#35 - Reporting with Passion and Integrity

0:02 Welcome to The Report Reportor podcast. Hi. My name is Bren Reynolds Seymour. I'm a certified life coach, former freelance court reporter and currently working in the court system. For years, I lived in constant overwhelmed, drowning in page his deadlines and self doubt, feeling like I'm not even qualified to be doing the important work I'm doing. If you've ever felt like this, you're not alone and it doesn't have to be this way. In each episode, I'll dive deep into the challenges we face in our daily lives and share practical coaching tools and solutions to help you reclaim your peace of mind and become the most confident person in portfolio. I have a lot of updates to share. I'm so excited and thankful, but just basically overnight, I was promoted to supreme court senior court reporter, and I couldn't be happier.

0:48 I'm so excited I had the goal of working in Supreme Court. I think I posted on the court reporter podcast, Facebook group I had posted in the beginning of the year, my goals for this year And one of them was to eventually work in supreme court, but I did not expect it to happen so quickly. It was just kind of a goal that was in the back of my mind that was like, okay, I'm gonna take steps to figure out how I can work my way up from Family Court to Supreme Court, but it just happened. I really think that writing down our goals and sharing them with other people putting them out into the universe really has power and sometimes we underestimate the power of just simply writing down our goals and getting them out there, sharing them with the world because somewhere behind the scenes, something's working, and your goal may be accomplished without you even realizing it, without you even putting the effort in.

1:32 But just because you put it out there into the world, something is happening in the spiritual world and, you know, it may be accomplished. So just something to keep in mind if anyone maybe still hasn't written down their New Year's goals or maybe isn't a fan of writing down goals. Just I just wanted to share that because I thought that was really amazing and really awesome and that inspired me. And actually, side note, we have two new years. According to the sacred calendar, the calendar that was used thousands and thousands of years ago. We well, we go by the solar calendar, but according to the sacred calendar, actually, March tenth is the first day of the year according to the sacred ancient calendar that was used thousands of years ago.

2:13 So If you're a little bit behind on your New Year's goals, no worries. There's another New Year's, so happy New Year. And okay. So let's get into the topic for today. So today's topic is about speaking up for the record. So it was kind of ironic after I recorded episode thirty four, which was are we on the record? I think it was episode thirty four. Please forgive me if I'm wrong, but it was entitled, are we on the record? And that was about having the confidence to decide to just speak off and ask questions on the spot when things are unclear, which saves us a lot of mental anxiety stress and work that has to be done on the back end. You know, we got to take care of ourselves. Right? I came across a discussion on Facebook about this very topic. Well, not this very topic but something very similar.

2:55 Someone asked a question about if the witness is nodding and shaking their head, and giving all these kinds of nonverbal responses. And then the attorney is not really enforcing the rules of speaking verbally. And some people were arguing in the responses on this Facebook question. Some people said they put parentheticals such as nodding up and down or shaking their head from side to side. Or just nodding or just shaking head. Others argued that it is that's too descriptive and that it's not our job to decide whether that head movement was actually nodding or shaking their head And therefore, you should just put nonverbal response or just indicating in parentheses. There are other instances where witnesses say things like mhmm, uh-huh, and other nonverbal responses.

3:39 And oftentimes, we as the court reporter is, like myself, We would just write that down because people do this all the time, so we obviously have these kind of responses defined in our dictionaries. And if I'm not enforcing that they give verbal answers and the attorney is not enforcing it, then I just write those down. And overall, most court reporters seem from the responses and from this discussion. Most court reporters seem to kind of opt out of enforcing the rules of a deposition, which are basically that the witness must answer out loud and must answer verbally. And that instruction is supposed to be given to them at the beginning of every deposition or at some point before the deposition, the attorney is supposed to prepare them for the sake of an accurate and complete record.

4:23 Now in some states and in some court reporting programs, they actually train the court reporters to enforce these rules and have some kind of introductory statement or like a read on at the beginning to just remind them of the importance of speaking up, speaking clearly, giving verbal answers, and not talking at the same time. I think that's amazing. I think we should always do that. Whether your state trains you to do it or not, I've worked in states that do do that. Like in Maine, we do have a read on and it's very official and it explains who I am, what my purpose is, what happens if this happens, and it's very organized and very official and I think it makes the proceedings so much smoother and it just makes me feel like I have the authority to be there and to say something and to interject and to take control for the sake of the record.

