Then and Now

[Kyung]

I keep hearing about how slow it is and how bad it's getting out there.

Well, I think back in the 80's the court reporting field went through something similar. I'd love to hear from the reporters who were working back in the 80's and who are still working now. How does this recession compare to back then?

I think one of the problems back then was the contracting, which continues to be a problem these days with these huge firms trying to be all things.

If this recession is nothing like last time or last time was nothing like this time, tell me why. I want to hear your stories and how you survivied, got stronger, became a better reporter.

As they say, if it doesn't kill you, it will only make you stronger.

[Tami]

After about a month or two of trying to make depos work, I started working as a pro tem in a dept. that nobody else wanted. About two more months went by and they handed me the Officialship for that dept. (family law).

Yes, it sucked, but it was great for a newbie. I was fresh out of school, 20 years old, and just happy to be working. There were many years during the 80s that I could not call in sick, period. If one of us did, it was more likely than not that our courtroom had to go dark.

We did have reporters replaced in certain depts with ER equipment decades ago because of the shortage. I really don't think it's a new threat. I always remember it being there. That's why I've never figured out why MANY officials do not perfect their writing skills to provide stellar realtime.

If we're only as good as a machine, we're just asking for ER problems. Without stellar realtime, that's exactly what we are -- only as good as a machine.

I'm now floating in and out of different depts. That's something I've rarely done over the three decades I've been reporting. So I get assigned to a judge that I converted to RT when he was fresh on the bench. I actually reported his first jury trial. Mary Ann might remember the thread I wrote on Depoman about "Pen and Paper." TCRA asked me if they could run the story in their newsletter.

Anyway, it was about this judge who had no interest in RT, and I just let him know I'd set him up and have it running just in case he changed his mind. He made the statement, "I do just fine with pen and paper."

Anyway, I completely converted him. Took him until the second day of trial to start reading from his RT screen back to the attorneys.

So I see that same judge last week. He's now assigned to family law. He asked how I'm doing, who I'm working for, etc.

I say, "I'm working for Commissioner So-and-So today. She's great, but she doesn't use realtime."

It's not even hooked up in her dept., so even though I made my sales pitch, there was little hope I'd get her going.

So "Pen-and-Paper" judge says, "Well, 'Sally' will not give me realtime on family law."

Then he proceeds to tell me how it's not as important to have it in family law versus a criminal dept. (I'm sure Reporter Sally convinced him of that.)

My heart just sank.

Does that reporter not know that when the door gets opened for ER, family law is one of the first places that gets replaced???

I worked family law for two years with a judge that hooked up every day. He'd catch one of the parties saying something different than the last time they were in court, and about a minute later he'd be quoting him what he said at the prior hearing.

When there's a question about a wrong date, a wrong time, who appeared last time -- the list is way too long -- my judge always had the info at his fingertips.

It's not as useful in family law??

It's not as useful on calendars???

I've heard it all.

NCRA had an article in the JCR this past month about Officials not keeping up with technology, i.e., realtime. I think they were pretty much dead on.

Yes, the recession is a bummer, but it isn't our biggest hurdle.

We all need to step up our game.

[anita t. shemin]

I don't remember there being any '80s recession, those were the glory days as far as I am concerned. Times now are completelty different. We are experiencing a double whammy in our field, both the disasterous economy and new technology. In the 80s and well before, there was always talk about replacing reporters with technology, but the technology wasn't there. Courtrooms were filled with live, breathing court reporters. Now, we have most courtrooms retrofitted with ER equipment and new reporters are not being hired and in fact many are simply being replaced. In the 80s, early 90s, I sponsored two Irish women who became court reporters and one of them whom returned to Ireland and no longer has a job there because ALL the courts there have gone to ER. In fact, at a depo recently, I only took one side because there was an agreement that the other side could use ER and they did!! Imagine how I felt being replaced by a recording device managed by an individual who seemed to barely speak the English language!! This could not have happened in the 80s. There is a sea wave of change in the field. When you have a former president of the NCRA tell us that we may have to actually transcribe the tapes that are produced by ER recordings just to stay professionally alive or perhaps travel to distant places to stay afloat finiancially and maintain our skills, I would say that that forebodes a completely uncertain future for our field as we presently know it. In my opinion, we must be the very best that we can be, professional and skilled at the highest levels, but even that will not save the former face of our field. Times have changed ALREADY and there can be little comparison to what was.

[Tricia McLaughlin]

Kyung,

I heard about the '80s recession, but lived through it and never was aware of it. On the East Coast we were making money hand over fist. The beginning of the '90s brought a few droughts here and there, as during other times.

None of them has been as prolonged or severe as this one. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever end. My only hope is in Pres. Obama.

As far as it making you stronger, my only way of getting through it is being resourceful. I send my resume to out-of-state agencies, keep in contact with my clients, etc. On top of that, there is also the skills portion of practicing.

HTH and keep the faith,
Tricia