I contracted with stenographic service MGR Reporting shortly after the conclusion of the Words Per Minute Podcast Episode 1. MGR’s got me a transcript. It is available for download.
Experimental idea. Perhaps we can hire multiple transcribers and see if their transcripts are objectively better or worse. Donations that come in today and tomorrow will be dedicated to that purpose as long as we get at least $100.
Obviously, such a small sample size is almost meaningless, but then again, the Speech-to-Text Institute was going to upend our entire field on much less solid argument. And I was able to upend them with the power of one. So maybe small sample sizes can still have big results.
Below is a plain text version.
MR. DAY: I’m going to make a…
...backup audio just in case.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah. Do
for that. So will I.
MR. DAY: So we'll have three
backups, so we're good.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: All
right. And it's also rec --
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: So, are
you ready?
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Okay.
Don't be afraid. Welcome to Words per Minute.
This is the inaugural episode. This is everything,
all things about court reporting. I'm with my
co-host, Christopher Day. How are you?
MR. DAY: I'm good. How you
doing?
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: I'm good.
We'll get into a whole situation and my name is
(censored). I can't name it because I currently
work for a service that supplies depositions, and
hopefully maybe one day I could reveal who I am,
but today I am (censored). That's how we're doing 2
it today. Sound good?
MR. DAY: We call them big boxes.
Yeah, that sounds good to me.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
I'll just be an unnamed reporter that can talk
about (censored) whenever I can. So But let's
just talk about how we combine forces. I met
Christopher on the internet. He runs the website
-- go ahead, you could say what it is. So you --
so everyone --
MR. DAY: Stenonymous.com.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER:
Stenonymous.com. And I was thinking about, you
know, the more that I started learning about court
reporting, I started realizing that I don't know
anything. So I decided to reach out to you, and
you weren't sure where my intentions were at the
same time. Not that I was being evil, or anything,
it was just --
MR. DAY: I think I was pretty
open.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah, you
were. And you were trying to feel people out, so
that's where we were. So I'm interested to hear
what your story is, but I also thought as we have 3
gotten to know each other, I realized that I think
you would be more potent because now, you know, the
long form of writing is not getting the influence
that it once was. And I think video and podcasts
are something that is moving the needle, and maybe
you'll be able to get your point across. So I
think for me personally, and maybe probably for
you, is to just get more exposure, and just try to
see if we can get more prominence in this business
that we -- both you and I love, right?
MR. DAY: Absolutely. Yeah. I'm
all for it. I mean, I've made the longhand writing
work as much as it's going to work, and I'm eager
to see what this is like in a podcast format.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
Very excited to speak to you. So I just wanted to
talk about how you got into this whole racket. I
mean, this is not something that somebody wakes up
and says, "You know what, I want to be in the
courtroom in a murder trial, and I want to be the
one that writes all of the words word for word."
That's not -- it's kind of something that you
stumble in by accident, and I think through my
trials and tribulations, and just my journey to the
road to success, I've realized that a lot of people 4
have said, you know, their parents were in it.
Somebody else in my family was in the court.
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: And they
kind of just -- kind of stumbled upon it after, you
know, doing a myriad of different things. How did
you get your start in court reporting?
MR. DAY: So I was this super
introverted high school kid. And I saw it in a
high school fair, and I had no idea what I wanted
to do with my life. You know, I knew I wasn't
coordinated enough to do like food service and
stuff like that. So I came up on senior year and
people were like, "What are you going do with your
life, what are you going to do with your life?"
I'm like, "I don't know. Court reporting school.
I saw it in the high school Fair."
So I set up with this school and I
took to it almost immediately. I really practiced
hard. There're three forms of court reporting;
there's stenography, there's voice writing, and
there's digital court reporting. And so, I took
the stenographic route. And at that point in
history, that was really the main route. So And
that's it. I mean, I got hooked up with the -- it 5
was called New York Career Institute at the time,
and they later sold themselves to Plaza College in
Queens, and the rest is history.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
Very interesting. So, just to piggyback of what
you're saying, you're into the stenography part. I
still have the ability to advance to that, but I've
also thought about my moment in time of the digital
reporting thing of trying to master that aspect of
it.
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: What I do
like about it as opposed to what you're doing is
that you are kind of in the courthouse day to day
when things are happening. And you know, that's a
great place to be. I know my other line of work,
I'm able to, you know, be out and about and see all
the people and kind of get those networks and, you
know, really is able to be part of the community.