5:20 Now if we think about ourselves in the moment that someone gives a nonverbal response or someone doesn't answer the question and we have to go through that process in our minds of making a decision, what am I gonna push? Should I put indicating? Should I put nodding heads? Should I put shaking? Depending on what they're doing? Of course, we have to make the decision. Should I do some kind of a parenthetical? Or should I ask this person to please give a verbal response. Please follow the rules of the deposition so that we can get a clear and accurate record, or should I just not even put anything at all. Right? So these these things are we have to make these decisions. Actually, we, as court reporter, we have to make a lot of decisions. We're not just typing, but we're constantly making decisions, which the more decisions we make on a regular basis, the more our brains get drained unknowingly the stress and the overwhelm starts to build up.

6:11 We can only handle certain amount of decisions before we get burned out and overwhelmed. So most court reporters opt out of enforcing the rules of a deposition, and this could be for a variety of reasons. Number one, they were taught by other court reporters who do it one way. That the right way to do it is to just simply take down whatever is set and not worry about the rest. Whatever they speak is what's going down and that's it. Number two, they feel uncomfortable. It's really uncomfortable to put yourself in the middle of the center of attention and speak up. Some court reporters on this discussion, they even said that they tried speaking up one time to ask for a verbal response, and an attorney actually accused that person of trying to coach the witness. And ever since then, she decided to just keep her mouth shut and not say anything ever again.

6:54 So for twenty years, She never enforced or asked the witness to answer verbally because that one attorney got upset and accused her of trying to coach the witness. Number three, they intend to speak up, but the attorney moves on too quickly and that split second that they had to act to make a decision has already passed. And it's too late to make a decision now. They're already on to the next question. So might as well just keep going. Okay. Which, again, hold these decisions or lack of making decisions or the need to make a decision and then not making it, the stress will add up. So it's in poor in, I believe, to train ourselves, to just make the decision ahead of time of what we're gonna do in these situations and be confident in our task at hand.

7:38 We're given a very important task and we should focus on the end result, which is producing a clean, clear readable, and accurate record of the proceedings. Which is otherwise known as the official transcript as we know. So the official transcript, it's a crucial piece of evidence in the judicial process and is basically the a reason for even holding a deposition. So if we take a minute to step back and look at the bigger picture and focus on the task given to us and the result that we want to achieve, we can feel more confident in our duties and in our decision to interrupt and, like, that decision won't come from this, like, timid energy, this fearful energy but it will come from a grounded energy of confidence and integrity as we know that we have a mission.

8:18 We are entrusted by the justice system to accomplish this mission and, you know, a few bad apples like attorneys who are immature enough to say that we're coaching the witness. Which is basically like bullying us, we should not be deterred by such remarks and such ridiculous comments from accomplishing our mission in the justice system and being confident and grounded in what we are there for. I don't think we should put the entire burden on the attorneys of creating an accurate record. But I think that working together as a team supporting them because think about it. If you were an attorney, let's put ourselves in their shoes for a second. If you're an attorney, and you're questioning the witness. And that witness keeps saying mhmm.

9:00 Uh-huh. Or nodding or shaking their head or just like not really responding verbally. Not following the rules, how would you feel? Would you want to constantly be reminding them when it's already uncomfortable for that attorney and for that witness? Right? That attorney's trying not to make the witness feel uncomfortable because they know that this witness has already been trained and already been told by his attorney that this other attorney is not his friend. This other attorney is trying to trap him. He's trying to this is probably what's going through their mind right now that their this attorney is their enemy. Right? So if you are an attorney and you're in a tense situation. You want the witness to feel somewhat comfortable because you don't want it to be a completely awkward situation the entire time.

