Boy, it took ages to get to this internship experience! One thing about court reporting is that you never know what the schedule is going to be like! A trial at the district court was cancelled, another depo was cancelled -- it just seemed like one thing after the other! I finally had a depo today, and then it was cancelled. When the agency owner heard the note of desperation (well, at least disappointment), she said, with her own note of determination, "Hold on, I'll call you back." She made some phone calls, and set me up with a one-two depo combination (two short depos) in Rockville, Maryland (near my beloved metro <G>).
Now, while I negotiated the timing in D.C. quite well, I did not allow as much time as I should have for getting to the suburbs. I did arrive in advance of the first depo, of course, but not by as much as I would have liked.
The reporter was Shirley, a freelance reporter who's been working for about five years. She'd told the service owner she'd be happy to have me sit in with her, because she remembered how much her internship had helped her. She used a Stentura 8000, and brought a small tape recorder.
I found out that depos started off every bit as quickly as hearings do! (Did they start that quickly when I was on the other side of the table, as a paralegal helping the attorneys? <G>). I'd heard that the first five minutes are the hardest, and it was definitely a challenge keeping up with the name/address litany. But what by saying they start off quickly is that there were few preliminaries. The witness was sworn, and whoosh!
The first deponent clipped along at a rapid rate. I was discouraged again, but the reporter told me that she thought he was kind of quick, too. (And I have to admit, I could see that a little bit. At some points, her shoulders tightened, and I recognized a look on her face! <G>)
The second deponent -- gosh, there might be hope yet! He spoke in a deliberate, careful way, and it was so much better! Of course, even he speeded up at one point. (And such a betrayal that was, too! <G>) But I just hung on as best I could, and it settled back down again.
After each depo, Shirley asked the deponent if he could wait just a minute. She did a quick search on her steno machine (Stentura 8000) for her mark stroke, and was able to quickly ask questions regarding the terminology used. I was impressed by how neat this seemed, as opposed to reaching for a laptop and using that to search. But, as we know, you pay for that convenience!
When I looked at my notes from the second depo -- well, I can't say that it was the mock depo experience all over again, but once again, notes that had felt very clean were very spotty. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be in school for at least another term after this one.
Lessons Learned:Don't forget old lessons! I did not prepare charts in advance, and had to scramble for paper to make a note of the marking of an exhibit. I also should have prepared blank notes with the date and witness' name on them for taking general notes.
Some types of sports-drink bottles come with a liner cap underneath the pull cap that needs to be pulled off. (It's hard to maintain the suave writer image when you're sucking on nothing!)
Allow extra travel time.
Be ready to start quickly.
-RM is useful for phrasing with "room" (e.g., LIRM for "living room"), as long as it doesn't conflict with "remember" phrases.
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