OCRA

What's New

What's New Contents

NCRA's Proposed Direct Member Voting Update and Review

NCRA's Constitution and Bylaws Committee is working hard on developing a framework for how online direct member voting could be accomplished. This proposal garnered 87 per cent support from 2,118 voting members in a one-week online survey conducted recently, with only 4.9 percent opposed. Many details have been discussed since the business meeting in 2005 held at Phoenix, Arizona, when the request was made by members to develop more information on this idea.

NCRA's C&B Committee and attendees to NCRA's conventions, Leadership Conferences, and Boot Camps since 2005 have contributed to developing a framework that would be secure and fair in all regards, such as assuring one member/one vote on a third-party website.

Those wishing to receive more detailed information may contact the Chair of NCRA's Constitution and Bylaws Committee, Robert Bramanti, at: rbramanti@comcast.net or by phone: 617 723 8321.

CSR Continuing Education Opportunity

This is a courtesy notice directed to CSRs who have provided us with an e-mail address. If you know of someone else who might be able to take advantage of this excellent opportunity, please pass the information on to that person.

The Senate and House of Representatives Interim Committees on Judiciary will meet jointly on Wednesday, October 25, 2006, in Hearing Room F at the State Capitol. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. and is scheduled to end at 2:15 p.m. It is open to the public.

The meeting will contain informational presentations on drug courts, methamphetamine abuse, mental health courts, DUII diversion courts, and legislative proposals from the Oregon Law Commission. The attached "agenda" file contains the meeting agenda from the House of Representatives. (The two committees are meeting together with the same agenda.)

Due to the nature of the presentations and their direct relationship to the courts and criminal justice system, I have determined that attendance at this informational meeting is appropriate for CSR continuing education credit. If you attend, you can earn 0.4 CEUs (4 hours). In order to qualify for the credit, you must do the following:

Print a copy of the agenda to take with you to the meeting.
Put your name and CSR number on the printed agenda. Please make sure the information is conspicuous and legible.
Attend the entire meeting.
When the meeting is over, ask Patsy Wood (committee coordinator) to sign your agenda. Her signature constitutes your "proof of attendance."
Save the agenda and submit a copy with your next renewal..

Monica Melhorn
Office of the State Court Administrator
503/986-5500

State Court Administrator Announces Online CEs

We received a request from one of your fellow CSRs for preapproval of the following courses for continuing education credit. I have determined that each qualifies for 1.0 CEUs (10 hours) under our program rules. As a courtesy, I am passing this information along to you in case any of you might also be interested in these educational opportunities.

Sponsor: Universal Class
Online Courses: 1) Enhance Your Everyday Vocabulary, 2) Legal Terminology
Website: www.universalclass.com

If you take one or both of these courses, you must meet the same documentation requirements as for classes you physically attend. If you take one or both of these courses, when you submit your next renewal, please provide the following documentation:

Printouts from the sponsor's website showing basic course information such as the course title, course description, and number of CEUs offered through the sponsor's program.
Certificate of class participation or attendance (offered by the sponsor).
If not included in the certificate, you must also provide some form of documentation showing when you took the course.

Please be aware that approval of these two courses for credit does not extend to other courses offered by this sponsor. We do not advertise for or promote this or any other sponsor. We cannot vouch for this sponsor or the quality of any of this sponsor's courses. This approval reflects only that these two specific courses meet CSR program requirements for continuing education credit.

For further information about these courses, please go to the sponsor's website.

Monica Melhorn
Office of the State Court Administrator

Reporter as Official Record

Information Compiled Since Fall ’05 Convention

Policies and procedures vary from county to county. Multnomah County Courthouse has developed an official form for use that is available on our website to print in PDF (see Career/Membership page), and the form can also be printed out by the clerk of each courtroom. The clerks are usually very courteous in printing this form out if you ask.

While no other forms or procedures in the State court system are known of at this time, if you are retained to provide official services that require the court reporter to be the official record instead of FTR, Multnomah’s Official form and procedures may be useful to adapt for your particular county.

