A somewhat uncommon method of saying years is to omit the zero or zeros. 2’06, 2’17 can sometimes mean 2006, 2017. As with most things, there are multiple ways to handle this. In my view, because dates can very strongly change the outcome of a case, it is best to stay verbatim. If they say 2’17 and they mean 2017, write 2’17, similar to how one would write ’17 if they just said ’17.
A second approach that most don’t frown upon is to write out the year. They said 2’17 but it becomes 2017 in the transcript. I disagree with this method, but it is certainly more attractive than writing the year in words, such as two-seventeen.
Remember that transcript production is that balance between the true and accurate verbatim reporting of the proceeding and the readability of the transcript. It is not always enough for us to get things down, we have to format them in a manner resembling conventional English. Somebody who may or may not have been present has to be able to read it and understand it. If one keeps that in mind when producing transcripts, the transcripts they produce will always be top notch.
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