Me, it's, the digital part is interesting because
you're not necessarily meeting the people that's
giving you feedback. There's not necessarily
people giving you the right way of doing things.
You just kind of learn and then you go, oh, yeah,
okay. You get the feedback later on in an e-mail. 6
So it's a lot more informal. And it's kind of like
learn as you go.
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: But I'll
tell you just for me, somebody saw me type and they
were like, "Wow, you should be a stenographer."
And I, you know, I've always seen it from just
watching TV, or TV shows --
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: -- of
people that are being stenographers, and you could
see that -- okay, they could type very fast. And I
always saw that they weren't using a normal like
laptop, or a computer. They were using some sort
of weird machine. I would imagine that's a Steno
machine, right?
MR. DAY: Yeah. We call it a
Steno machine. I think you can call it a
Stenotype. Some people call it a Stenograph, but
that's technically a company name. So yeah,
Steno machine.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
So, you know, going back to my situation after
somebody saw that, I got a hold of an ad saying
that if you, you know, if you're really good at 7
just being professional, just being able to type
quickly, there's going to go a couple of steps and
then you could be a digital court reporter. Now,
little did I know the world that I was going to
join in because I didn't know, you know, where we
fit in. I guess the tension that you had between
--
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: People
that are in the conventional world. And that's why
I was able to, you know, really get a bond with you
because you taught me a lot of just the
differences. I had no idea, and I often think that
seldom somebody, a stenographer like you, and a
digital reporter like me don't necessarily
communicate. So I don't know what's going on in
your world, and you probably don't know what's
really going on in my world, even though you do
extensive research on synonymous. But we're going
--
MR. DAY: Yup.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: -- to get
to know a lot of different things that have been
going on. So we're going to find out what really
it entails. And, you know, I really think that we 8
will be able to shine light to a lot of things that
are happening in the court reporting industry, as
well as trying to influence maybe people to get,
you know, more of traction of people wanting to do
this.
But, you know, after you found
your footing and you went to school, you know, just
talk about the steps of like what it's like to get
to where you're at, which is, you know, a
courthouse. How do you get to that?
MR. DAY: So for me personally, I
graduated school and we graduated 225 words a
minute. And at that point, your kind of -- I would
say it's kind of like you're saying, there's less
guidance. You don't really know exactly how things
are going to go.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Mm-hmm
(affirmative).
MR. DAY: And you hook up with one
of these court reporting agencies and they
generally hire you as an independent contractor.
Side note, I've done some workers rights research,
and we may not actually be independent contractors,
but that's a whole different story.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah, 9
we'll get into that. That's another entirely
different --
MR. DAY: We'll get into that.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yup.
MR. DAY: But anyway, so I'm
taking depositions probably just like you. Well, I
think you do a lot more remote than I got to do.
At the point I did, it was more 2010 to 2014, and
the depositions at that point in time were
basically all in person, you know? So it was a lot
of running around the city, they used to hold
depositions in the Bronx Courthouse.
So I went into the -- you would
laugh at it actually. It was this big wide room
with just -- I want to say like nine tables set up,
or maybe six tables set up. And everybody's just
having a different deposition at each different
table. So it was, you know, it was kind of chaotic
like that. It was kind of like wild west, you have
no idea what you're walking into. The attorneys,
you know, might be combative with each other, or
they might be the nicest people in the world, and
it was just this mixed bag, and kind of learning
the ropes the hard way.
And then at some point, a friend 10
of mine said, "You should go do grand jury in
Manhattan. They're hiring." And Grand jury is,
you're working for the district attorney as a grand
jury court reporter. And as of now, the ones in
New York City only takes stenographers, I think.
By law I think they have to use stenographers. And
basically, I do grand jury for a little bit. I
leave that line of work. And then the next thing I
know, I'm back in this freelance world. And I
wasn't really enjoying it at that point, it wasn't
paying me enough.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Mm-hmm
(affirmative).
MR. DAY: And they had the civil
service test to become a court reporter for the
courts. So I said, "All right, I'll go take that."
Sit for that test, I placed 14th in the State for
that test.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Wow.