It is suggested that you arrive for your proceeding with form in hand. Some attorneys will show up with their copy already filled out and you will not need your pre-filled out form. Other attorneys may not know anything about the form or the procedure and you may have to explain the form in detail. Basically, you fill out the "caption" portion of the form, sign it with your phone number, date it, and then ask both parties to also sign and date in the appropriate place. Check the appropriate box where indicated, such as "the reporter" is the official record.

You can also ask the clerk to put your name and phone number on the "log". The Judge signs the form, and the form, as well as the log designation, becomes a part of the permanent file for the case. Having your name and phone number on the log will ensure that you get the call when and if the proceedings are ordered by anyone other than the party who hired you. Some clerks will make a copy for your records if asked. If you are reporting a trial and the FTR is being run you may also ask the clerk to insert your name in the witness and exhibit log that is used during trials.

Only one judge in Multnomah Courthouse requires a 24-hour notice if you are going to report a matter in his courtroom, and that is Judge Wittmayer, the judge who developed the form with the assistance of court reporter Karen Sailey. In developing the form the thinking was to encourage some uniformity amongst freelance reporters who were going to appear frequently to report hearings and/or trials.

Of course, it is always courteous and appropriate to call the Court’s JA the day before the hearing just to give staff a heads up. (See the State Bar directory for phone number of judge. This number will connect you with the Court’s JA.) Also, this is the most expedient method to assure that the hearing is still scheduled and not set over for one reason or another. The hiring attorney may or may not alert you to any such changes in a timely manner.

Most of the judges are very happy to see a "live" body. Some judges run their FTR for their own benefit even when the reporter is the "official record" (you may opt to use your audio sync as well). If the FTR is utilized even though you are the official record, you may insert the words "for Court’s eyes only" on the from in the box that says "the Court will run the FTR".

Most of the judges announce on the record at the commencement of the proceedings that the parties have agreed to the court reporter being the "official" record.

Commonly, it is the responsibility of the attorneys involved to request permission from the judge prior to the day of the proceedings, often in writing at the time of scheduling the hearing. At present the judge still maintains control over this issue, though in practice if the party wants an official court reporter it would be a rare occurrence if such a right were not allowed. Assuring permission in advance will save miscommunication and possible loss of work. When called for the job, ask the hiring attorney if he/she has obtained that approval; it may have been overlooked.

Contributing Authors:

Katie Bradford
Debra Cheyne
Karen Sailey
Joyce Zaro

Interpreter Oath

"Interpreter Oath: I, __________, swear under oath (or affirm) to make a true and impartial interpretation of the proceedings in an understandable manner using my best skills and judgment in accordance with the standards and ethics of the interpreter profession."

{Suggested oath based on 1993 Oregon law: Oregon Revised Statutes 45.275 (8) (b). Suggested oath for court reporters when swearing an interpreter, by Constance Crooker, author of the book The Art of Legal Interpretation, A guide for Court Interpreters.

Another suggestion:

"Do you swear or affirm the interpretations you will make in this case will be true, full, and accurate?"

Information Exchange

The Information Exchange at the fall convention produced a number of excellent questions and discussion. Here is a summary of that information:

Are there any rules about the number of characters per line/page on transcripts?

There are no rules specifically for Oregon for depositions, but there are guidelines for appeal transcripts. Download the Transcript Procedures Manual from the Oregon Judicial Department website www.ojd.state.or.us for specifics regarding appeals. The NCRA general guidelines are listed below:

NCRA TRANSCRIPT FORMAT GUIDELINES

No fewer than 25 typed lines on standard 8-1/2 x 11 paper.
No fewer than nine or 10 characters to the typed inch.
Left-hand margin to be set at no more than 1-3/4 inches.
Right-hand margin to be set at no more than 3/8 inch.
Each question and answer to begin on a separate line.
Each question and answer to begin no more than five spaces from the left-hand margin with no more than five spaces from the Q and A to the text.
Carry-over Q & A lines to begin at the left-hand margin.
Colloquy material to begin no more than 15 spaces from the left-hand margin, with carryover colloquy to the left-hand margin.
Quoted material to begin no more than 15 spaces from the left- hand margin, with carry-over lines to begin no more than 10 spaces from the left-hand margin.
Parentheticals and exhibit markings to begin no more than 15 spaces from the left-hand margin, with carry-over lines to begin no more than 15 spaces from the left-hand margin. (In these states or jurisdictions with transcript format guidelines recommended or established by court or other applicable rule, such guidelines shall be observed.)