9:41 But the witness isn't cooperating. Maybe because he forgot he or she forgot what the rules were. Right? The witness may not be cooperating and the attorney may feel uncomfortable. And they may not want to be constantly asking the witness to repeat themselves or to answer verbally, they may not wanna feel like they're bad during the witness. Right? Oftentimes I hear the attorneys say to the witness, kind of like defending themselves for why they're asking certain things or why they're giving certain instructions because that for that very reason, they don't want to create even more tension and more awkwardness. So if we put ourselves in their shoes and understand it's not that easy for them to constantly do that, then wouldn't it be helpful for us to do it a little bit?

10:25 Like, like, let's help but brother out. Help assist her out. Right? Like, help them out. We're a team. We're not, like, against them. We're not trying to we're all here for the same purpose. To create an official transcript to get the record accurately. We are not biased. We don't care what the answer is. We just want there to be an answer so that the record can be complete. So we don't know what the reason is when an attorney doesn't do what we think is their job. Like, Right? A lot of court reporters are putting the burden of enforcing the rules of a deposition or, like, one of the comments that came up a lot was the attorneys make the record, but we take the record down. So basically putting the entire burden of making an accurate record on the hernies and saying, too bad, whatever you do is that's whatever you say is what you get.

11:15 Rather than working together understanding that we're a team and that we're all here the same purpose. It's not the burden and I believe that the burden shouldn't only be on them, but it should be equally on us as well as guardians of the record. If that's really what we are, then we should also help to make sure that the record is complete and that the record is accurate because how would you feel if you were an attorney and you received the transcript and you didn't even realize that there were so many nonverbal responses, so many blank answers, so many things that aren't clear every attorney that I've ever talked to and I've talked to a bunch. They've all said that they appreciate a court reporter who has that confidence to speak up for the record to enforce the rules.

11:56 Of course, there will be some that don't like it. But in general, when we look at the bigger picture, when we put our task and our mission and our purpose above our own feelings and above what we think but just focus on accomplishing our task and with integrity doing our job, doing our mission to the fullest extent of our ability then won't we become more confident court recorders? Won't we it's like, I see many okay. I'll compare our role to the role of a court officer. I like to observe the way that court officers work. The role of a court officer is basically from my perspective, of course, this I'm not like googling this or looking up an official definition of the role of a court officer.

12:38 But from my understanding, what I can observe from what they're doing is that they're there to protect ultimately their mission is to protect the court. Right? They're they're they're guarding the judge. When the judge needs to walk out in public, there always has to be court officers with them. They basically enforce the rules and try to make the courtroom flow smoothly, and they uphold the rules of spec for the court. So for example, if someone's wearing a hat, they'll tell that person make sure you take your hat off. Or if someone's chewing gum, they'll tell them you you should spit out, like, you know, get get rid of the gum. Or if someone doesn't stand up to address the court, they'll remind them to stand up. Even attorneys when they're walking to go to like a sidebar conversation, I've seen some court officers where they enforce, like, don't you're not supposed to walk this way, like, please step this way, like, even though they're attorneys.

13:28 Right? So they're they're basically there to enforce the rules of the courtroom so that the judge is protected, the court is protected, and the highest level of respect is maintained in the courtroom. Towards the court. So we have a similar role. Our role is instead of protecting the court because that's what the court office are doing, but we're there to protect the record. Our mission, our duty, is to get an accurate record down. So if we're afraid to clarify, afraid to speak up, afraid to do our job, then it kinda just like reminds me of the court officers who okay. For example, if they say, please raise your right hand to be sworn in, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth in all matters for the court?

14:09 Yes, I do. But then the next question, if someone's appearing virtually, they say, do you swear or affirm that these proceedings are not being recorded or broadcast in any manner? And then sometimes the person says no, and sometimes court officers will just breeze past that as if they said yes, because the real answer that they're looking for is yes, I swear or affirm that these are not being recorded or broadcasted. But if they said no, technically, that means that they could be recording or broadcasting it. And then that's on the court. That's our fault. Right? If if they are or broadcasting and they can't really get in trouble because they didn't swear or affirm that they're not. So some court officers, like, I noticed this.

