Sunbelt Blog

Court Reporter Jargon

As with most industries, the court reporting industry has a language all its own. In fact, it even has its own shorthand and input device. One look at any court reporter's shorthand and you'll wonder what it all means. Even the steno machine with its cryptic key combinations looks exotic and mysterious. As you search for a court reporting agency, you'll also likely encounter unfamiliar terms, jargon, and acronyms. What does it all mean? Here's a glimpse.

• ASCII – Pronounced "asskee," this acronym is a computer term standing for American Standard Code for Information Exchange. What does ASCII have to do with the legal profession? Realtime court reporters often save their transcripts in an ASCII text format, making it easier for lawyers to load the transcript onto their computers.

• Caption Page – The caption page is the transcript's front page.

• Litigation support – While numerous items, resources, and tools fall under the broad category of litigation support, a number of service providers specialize in providing comprehensive litigation support services to law firms. Common litigation support services include: court reporting, legal video, document repository, and reprographics.

• O & 1 – This notation means that the client has ordered the original (O) plus one (1) copy of the transcript. Similarly, O & 2 means that the client has ordered an original and 2 copies of the transcript and so on.

• Realtime – Though the term is most often spelled "real time" or hyphenated as "real-time," the court reporting industry uses "realtime" to describe a specific type of court reporting service. With realtime court reporting, the court reporter uses a steno machine attached to a computer equipped with special software. This system can connect to monitors, other computers, or even the Internet to deliver real time feeds of the reporter's transcribed testimony as the testimony occurs. The software translates the stenographer's shorthand into ASCII text, making it possible for lawyers to see, annotate, copy and paste, and otherwise work with the testimony as it occurs.

• Recording and playback – These two terms are related. In digital reporting, the audio portion of the transcript is referred to as the recording or "the record." When an attorney or investigator needs to revisit a portion of the testimony, they'll ask for a "playback."

• Rough transcript – If you've ever typed text in a hurry, you know that proofreading and editing the initial draft is a must. Considering that court reporters enter text at well over 200 words per minute, typos and minor mistakes are inevitable. The first draft of a transcript is known as the rough transcript, or rough ASCII. Rough transcripts are not yet certified by the court reporter as being accurate and complete.

• Setting – The term setting typically refers to scheduling a court reporting event.

• Tag file – A court reporter can enter time-stamped notes during the transcription for a variety of purposes such as aiding in identifying speakers or spelling proper nouns correctly. These notes are stored in an area called the tag file.

From ASCII and O & 1 to scoping, setting, and tag files, court reporters use a lot of unusual terms to describe their work and make their jobs easier.

Did we miss any court reporter terms you've always wondered about? Let us know and we'll be happy to solve the mystery for you. Post your court reporter jargon questions in the comments section below.