MR. DAY: And the rest, like I
said, is history. I started up with the Brooklyn
Criminal Court and, you know, at this point, I've
seen every, you know, most of the spots of our
criminal justice system. I've seen the grand jury
where felonies get indicted, I've seen Brooklyn 11
Criminal Court, which is all misdemeanors and
stuff, and now I'm in Supreme Court, which is all
felonies and felony trials. So I've really -- I've
lived quite a life and gotten to see a lot through
this job.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: That's
amazing. That sounds like a whole myriad of
different experiences.
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Does it
take an emotional toll when you are, you know, I
think when you're in the room with people that, you
know, their lives are at the fate of a jury and a
judge, and you're just there typing away verbatim
of what's happening? I suppose you can't help but
get swept up into, you know, people's situations
and just how crazy it is that you're just there.
You're a fly on the wall.
MR. DAY: Yeah. I mean, so
there's different schools of thought and there's
people who in our field who are just like, "No,
don't even think about it. Just do your job." And
I respect that view.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
MR. DAY: But I really do take it 12
seriously. And I think about, you know, even the
tiniest little transcript can end up in, you know,
New York State's highest court, the court of
appeals. And it can change the law. And so, you
really have to kind of think about, you know, not
only is this someone's life, but this may go on to
impact other people's lives.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
MR. DAY: So you'd better get it
right. Because, you know, and that's the wonderful
thing about the job, is we don't have to make those
hard decisions, we don't have to make those calls,
so we're kind of removed from the feeling of, you
know, being the person who's putting this person in
this situation. Although there's also an argument
to be heard and some people feel this way, they put
themselves in that situation. I don't really, you
know, I think it's a case-by-case basis, and we
just have to trust the system to kind of work it
out. But I do think about the impact that our work
has on people, and I think it's pretty important.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah,
it's got to be. I just know for me, I do it in the
State of New York --
MR. DAY: Yeah. 13
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: -- and,
you know, sometimes I'll get somebody that is like
a big wig in the department of whatever it is, and
I'm just like, I can't believe this is happening,
and I'm here. And, you know, you just have that
sense of -- it's one of those things where you are
the fly on the wall, but you are involved, but
you're not involved. So I completely understand
the nature of it in which that you are saying. But
I feel like I haven't gotten emotionally involved,
but how could you not get swept away about what's
happening, because sometimes this is like
irreparable damage.
I know for me, recently, September
1st, 2022, has been a big bone of contention. That
specific date. It was the same day when there was
a lot of flooding in New York State, and it was
Hurricane Ida. So I constantly hear about somebody
lost a piece of their backyard, and now they're
suing, you know, the town that they live in because
they tried to put an insurance claim and they
weren't able to do that.
But, you know, in this particular
situation, it was like somebody that just moved in.
They were thinking about, you know, how much 14
millions of dollars that they spent, and now
they're being affected because they kind of bought
something that's a money pit, and they didn't think
of it. And it was only because of a natural
disaster. So I'm interested too because you hear
about the emotional stories, but then you're pitted
with the legal interpretation of what you should do
to adjudicate it.
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: And, you
know, I think also people -- sometimes you see
people that have been, you know, 30 depositions in.
Where they're a supervisor in a specific part,
maybe they're in the town of Public works and
they're used to having depositions. Then you got
somebody that might be on their bed, they've never
been on a deposition before, and they're just
acting completely unprofessional. So
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: One thing
I do like about the job is the uniqueness of every
day, meaning two different lawyers, different
witness.
MR. DAY: Yeah. You don't know
what you're walking into. 15
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: So you
don't know what is going to happen. It makes it
much more interesting than just having a 9:00 to
5:00 job. Do you find that the same way even
though you probably are in a trial that's probably
going to be a couple of days, couple weeks, couple
months long?
MR. DAY: Well, back when I
freelanced, that's exactly how I felt.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
MR. DAY: I liked the feeling of
having a new thing every day, never knew what I was
going to learn that day. You know, sometimes
you're listening to someone talk about, you know,
pharmaceutical coding of the pills, you know? And
then sometimes you're listening to, you know, one
man was an electrician who got horribly burned, and
he was looking for compensation for that.
So it really ran the gamut of
things that you could hear about, learn about. And
so -- and that was what made my twist into the
criminal court reporting that much more
interesting, because criminal, I have to say, is a
lot more formulaic, especially the procedural stuff
leading up to a trial -- 16
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Mm-hmm
(affirmative).
MR. DAY: -- it's very similar.
It's always like there's an arraignment and then
they do some motions. And for the most part, we're
not involved with the motions unless they have a
problem. And then they bring it back to the court
and put that on the record, and they'll go back and
forth a little bit, and then they'll go to trial.
