Court Reporting Board of Arizona Proposes to Cut Ethics From Code

[Lisa Migliore Black]

http://blog.courtreportersaz.com/2013/09/16/court-reporting-board-o...

[Lisa Migliore Black]

Illogical, off-topic, and utterly impossible to follow, Lisa.  

[Lisa Migliore Black]

"...since Lisa Migliore Black went ahead and, as she always does, forced herself into the conversation..."

And I'll add that you injected yourself into a thread I started.  

[Martha R]

Lisa, I was thinking the same thing.  Kinda funny from where I am sitting.   *duck*

[Lisa O'Sullivan]

One instance does not equate to multiple instances. So you're comparing apples to oranges.

Hopefully, that logic was easier for you to understand.

Martha, no need to duck from me, since you don't tend to try/support the lording over of others, or "queening" over, as the case may be. 

Have a great day, everyone.

[Lisa O'Sullivan]

Crickets . . .

[Lisa O'Sullivan]

Gotcha, Martha. I'll rewrite to be more clear.

[Bill Parsons]

Hi All,

Does anybody have the right scoop on the Maine legislature's passage of a bill regarding court reporters?

NCRA's website says the following:

Maine Governor signs legislation prohibiting third-party contracting

July 11, 2013

On June 18, 2013, Maine Gov. Paul LePage signed legislation into law that will prohibit some of the ethical considerations related to third-party contracting. The bill, An Act to Ensure Ethical Standards for Court Reporters(L.D. 1469; S.P. 543), had broad bipartisan support as well as the support of groups like the Maine Trial Lawyers Association. The Maine Court Reporters Association (MCRA) led the multi-year grassroots campaign to pass this legislation that ultimately proved successful. The legislation highlights the importance of court reporters' impartiality and the need for maintaining strict ethical standards for court reporters engaged in the legal system.

MCRA representatives utilized their training from NCRA’s 2013 Legislative Boot Camp to help draft oral and written testimony, develop a legislative strategy, and follow-through with legislators and key strategic alliances to ensure that their legislation was able to pass. NCRA was engaged with the leadership of the MCRA as well. NCRA commends the work of the MCRA for its efforts in passing this legislation. For more information, contact NCRA’s Government Relations Department.

However, a portion of the passed bill says the following which would indicate the bill does not apply to court reporter services: 

§772. Relationship to party or proceeding; prohibition 

1. Prohibition. A court reporter or a court reporting services provider may not 

provide court reporting services for a legal proceeding if that court reporter or the court 

reporting services provider: 

A. Has a contractual relationship with a party or an attorney, representative, agent or insurer of a party, other than a contract to provide court reporting, litigation and trial support services;

 

I would read the "other than" provision in Paragraph A to mean the Maine act does not apply to a contract to provide court reporting, litigation and trial support services. 

Can anyone clarify what seems a contradiction that NCRA says the act prohibits third party contracting and the actual bill seems to say it applies to "...other than a contract to provide court reporting, litigation and trial support services”?

I have seen the Maine court reporter act described as a defeat for NCRA in some places and a great victory for NCRA in other places.

Bill

 

 

 

[Lisa Migliore Black]

Bill, it's been a few months since I reviewed the language that passed in Maine, but from memory, while third-party contracting was allowed by the bill, there were some restrictions included in the bill that would allow for more fairness and/or transparency.  It was compromise legislation that passed.  Something is better than nothing, and modifying and perfecting existing language is easier than creating something where nothing exists.  One step in the right direction, just not everything that was initially asked for--but that rarely happens with legislative efforts.  This was a tremendous effort by the Maine bar and the court reporters there.

[Bill Parsons]

Thanks so much, Lisa, for supplying the info so I and possibly others could understand what was going on.

 I sort of thought in my mind that what you posted was the situation.

Best Regards, Bill

[Lisa O'Sullivan]

spin doctor

 noun

: a person (such as a political aide) whose job involves trying to control the way something (such as an important event) is described to the public in order to influence what people think about it

Full Definition of SPIN DOCTOR

:  a person (as a political aide) responsible for ensuring that others interpret an event from a particular point of view

— spin–doctor verb

Examples of SPIN DOCTOR

1. The spin doctors from both sides were already declaring victory for their candidates as soon as the debate ended.

[Lisa O'Sullivan]

Bill, to elaborate, the title of the news piece on NCRA’s website is indeed incorrect. Where it reads: “Maine Governor signs legislation prohibiting third-party contracting,” it should read: “Maine Governor signs legislation prohibiting SOME BEHAVIORS related to third-party contracting.” That fact can be determined by comparing the text of the initial legislation with the text of the amended legislation.

As you point out and Lisa agrees, third-party contracting is actually NOT prohibited as long as it involves contracts “to provide court reporting, litigation and trial support services.” There's no text regarding what's excluded, if anything, from that description.

So the question arises to me too: Why did NCRA post that misleading title on its website? Was it an honest mistake, or was it the work of a spin doctor manipulating the news to garner support for his or her anticontracting agenda? I’d bet on the latter is why I posted as I did.

It would be interesting to know who wrote that news piece.

[Lisa Migliore Black]

I'd love to hear the perspective of the reporters in Maine who were involved in the grassroots effort on this legislation.  Anyone here?