Are we required to sign transcript copies and disks or just the original?

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT!
FRCP RULE 30(E) CHANGED IN 1994

Yes, 1994. Nothing can shake up a court reporter’s day more than an innocent, well-meaning passage printed on our own OCRA’s website, where the following question was posed:

Is there a rule that transcripts must be signed in front of a notary for a Read and Sign?

And the response:

For state court (Oregon) the witness may sign under penalty of perjury. For Federal court it is not required that the transcript be signed before a notary.

In state court the reporter is not required to ask if the witness will Read and Sign; the attorney needs to request it. For federal cases the witness must waive on the record his/her right to read and sign; so it is important to remember to ask if the attorney forgets to mention it. The attorney is responsible for providing a transcript to be read and signed.

The part of the answer pertaining to state court seemed correct, however, the response regarding federal cases did raise some questions in my mind. Not wanting to be too quick to doubt the accuracy of the above statements, I decided a little investigation was in order.

Some background:

The original Rules of Civil Procedure for the Federal District Courts were adopted by order of the Supreme Court on Dec. 20, 1937, transmitted to Congress by the Attorney General on Jan. 3, 1938, and became effective on Sept. 16, 1938. Although Federal Rules have been revised periodically since 1938, the amendments effective December 1, 1993, marked a substantial change in Rule 30(e).

(1938) Rule 30(e) Submission to witness; changes; signing

When the testimony is fully transcribed the deposition shall be submitted to the witness for examination and shall be read to or by him, unless such examination and reading are waived by the witness and by the parties. Any changes in form or substance which the witness desires to make shall be entered upon the deposition by the officer with a statement of the reasons given by the witness for making them. The deposition shall then be signed by the witness, unless the parties by stipulation waive the signing or the witness is ill or cannot be found or refuses to sign. If the deposition is not signed by the witness, the officer shall sign it and state on the record the fact of the waiver or of the illness or absence of the witness or the fact of the refusal to sign together with the reason, if any, given therefore; and the deposition may then be used as fully as though signed, unless on a motion to suppress under Rule 32(d) the Court holds that the reasons given for the refusal to sign require rejection of the deposition in whole or in part.

In 1970 the Advisory Committee recommended, and it was adopted, a provision dictating a 30-day time frame a witness has to sign his deposition.

Then in 1994 the powers that be decided to throw us all for a loop. The following is the 1994 revision, with the Advisory Committee notes following.

FRCP 30(e) Review by Witness; Changes; Signing. (emphasis my own)

If requested by the deponent or a party before the completion of the deposition, the deponent shall have 30 days after being notified by the officer that the transcript or recording is available in which to review the transcript or recording and, if there are changes in form or substance, to sign a statement reciting such changes and the reasons given by the deponent for making them. The officer shall indicate in the certificate prescribed by subdivision (f)(1) whether any review was requested and, if so, shall append any changes made by the deponent during the period allowed.

Advisory Committee Notes:

Various changes are made in this subdivision to reduce problems sometimes encountered when depositions are taken stenographically. Reporters frequently have difficulties obtaining signatures – and the return of depositions – from deponents. Under the revision prefiling review by the deponent is required only if requested before the deposition is completed. If review is requested, the deponent will be allowed 30 days to review the transcript or recording and to indicate any changes in form or substance. Signature of the deponent will be required only if review is requested and changes made.

So the bottom line is NO, we do not have to ask (or tell!) if the witness wants to read and sign in either state or federal cases. And if reading and signing is requested by a party or the witness before the end of the deposition, they have 30 days to take care of it.

This continues to be one of those bugaboos in our office -- and apparently statewide. Each time the question comes up, I research it again just to make sure I've got it straight. So save this article -- it will save you endless hours of research trying to find "the answer."