How much would you take?

[Kerry F]

I'm cleaning up a rough draft for a friend who's a great reporter, realtimer.  I have the time and she's paying me to do it because the job was so awful and she's slammed right now.

This witness is one of three maybe that I can remember in my 35 years who talks this fast and slurs and swallows words.  She clocked him at around 300 wpm the whole day.  And it's a video.  I have my audio speed slowed down as slow as it can go to type in the drops.  And they talked on top of each other, which she did warn them throughout the day and they apologized. The witness was educated, pretty good grammar and smart.  But fast!!!!

 

Tell you what, I bet if there was male, long time firm owner there, who was a really good writer, he'd say they witness has to slow down or he's leaving.

 

So unless you're Mark Kislingberry, where does a reporter draw  the line and not report something unless they find some way to make the witness talk slower?  And I bet even Mark K. would have trouble understanding this one.

[Tricia McLaughlin]

My only response is remember it's a ROUGH.  Don't give it to them squeaky clean, as that just reinforces their rotten behavior.

[Kerry F]

I know it's a rough.............but still, we have to make a transcript of it.  I think the most someone could edit on something like this is 10 pages an hour.  What if you had to read back a witness that talked over 300 and slurred his words all day long?  I'm just saying, what would it take for a reporter to walk out of a job as unreportable?

Witnesses talk how they talk and can usually only slow down for a brief period.

[Margaret McVey]

Kerry, what you are describing is abuse, IMHO.  There are standards of behavior in every aspect of life, and I think this witness's behavior was outside the bounds of decent conduct.  Why should the reporter have to rely on audio to make a decent transcript?  This witness is an adult and should realize he has to make himself understood.  He clearly has no respect for the people there and the proceedings.

I agree that men are far less tolerant of this kind of behavior than women, and that may be a big part of  why this happens so often.

[Tricia McLaughlin]

@Kerry, I understand you have to fill in the drops.  But I still wouldn't edit it line by line and give them a "finished product".  I might scan it more than other roughs, but I wouldn't put that much more into it that other roughs......if that makes sense.

 

@Margaret, I totally agree with you.  It is ABUSE to the Nth degree.  BUT the attys should have preserved the record and not continually talking over each other and tell the witness the rules of *civil* procedure.  

 

Just my $.02.......Tricia

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

A reporter today told me she says "garbage in, garbage out, guys."  That is put so perfectly.  I get a lot of speakers at 300.  These inventors on the patents are super, super smart and I think they try to make their mouth keep up with their mind.

 

I was on a job last week, I have done about 10 depos in this patent infringement case.  The reporter in the other room was in so much pain because the inventor talked so fast and it was so sloppy, understandably.  She finally said she would have to have someone else relieve her because she could not keep up and she was in too much pain trying to.  I saw her at lunch.  I gave her two Celebrex pills.  I checked back with her about an hour and a half later and she was feeling much better.  I cannot believe reporters attempt to take these crazy fast, technical witnesses without a pocketful of pain control meds.  They are a life saver, I tell you.  They have gotten me through some super tough days.  I certainly saved the day for this reporter.

[Martha R]

You gals are champs for putting up with this.    The other day I did threaten to leave because of the cross talking.  The attorney wasn't our regular client, so I felt free to do so.  It got his attention but by that time I could hardly write anything because too many brain cells were destroyed in the making of the transcript.    I think we need to tell them and often  about cross talking or talking too fast but if they don't listen, well, what are you going to do?   You have my  sympathies.   Dammit, sometimes this job is intolerable!   

 

If they talk too fast I use every brief in the book and I might have to drop but I mark that I dropped or "check this" so if I have to do a rough draft, I can check the spot.   But if the whole transcript is crappola, watcha gonna do?   Getting someone to scope the rough.  Wow, what a concept.  But it shouldn't come to that.  But I guess we do what we got to do.   Sometimes there is no winning.

[Kerry F]

That's for all the feedback.  The cross talking was nothing compared to the speed and slurring of the witness.

The problem is, to take a stand as the reporter, trying to preserve the record, most attorneys just think you're not competent enough.  They haven't got a clue!  Then they get mad at the reporter and complain or you lose them as a client.  Maybe not, if the attorney is a long-standing client and knows your abilities.  Audio sync has done us no favor over the years in many ways.  I can remember the days when I went home and dictated my notes for a typist.  No audio and hardly ever, if ever, any video depos.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

I surely am not qualified to ask, but can you create a "sur charge" for such reporting - once the depo gets started, and you realize what it is, going off the record and advising the parties that this will be difficult to create a good record, it will require a lot of listening to the audio backup and editing, and a different hourly rate will be required?

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I have a male reporter friend that says, "I am going outside.  When you two can grow up and actually want to make a record, you can come and get me."  He always gets away with putting attorneys in their place.  And, yes, I do feel it is because he is a male. 

 

When attorneys say, "Let's take 30 minutes for lunch," he will say, "I am taking an hour.  I will be back in an hour."  He gets away with it.  If I tried any of the above, I would just look like a crazy lady.  He also has been reporting for 35 years and I think is a tad burned out and really does not care what the attorneys think.

[Kerry F]

Kelli,

 

That's great he can get away with that.  What I want to know is "how" can a woman get away with that or are we left to just suffer through..............

Wouldn't it be nice for reporters to be soooooo in demand by attorneys, that if they didn't make a decent record, we could walk out and they'd beg us to come back and promise to behave!

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I guess we can always "dream."  I do envy what he gets away with.  I wouldn't dare say what he says, but I would love to be able to.

[Tricia McLaughlin]

I haven't checked to see if they are still publishing it, but the NCRA had a pamphlet called "Making The Record".  Perhaps women CRs could do what your friend did, Kelli, and say "read this" before walking out.  That might be a way of really getting their attention.  (But with some of them, NOTHING gets their attention.)

 

I know all too well how those patent witnesses can be, but I still throw it back at the attys.   They should be preserving the record, not making it a flat-out mess.