give you (and anyone else who might run into a similar situation somewhere down the line) a horrible thought today, than see you living that horrible reality later! :o/

As for the rest of your questions, I'll leave that to someone that can use a less gruesome example to explain things!

--gdw
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"For a Good (steno) Time ...."
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[Cathryn Bauer]

Yes, and it is good that Bobbie is thinking about the integrity of the transcript. But, yes, it is also true that ultimately, you don't know where the transcript will travel.

Another way to do this is to go off record and ask all the attorneys present to stipulate that the redacted info will not be mentioned at any point in the transcript. (When I do something like this, I usually explain, "And the reason I put you all through this little exercise is that I don't want you wondering what else I might have left out of the transcript.)

[Glen Warner]

Bobbie --

What you say makes sense ... BUT sometimes, these transcripts end up online, whether you want them to or not ...! Since that is the case, I think it's best to redact the address (during a break, or whenever). Could you imagine seeing this witness' picture on the news, with the blurb "Gunned Down on Doorstep" ... then finding that your transcript ended up online somewhere?

I would think a wrongful death suit wouldn't be too far behind in that scenario ... so redacting the address is probably best.

Just a student's $.00002 .....

--gdw
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"For a Good (steno) Time ....."
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[Christie Browner]

In one instance when I was scoping, something similar came up with a Social. The reporter instructed me to have it say XXX-XX-XXXX.

[Cathryn Bauer]

What Veronica said.