And the trial, like you're saying, is kind of where
the magic happens. Where, you know, you could hear
anything.
There was one summation by a
prosecutor I had, and she said something like, "To
believe the defendant's story, you'd have to
believe that magical space unicorns came down and
stabbed the victim."
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Oh, boy.
MR. DAY: Not the victim, the
complainant. And I, you know, you're sitting in a
courtroom, you never thought you would hear magical
space unicorns, but there I was and I had to type
it up. So
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Well, you
haven't seen My Cousin Vinny, that's probably why. 17
You know, you said that type of talk from a
prosecutor.
MR. DAY: I actually saw that
movie, and I was very impressed by it. It's very,
you know, it does it in an entertaining way and in
a way that's funny, but it brings out a lot of
legal principles, and it just does it so
masterfully. So
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
MR. DAY: Anybody that hasn't seen
that movie should.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: I agree.
Now, since you're at a very high-profile
courthouse, obviously, everyone knows the, you
know, the New York State Supreme Court, you
probably get a lot of high-profile court cases?
I'm not asking you to talk about specifics of a
specific case, but I am asking you of the
high-profile nature and being involved with that.
That's got to be very tough to see, because I'm
assuming that some people in your personal life
kind of ask you about the case, and obviously you
have to be mum about it, but do you like being in
that celebrity status type of thing, that you know
it's getting coverage from a lot of news outlets 18
and a lot of eyes are on it nationwide?
MR. DAY: You know, it's really
interesting because the high-profile stuff I
generally don't get assigned to. But I definitely,
you know, I know my image has made it on the news
before just from being in the courtroom. So I do
kind of like that stuff. I think it's really cool.
I think that -- I wish that the news would cover
more of the criminal justice system. Because I
think that there's a lot that goes on that every
citizen should know about, and hear about, and just
be educated about. Because there's a lot that
people don't know, and there's a lot I didn't know
till I made it into the system.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: I also
think it's often misinterpreted only because you
might see it in one way, and if you're not really
in tune with some legal jargon you can kind of get
caught up to what's really happening. So for
instance, if there's like a, you know, a summary
judgment of X amount of dollars, you don't know
what the implications are. You know, some people
could just say, "Okay, well, he's getting sued for
50, there's a summary judgment of $50 million on
this." He's not going to pay. Like, that's just 19
what we're going to boil it down to. But you don't
know what the legal ramifications are until you
really get into it. But --
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: I have a
personal question that I have for you.
MR. DAY: Sure.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: I'm
thinking about, you know, doing this remote, I
always got to go to the bathroom. What happens
when you got to go to the bathroom and you're
typing away, and people are just -- you just don't
go -- you just don't drink?
MR. DAY: Generally, try not to
drink before you got to go into the courtroom. If
you're having an emergency, then you got to speak
up. You know, that's really all you can do.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: So you've
had to go, excuse me, I need a three-minute break.
I know, I -- but meanwhile, I'm certain that once
the first person speaks up, they're like, "Yeah, I
got to go too."
MR. DAY: Oh, yeah. No. And I've
even had -- I've had lawyers back in the deposition
days and I think even in the courtroom occasionally 20
kind of like blame us and be like, "Oh, the court
reporter needs a break." And then -- and meanwhile
I didn't ask for a break, but they need the break
--
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
MR. DAY: -- so they're like --
yeah. So sometimes it happens that way.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
MR. DAY: Sometimes it happens
where I'll have to speak up. A lot of times in
court depending on how the day is going, they'll
either have natural breaks, or they will be calling
cases one after the other, and so what you'll do is
you'll give someone a heads up, either the judge,
or the clerk, like, hey, in between one of these
cases, I got to, you know, I need to use the
restroom.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
MR. DAY: Or whatever it is. And
you got to -- that's one thing that as -- like I
said, I was a real introverted kid. I had to learn
to kind of just be upfront about my needs --
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Mm-hmm
(affirmative).
MR. DAY: -- because you can very 21
easily get in a situation where they'll just keep
going no matter what your needs are.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: No.
Yeah, I've seen that. I'm just like, "Wow, nobody
has -- nobody drank water today?" Like, I don't get
it. Everyone is like Ironman. And it's always --
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: More like
the onus is on you. You don't want to be the first
-- you also don't want to be the first person to
break in it. Like, you don't want to go, excuse
me, I got to -- you want to be strong and say like,
all right. Let somebody else there. So that's
interesting because I think you've just convinced
me, I'm going to be remote forever. I don't know
about all that, I got to go to the bathroom.