14:49 Like, this is just one example. Amongst the many ways that they enforce and uphold justice in their positions. But some officers will stop and make sure that they clarify and that they do swear a firm that they're not recording or broadcasting. Others will just breezed by it as if it never happened and therefore it might be compromising the entire process. So I notice these things and I also feel like if I notice these things, I have a responsibility to speak of and to say something. So when it comes to my job of creating an accurate record, protecting the record, guarding the record, and the record. Right? We're there to get the record. Then I want to be the type of court reporter that is like those court offices that will go above and beyond to enforce respect in the courtroom.

15:36 There's one court officer who always catches those things. Like, if someone appears, I I'm telling you, nowadays with this virtual courtroom, this hybrid stuff, I'm telling you people up here. At least in Family Court, I'm not not sure about supreme court. Now, I mean, today was my first day, so I can't speak on that. But people don't really treat the court as they should nowadays with with it being virtual, you'll see people appear from their cars, from the bus, from wherever they are walking outside, sometimes they're not even fully clothed, sometimes they are in their bed, like, not fully respecting it. So some court officers will literally ask them, like, just the other day. Someone said that they didn't have a shirt on.

16:17 Of course, thankfully, they were not showing that, but they were showing only their face and and the judge asked the person to please lower your camera so we can see your face. And then she said, oh, it's just that I'm not wearing a shirt. So the court officer stopped the proceeding, and she said, could you please it's very important that you do wear clothes you're in court, even though they're physically not in court, but that court officer was like you can tell from her heart, she really believes it's important to respect the court. So even though that's not in her job description, like you need to enforce that people are wearing clothes. Obviously, that's not gonna be in the job description because that's not something that we would think would ever be a problem.

16:58 But if you see something, say something. Right? So she just takes takes the initiative whenever she sees something that doesn't respect the court in any way, she will say something. And I love that about her. So it got me thinking like, what kind of court reporter, do I wanna be towards my role and towards the record? Like, she's acting like this towards the the court to maintain integrity, to uphold justice, what about me towards the record? So it's just something to think about. And I wanted to share all those things. And now, so until next time, I will see you on Tuesday. Okay. I'm sorry. Okay.

17:40 So in conclusion, I believe that we should establish some kind of baseline guidelines or rules that we can either announce. If you're comfortable with it, I this is what I'm gonna work on. I wanna be comfortable enough to announce the rules. Okay. If I were freelancing, I would do this. But in court, it's a little bit different. But but, like, to bring a placard that has a list of the rules so that you can always refer back to this and say here are the rules, you know, you're breaking the rules. Like, in a nice way, because they're they're listed right here. So making it easy easy for everyone. Like, one of those placards that you can just kinda stand up right in the middle of the table. I think that's so professional. And I'm still working on coming up with, like, a plan. I I have to share more about what I did when I first started working in court.

18:24 I actually created something like this and I didn't end up fully following through with my plan to use it. Because in court, you know, it's a little bit different, but I'm still learning and still adapting and getting the hang of it. But basically, my point is for especially for freelance deposition reporters. Also even in court, we should establish at least in our own minds we know, okay, these are the rules that I'm gonna enforce and when these rules are broken, This is what I'm gonna do. This is how I'm gonna enforce it. I don't care if someone doesn't like it because this is my job. This is my role. I want to uphold I wanna do my job with integrity and with passion. I want to express myself in some way, like even you know, if we just are robotic to take down whatever is said without having any kind of passion or understanding of the bigger picture to accomplish our task and our mission, this great important mission that we have, I don't know, I feel like it's just not as satisfying.

19:19 It feels good to have a purpose and to uphold that purpose with integrity. So I hope this has given a little bit of inspiration and food for thought. I I would love to hear your comments and to hear how you guys are putting this into practice. You can leave a response on court reporter podcast dot com. There's an option on the bottom right hand corner where you can and record a message and share your story, share anything you want about how you feel about this. If you have a different opinion, I would love to hear it. If you agree with it or if you've experienced something crazy or something similar whatever is on your heart, I would love to hear it. Or you can also write in going to the contact form on court reporter podcast dot com.

20:01 Alright. Until next time. Bye.