David brought me once again into the depths of D.C. Corporation Counsel -- which actually I'm beginning to enjoy! It has its own grubby charm, it's true. Today's job, though, didn't even need grubby charm to make it attractive -- it was a juicy sexual harassment case. Unfortunately, it was a continuation of a previous deposition, so it tended to be heavy on elliptical references and light on storyline. Still, it was tantalizing!
Sadly, David had to leave at the noon break, because he was feeling ill. His agency sent over another reporter -- this time an electronic reporter named Gwen. She was very nice, and I got to peek at the notes she was making. I had expected names and/or vocabulary words, such as I write down (when I'm not too far behind); instead they were quite a bit more extensive. The notes really provided a guide to the typist to identify where in the tape they were, by pulling out key words of (it looked like) every question and answer.
During the course of the depo, there was a dispute about the deponent's attorney whispering to her during the course of the testimony. I had actually missed this -- maybe I was writing a vocab note at the time -- and I was amazed as it turned into a certifiable Big Deal, including a call to the court. Of course, in preparing a transcript, it wouldn't have been hard to fit in -- the deposing attorney asked for the record to reflect this consultation. But it just goes to show how good it is to get everything in at the time. What if it came up again, and she said, "Counsel, this is the second time"? It would definitely be better to have every instance in the transcript, and for that it needs to be in your notes.
I have to admit, though (although I shouldn't in public) -- on the main, this was a really nice depo in terms of the testimony. The speed was fairly doable, and I felt like I could hear the parties about as well as I needed (for once <G>). My mom, bless her heart, took the news as evidence that I was getting better each time; I'm not so naive as to assume a direct linear correlation, but it did make me feel like I'd made some progress, and that yes, there is hope!
Lessons Learned:SAOURP makes a nice brief for supervisor.
Keep a head's up on what's going on that's not being said on the record.
Return to the main page of the Court Reporting Students' Online Support Center, or check out some other writings.