MR. DAY: If you can get remote, I
would say do remote. So I actually have a question
for you.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
MR. DAY: At this point are you
doing a hundred percent remote? Because I'm sure I
have people listening that want to know.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
Listen, I think that there's a -- the money isn't 22
as good as what you're doing and what people are
doing in the court, but I'm thinking about, let's
say if I got into this racket before the pandemic.
And obviously the pandemic is what really opened up
the floodgates for this to happen, which you have
documented chronically on your website. I'll say
that if this wasn't remote, I don't know if this
would ever be on my radar, right? So like once you
get used to like working remote, very difficult to
get back, very difficult to get back once you're
used to it.
Now, at the same time, I have a
very plush office situation. Not only do I have a
plush office situation, I have a plus plush studio
podcast office situation in another location that's
30 yards away. So for me --
MR. DAY: Wow.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: -- I
don't know if it pays because I'm very comfortable
here. I got my family here, got all my equipment
here. Obviously, you could see my Zoom is just as
professional. So for me, I don't know if it's
worth going driving to Brooklyn from where I live,
which is probably an hour away if we take into
account with traffic. And I think about all of the 23
no-shows that happened for me, where I could be in
the courtroom, get there -- try to get there by
9:30, and there's a no-show. That's a waste of a
day.
So I think that the decrease in
pay for me is worth it because I don't have to go
to Brooklyn. Right? I don't have to figure out
buying food somewhere along the way, and then
coming back. I think for me, it's justified. And
I would rather take the pay cut with the
comfortableness that it affords me. And I also
like the fact that you can do this remote and it's
still be a worthwhile job. It's something that I
have personal pride in wanting to get better at,
and I feel like I'm steadily getting better.
There's something to be said of being out in the
field independently and trying to figure it out on
your own with no guidance, right? So --
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: -- for
me, it's a puzzle. Now, it remains to be seen.
I'm the type of person that tries to reassess my
goals every six months. So I'm never going to say
never, right?
MR. DAY: That makes sense. 24
Because I do think what's cool is what you're
doing. Maybe if they had a toilet underneath, you
know, the desk, maybe that would work for me. But,
you know, right now I'm going to be remote, but I'm
enjoying it. I'm enjoying and, you know, I think
I've said this since I've met you and we've been
talking for three or four months, I've always said
I've enjoyed it, right? I haven't -- there hasn't
been one time where I'm like, "Oh, I don't enjoy
it."
MR. DAY: Definitely. I think
you've told me that sometimes they kind of come out
of left field with criticisms, but I think I told
you something like "Sometimes they criticize just
to keep you guessing about how valuable you really
are." And that's kind of like -- that's kind of
the shady side of it, where it's like you can make
money and you can do, you know, really well. And
you can find something that fits your lifestyle,
but at the same time, they're always, you know,
they're interested in trying to get people to work
for less. So it's kind of that balancing act of --
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
See --
MR. DAY: Yeah. 25
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: -- I
don't know what the stats are, but I would imagine
that they're -- and you've had it chronicled on
your website, the shortages of just court reporting
in the industry of it not being exposed. And
that's one of the -- I think the things that we're
united of starting this podcast to just raise
awareness that it's a very fulfilling, you know,
occupation if you decide to do it.
But I would imagine that the
amount of lawyers versus the amount of people that
are court reporters is -- there's such a huge
disparity on top of judges on top of anybody that's
a court officer. I think that, you know, it's one
of those things where like, kind of like a referee,
right? Like, nobody really wants the referee. So
there's kind of like a balance where it says like,
there's a shortage, and they still try to treat you
as if it's prestigious, but it can't be prestigious
and there's a shortage at the same time. That's
where I find solace in knowing that, you know,
regardless of what I do, I'm going to be
professional. I'm going to do the best I can no
matter what. But at the end of the day, I just
know the court industry as a whole still needs us 26
more than they need -- than we need them. You know
what I'm saying? So that I don't feel necessarily
scared of in terms of like them keeping me on my
toes, right?
