HELP with "Confidential" and redacted text

[Erin Murray]

I am working on my first job where they have issued a protective order and that several portions of the transcript (39 portions, to be exact) to be redacted and bound separately. I have figured out how to mark the redacted text and even get it to be blank lines in my ASCII, but each instance that I am redacting and inserting in the confidential transcript, they want a blurb, stating page and line numbers that were redacted, and the blank lines to have ////. The blurb and the ///s need to fill in the exact portions redacted.  For instance, if lines 5-10 were to be redacted:

 4     Q. What is your middle name?

 5     (The following portion of the transcript from page 7, line

 6     5 through page 7, line 10 are confidential)

 7     ///

 8     ///

 9    ///

10   ///

11   Q. When were you born? 

My problem is once I insert the blurb, it moves everything down, included the redacted portion, then it throws off my page and line numbers.

To make matters so more exciting, it is video and I need to remove time stamps on those "redacted" portions.....AND it is a volume 2 and once I get my starting page number, all the page and line numbers will change AGAIN. 

If anyone has any piece of input to offer, I would greatly appreciate it.

P.s. This is the first year out of four that I didn't renew my tec support.... :/

[Laura Renke]

First, the easy part, the timecodes.  Put in Alt N/Omit elements/Timecodes before each redacted section and Alt N/Resume elements timecodes after each redacted section.  Did they seriously request the timecodes be omitted in those portions?  If there's no text, why does it matter?

Regarding excerpting out 39 separate confidential portions of the transcript, I hope you're going to keep track of how much extra time it takes to do this and tack on a PITA charge.  These folks seriously need to just call the entire transcript confidential and parse it out themselves later.  I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this situation.

The only way that comes to mind to put blurbs in where there's existing redacted text would be once you're completely done with the job, all redactions in place, make a COPY of the final transcript ecl file.  Then editing in that copy file, delete the two lines of text so that you can type in a blurb that will take its place.  You'll have to do that 39 times.  Ugh.  Just make sure you save both files and label them clearly so you know which file is which.

Good luck.

[Dana Richardson]

Erin,

I feel for you!  This is a brain puzzle, for sure.  I always encourage the attorneys to mark the whole transcript, and they do their designations later.  My understanding, the Federal Rules in Houston have changed in that regard.  But...sometimes we are still requested to do the old bind-it-separately routine.  One suggestion from your example, if lines 5 through 10 are to be redacted, make your parenthetical on lines 3 and 4.  The parenthetical should be visible in the whole transcript to tell the reader the story.  

I have no other magic Eclipse advice to offer.  When you set new page numbers for your Volume 2, search for the open parens or the word "confidential" and make notes of all those correct page and line numbers.  What a pain.  30-something!!  Eeeuuwww -- sorry.

Dana

[Erin Murray]

Thanks, Ladies, for the input. I will definitely be billing for this time. The timecode request seems a little strange to me too. I like the two files idea and working off that.

Here we go!!! Yuck.

[Susan Gunelson]

Erin, I have had to do this on occasion also.  It really is a PITA!  When I have had to do it has been way after the fact, after they have already received the transcript and fought over it.  The agency that I work for won't bill or pay for the extra time that this takes.  I certainly hope that you end up getting paid to do all of this extra work.