TX COURT REPORTING FIRMS

[JiLL]

Does anyone know of any Court Reporting firms in TX that uses the steno mask?
......Curious to know

[Evelyn Carter]

Supposedly Esquire hires voice writers, but since they have been bought out, who knows.
There are lots of voicewriters in The Valley. sorry, I have no firm names.

[Chris Renegar]

Hey, Jill...

I can speak for my neck of the woods (El Paso) and tell you that there is only one mask writer in the entire city that I know of and she is employed as an official. Unfortunately, there seems to be a real prejudice here against mask writers. I heard a firm owner say one time here locally that he'd NEVER hire one because it would "annoy the attorneys." Anyway, that's the state of things in West Texas for what it's worth. --Chris

[Evelyn Carter]

Wow! How are attorneys here in Texas different from attorneys in Ga, D.C., North Carolina, Arkansas, and Louisiana? The attorneys there could not care less if a voicewriter shows up. Basically they want an accurate on-time transcript. When I was a steno reporter in DC when I went to court about 7 of 10 reporters were voicewriters. I didn't hear any of the attorneys or judges complaining.

As a matter of fact, about 7 years ago, one attorney told me (machine writer at the time) that voicewriting/speech recognition is "the wave of the future". Not my words, but words of an attorney.

I know of two voicewriters here in Houston; one is an official, been there for years. He says the attorneys that come into his courtroom are very pleased with his work, which probably is why he has been there so long. The other voicewriter has a few of her own clients.