So what I did want to ask you too
though is just the genesis of Stenonymous.com? How
you came to that conclusion, because there must
have been something that guided you to say, "You
know what, I'm going to make a whole website, I'm
going to make a whole -- I want to raise awareness
in this specific niche." It's, you know, it's -- I
just find it interesting that you got to that level
and it's matured over the years where there's a lot
of people that are watching it, and, you know, they
really want to get inside your brain. How did you
start it and how did it develop over time?
MR. DAY: So I started just from
remembering all the difficult times that I had.
And kind of like you're saying, I had to learn it
on the job. What does this mean? What am I
supposed to do when XYZ happens? You know, I can't
think of an exact example at the moment, but it's
kind of like you're saying, it comes at you fast
and you kind of learn as you go with minimal
feedback. And basically, I started by typing out 27
all the things that I had had difficulty with, and
all the things that young court reporters were
coming on our message boards and asking questions,
and asking the same questions again and again and
again year after year after year. And so, I
started to build popularity that way.
And at some point, I started to
also document current events, things going on in
our field, things our associations were doing.
Trying to get people to be more involved in the
professional community so that we, you know, we
can't be taken advantage of the way I felt I was
taken advantage of as a young reporter because
basically I've done out the math and I think I was
making about 40 percent less than I could have.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Mm-hmm
(affirmative).
MR. DAY: So I started to document
these current events, and I started to realize
that, "Oh, these numbers don't really add up. Like
the Bureau of Labor Statistics says we have
whatever it is, 21,000 court reporters, and the
speech to Text Institute says, we should have
23,000, and the National Court Reporters
Association says we have 27,000. 28
And it's like, the more you looked
into it, the more it didn't make sense. And so I
started to publish about that, and people were
interested because it totally went against the
grain. It went against the professional
community's paradigm of just kind of like, "Oh,
let's just practice and do our best and be
professionals." And it's like, no, guys, like,
there's a little bit of Tom Foolery going on here,
basically. And it excites people.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: So going
into that, after you decided to make, you know, how
did you come up with the name, and then, I guess
just talking about the first couple of months of
just trying to get content. And also, you know,
starting to finally be open because I'm sure that
people have approached you to just try to get more
of a digital presence outside of just the written
form.
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: More so
video and podcasts. What made you start to just
think about giving this a chance?
MR. DAY: The blogging?
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Well, 29
just more so -- yeah. Like the development of the
blog and then also just your -- now, at this point
in time in 2024, your willingness now to just have
other multimedia forms of disseminating the
information.
MR. DAY: Well, so I guess I'll
start with how I named it, and how I named it is
actually pretty funny. I was walking to the movie
theater with a friend of mine and I said, "Yeah, I
really want to start writing and start documenting
all these things that we have had problems with
when we were younger, and all these things that
people come onto our message boards and ask about.
I want to make something and I want to make
something interesting. And I want it to be like a
real presence."
And at the time that Hacker Group,
Anonymous, or -- yeah, I think it was Anonymous.
They were, you know, in the news and they were real
popular. He's like, "Why don't you call it
Stenonymous?" And I'm like, "Oh." I went with it.
I ran with it. And so after that, I just, like I
said, I wrote out things that I had trouble with.
One of my first articles was, Get
a Real Job. And Get a Real Job was actually all 30
the jobs you could get in New York City as a
stenographer. And at the time it was workers
compensation, and grand jury, and the courts, and
something we call CART, which is basically
captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing. I'm
trying to think. I also mentioned teaching, and I
gave links to all the places that you would get
these applications and find information about this
stuff. And because that was something that I had
an issue with.
So anyway, as time went on, like I
said, I started to expand a little bit, I started
to do a little advertising, and all that kind of
stuff. And what you realize pretty quickly is that
images and videos and this kind of multimedia
approach, it gets a lot more attention than just
writing.
And so, for example, if I run an
advertisement on an article, maybe I'll get, you
know, let's say I'll get a thousand views on a
written article. If I run an advertisement with a
picture, I'll get like 10,000, 20,000 views. So
you start to see that people don't all respond to
sitting there reading a blog. Some people respond
to hearing someone's voice, being able to 31
understand, oh, this is someone I can trust rather
than just this name on a screen, you know, this
faceless guy or this voiceless guy.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER:
Interesting, interesting. So how are you enjoying
your first podcast experience?
MR. DAY: Oh, I'm loving it.
There's totally better than you.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Well,
I've done this so many times, so I'm happy that you
are united in this front. Because, you know, this
is something that I've grown in the past six months
that I've been doing. It's very passionate about.
