Let's Help Each Other!!

[Sue Baker]

Sorry, I'm going to have to rant about my pet peeve. If you are part of a reporting TEAM working a multi-day job, why do other members of the TEAM not communicate with the next person coming on, at least a note about what attorney is present or maybe a topic area? Let alone a few spellings? I have encountered this too many times to count and it aggravates me no end. When I start off a multi-day job, I leave a seating chart, appearances, spellings and instruction from attorneys about how they want things. Or I call or email the next reporter. It really doesn't take much time and it makes us look more professional and on top of things. Are reporters just typically not team players? I mean, even if you don't personally know the next reporter, why can't you just help them out and make their day a little bit easier?

There, I'm done.

[Joy Hemphill]

Hi, Ms. Sue... again. I have also been frustrated by this practice or "lack or practice." I, as a rule, ask the reporting firm for an E*Tran of a prior depo to get such information (mainly when I am writing realtime), but it is tedious and time-consuming to cull out words from an all-word index, although it generally does get the job done. Then I decided that I had to be the motivator in this arena: I, without being asked or consulting anyone, will turn in a copy of my job dictionary entries to the reporting firm at the same time that I turn in the job. At first I felt like I was making other people's jobs easier when such was not being reciprocated for me, and then I "took a higher road" and decided that maybe the reverse would happen and people would automatically look forward to either working with me or following me. So.... if you follow me, ask the reporting firm if I turned in a job dictionary.
Good query!

[Theresa Coffman]

Wow. I'm amazed. Sue - nice to see you again. You made me feel welcome. I really don't understand how one reporter expects the next to just wing it. It makes us look unprofessional, and I'm sure some attorneys are pertubed at the fact they have to repeat spellings, etc. I can tell you that I require each reporter to provide a spelling list for each case. We keep them online, and each reporter has access to it as well as the attorney orders, who represents who, and any unusual info. It works easily for depos because a reporter can upload it when they're done editing so any reporter working on a case can jump on, download it and be very prepared. We look good when we show up at a depo so prepared. The software we use creates a decent word list with a little tweaking, so while it takes a bit of time, I've never spent more than ten minutes doing it.

For trials, we use what we call a Trial Data Sheet - it's obvious. It tracks who testified on which day, etc., and we already have our depo info if it's a case we've worked on. Each reporter leaves more notes and briefs (I particularly liked TLEK for atalectasis last week) for the next reporter. At the end of the trial, it's all gathered together, scanned, and each reporter can have a pdf version of everything from the trial.

Okay. I'm OCD.

[Sue Baker]

tee hee. Maybe so! You would think we would be considerate of each other, knowing the huge gaps in information we all have to deal with every day, and if one of us has the power to fill in some gaps, wouldn't we?

[Katy Cuellar]

Sue, I have wondered about this myself, especially taking over a jury trial, sometimes there's no information at all, which can be pretty scary. Sometimes at depos when I know it's going to be an ongoing case, I leave a spelling list behind, hand it to one of the attorneys, for the next reporter. Also, if I get a chance, I ask the attorneys for one of the mini transcripts from the last depo, and I can quickly flip through the concordance at the back. Still, I sometimes feel totally blindsided, and I think that the reporter before me must have been a bitter person who wanted me to suffer as she had.

[Charlene Friedman]

oh i totally understand where you are coming from. i always try to work with other reporters that may be taking over the next day. i know myself if i was walking into day two or three of a depo i'd want to know what's going on.

i tend to find in this business a lot of other reporters are NOT team players, that is for sure!!