My first internship was an atypical one, and in fact took place before I even formally registered to begin my internship. A pro bono advocacy group was training lawyers, and they wanted court reporting students to act as reporters for the students. We were there not so much to preserve the record as to enhance the experience for the reporters.
Despite the fact that we did not have the pressure to "get every word," I was still nervous! The nice part was having safety in numbers; there were about a dozen of us students there, ranging in speed from 160 to 225 (I think).
We were divided into groups, with two or three reporters in each group. A higher-speed student was designated as initial reporter in each group, with the option of switching off later on. While some groups were sent to suites, the majority of us went to a large convention room in which several round tables were set up. Each table was a unit, with four students, a mentoring attorney, and a group of reporters. The students took turns playing deponent and attorney, in 30-minute blocks.
We began with -- what else? -- swearing in the witness. After having, since first hearing about swearing vs. affirming, wondered about the best way to bring up the subject, I finally came up with an approach I liked. I asked the "deponent", "Do you have any religious or moral convictions that would preclude you from swearing on oath before G-d, or would you prefer to make an affirmation?" (Which, now that I look at it, seems like it's not a good "either-or" type of question, but it seemed to make sense at the time!) I was surprised when the "deponent" asked for an affirmation, but I had practiced both swearing and affirming, and was ready to rock-and-roll.
It was so exciting to be taking down dictation! But challenging. Practically from the very first, I had to interrupt the proceedings. I had situated myself across from the speakers, similar to a set-up in class, and I simply could not hear the speakers well enough. While I wasn't far away, the room was terribly noisy. So I asked them to stop for a moment, got up, and sat down right next to the speakers.
There were a lot of challenges involved with the environment. The overall noise in the room was one. Also, the table I was at was located with the kitchen on the other side of the door on one side (*clang* *rattle* *clunk*) and with an open door to the hallway and outside foot traffic.
Another challenging aspect was having the speakers change. Sometimes they were on the "wrong" sides -- that is, the Q was on my right and the A was on my left. It felt silly, but I would get thrown off without even realizing it!
I was also much too shy about speaking up. Part of it was because they were limited in time to make their practice speeches. And part of it was because I was distracted by the environment. And part of it was because I was distracted by the simple novelty of the experience. But it was my responsibility keep the record, and I should have been asking people to speak up, to not talk over each other (which happened very rarely, and so quickly it somehow seemed more bothersome to ask them to repeat), and not to talk while sucking on a lollipop!
I had a wonderful time, though! The time went very quickly, considering how long a class can seem to drag out! It felt entirely different when there was a constant string of new material to work with. And there I was, taking it all down! How wonderful! I left floating on air (and forgetting to ask if signature was waived -- but we always seemed to be interrupting before the "end" of the deposition).
And then came the review of my notes. Yikes! Where was it? Sigh.
Lessons Learned:Speak up.
Make certain that conditions will allow you to make the record you're supposed to.
Find out whether signature is waived.
200 wpm is not enough for the outside world.
Would you like to go to the next internship experience or return to the main page of the Court Reporting Students' Online Support Center?