I truly enjoy it. It's something that I wake up
and I -- it's like part of my day. Something --
like I said that I want to do well in. And, you
know, I just think the things that I am involved
in, it's such a niche. And I feel like if we could
expose other people to something that can be just a
viable solution to what they could be doing as an
occupation, I think we will make the court industry
a better place. Especially with somebody -- you
under the helm given that information. But --
MR. DAY: I tell everybody, this
could be your dream job, you know, give it a shot, 32
you know? And for me, I'm always pushing the
stenography. So I tell them, go to National Court
reporters A to Z, go to Project Steno, go to Open
Steno, you know, Open Steno.org. There's so many
different ways to start learning about it and start
getting into it, that I always found it a shame
that people have a hard time finding that
information. I actually had a question for you, if
that's okay?
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Sure.
MR. DAY: I know for me there's
certain things I think about with this question,
but for you, is there anything you think, "Wow, I
wish I really knew this before I went in?"
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: What I
wish that I knew? I wish that I knew -- well see,
the thing is that -- so I do another thing that's
very independent contract oriented, and you realize
it's kind of the same situation where a lot of the
information in the beginning is suppressed because
you don't know anything, right?
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: And the
more -- and it's not like you dig in the beginning,
it's more like you kind of discover things and you 33
go, "Wait a minute, if this deposition was $800,
why am I only getting 75? Where's that other 700
going?" So I'm not going to say that I didn't know
about that because it's the same thing in my other
line of work where it's like the people that run
things are the ones that set the price, and
sometimes the middleman gets a cut, this person
gets this cut, this person gets this cut. It's
just that now I've grown, and I'm certain that we
will talk about what that is at some point.
But, you know, as you get better
at the line of work that you're in, you start
knowing more, you start wanting more. You start
realizing that you should have equal representation
at the table. Somewhat so where you want to just
kind of like be independent, and you want to start
your own thing.
So the thing is for me, I've
always thought that any court reporting agency that
I'm in as an independent contract has always been a
learning situation, where I think that I'm the
talent, I know that one day this is still working
towards me learning something in the future. So, I
don't know. Maybe I've always thought of it as a
means to an end of just being an expert at this 34
whole thing in its totality, right? And I think
Stenonymous.com has given me, also colored me with
a lot of information.
Maybe I wish I read your website
before I hopped onto a court reporting agency. So
I think if I had to answer the question, I wish I
knew about your website, because maybe I would
revisit some options that I could have had as
opposed to just, you know, signing up because I
didn't know anything. But at the same time, I am
happy where I'm at. I'm, I want to say I'm content
with what I'm doing because I'm still in learning
mode. The moment that I start feeling that I'm
plateauing and I'm not learning and it's not
working for me, I'll start thinking about different
situation. And I know in the background, we are
working on some different things. So I'm excited
for that.
But I know for me, I'm just like
somebody that's really independent. I like
standing on my own two feet. I like figuring it
out on my own. And if that means trying to figure
out another situation where I'm being able to
control that, I feel like I'm going to shine much
better in doing so in that regard. Does that 35
answer your question?
MR DAY: Yeah, I think so. I
think that the entrepreneurial mindset is something
that you really -- you can't recreate it, you know
what I'm saying?
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
MR. DAY: Like, you can't really
teach it. It just kind of has to come to each
person in their own time. And it sounds like
coming into it, that's what you've got. So you
have that ability. And I would say most people,
you know, many people who come into this, and
probably most people have that ability, but not
everybody goes in that direction. Not everybody
wants to get that kind of mastery.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
Well, the only thing that I'll say in terms of the
mindset that you need to have, whether it be a
stenographer, you know, somebody that's voice
writing, or digital, I think one thing definitely
is always going to ring true, you have to be open
to learning in public, right?
So I know that there's the
apprentice level in the background where you're
learning and you're trying to get to a threshold of 36
minute -- words per minute of you trying to type.
But, you know, when it's being recorded at this
moment in time, it's really hard in the beginning
to be perfect, right? And still, you and I are
still not perfect when we're doing it, but we try
-- we strive to have that accuracy. But it's
really hard, especially when you're learning, to be
at there, right? So you're at 70 percent, and
you're striving to be a hundred percent.
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: But how
could I be a hundred percent if I've never done
this before? Of course, I'm going to -- so at the
very least, if you have the growth mindset of
saying like there's more room for improvement and
eventually, you'll get there, and not being so hard
on yourself and trying to be perfect the first
time, I think you'll be very successful in this
type of line of work. Even with the podcasting,
this is your first time. I'm not going to hold you
to a standard that you're going to be nominated for
a podcast award when you --
MR. DAY: Thank goodness.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: -- you're
starting out. But at the very least you know like, 37
okay, you like it. You feel comfortable in doing
it. You feel okay with your voice. You know what
your voice sounds like. You've also been on other
multimedia platforms. So at the very least, it
makes you want to improve. It makes you want to do
it again, and that's all I can ask for. Now, if
we're on our hundred episode I would hope that at
some point you're going to be like, "You know what,
I'm trying to get good at this." So I hope that
answers the question.
MR. DAY: I think so. I think so.
And actually, I'm not sure what it was, but I was
thinking while you were speaking, I actually made
this court reporter rates discussion group on
Facebook. And that was -- that's kind of like when
you take that entrepreneurial mindset and you start
to apply it to things that aren't necessarily money
making, but more ethical based. Because there's a
multi-pronged strategy to having created that
group. First off, it's the consumers.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
MR. DAY: Through my website and
my writing and my documentation, all that great
stuff, I realized that there was kind of a game
being played on consumers, where the companies are 38
bringing down the page rates, bringing down the
page rates, but then they're nailing them with all
these other little charges.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
MR. DAY: And so now all that
stuff is out in the public, so consumers can just
go, oh, I could get this, you know, cheaper from,
you know, whoever, let's say me, or let's say you,
or whoever it is. And then that person can make
more, and this agency, you know, doesn't need to be
taking all my money for -- doing me the honor of
printing basically.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
Listen, I think competition is always healthy,
competition always breeds creativity in terms of,
you know, the things that -- the way I think of
things.
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: But, you
know --
MR. DAY: And that --
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: You know,
I don't want to make this podcast too long. The
only final question I want to ask for you after
doing this, I hope you had fun, but what are you 39
looking forward to of this, you know, eventually
evolving? You want to get some guests in the court
reporting industry, do you want to get some
lawyers, like, what are you looking forward to and
what's your goal for this podcast to grow?
MR. DAY: All the above. I mean,
I know -- I already know pretty much all the heavy
hitting stenographers in the field, and I'm pretty
sure that most of them will take the time to tell
their story. But I would really love to get some
lawyers on the thing, and, you know, get their true
feelings. And I imagine that it's going to be --
again, you're going to find people all across the
spectrum. There's going to be lawyers who are all
about hiring stenographers, there's going to be
people who don't, you know, they don't really care,
they don't mind if a digital's at the deposition.
There's going to be some that they don't even think
about the transcript because it doesn't matter to
them unless the thing is going to trial.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Right.
MR. DAY: And so, I really want to
start bringing together all those voices. And in
fact, it's been the front page of my website for
the longest time, is Words and Voices. And that 40
phrase is basically because we want people's
opinions. We want people's ideas. We want to have
a more full understanding of the range of how
people, you know, interact with our services and,
you know, our field.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah. I
think that's important. I also think sometimes
when I'm talking to a lawyer, they just -- I feel
like -- I don't know, I feel like I'm like the last
person on the bench. And they're just like, "Yeah,
I'm not really going to respect you." It's only
because when my personality comes out, they're
like, oh, I kind of like this guy, all right.
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: And then
they start treating me like a person. But I have
to like infuse me in order for that to at least --
at the very least have that conversation. Normally
I'm just like an afterthought. And that's probably
how you feel within, you know, the -- when you're
in the role. But, you know, I'm looking to change
that. I think that there should be representation.
I mean, we are there, right?
MR. DAY: Yeah.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: So why 41
shouldn't we have a voice? I feel like that, you
know, obviously when you're doing the job, I think
you should be as professional as possible and then
-- and be accurate. But you can still be you,
right? I think there's nothing wrong with being
who you are at all times. So that's my --
MR. DAY: No, I --
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: -- that's
my final saying for today. What were you going to
say?
MR. DAY: I was just going to say
I agree with you totally. Never give up your
personality for any job, and that's for everybody
listening.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Yeah,
man. I'm looking forward to this journey.
Figuring out what the next episodes are. But I
hope you enjoyed your experience on your first
podcast.
MR. DAY: Absolutely. Like I
said, I got one of the best.
DIGITAL COURT REPORTER: Okay. We
are now off the record at 12:14 p.m.