The official music track for this post is here.
Some time ago I consulted with a law firm about the tying of the National Court Reporters Association’s certifications to its membership, possibly in violation of antitrust laws. I’m not privy to what happened afterwards except that they apparently found plaintiffs and are attempting to move forward with a class action. I got my hands on NCRA’s reply in support of the motion to dismiss and I’ve decided to share it.
Having only read a sliver of it, I must say it’s comical that they call the membership and certification inseparable. Anybody with a few brain cells can see that it’d be easy to separate out the testing and CEUs from the membership. The NCRA simply doesn’t want to because it would cost them money. I’m hopeful that the court sees through such a ruse and the lawsuit survives the pleading stage, because at that point they’ve boxed themselves into a corner of “yes, our membership is tied to certification [in violation of antitrust law.]”
I have no reservations about where I stand. In the question of institutional loyalty versus loyalty to my fellow court reporters, I choose my fellow court reporters. And I’ll clip a comment from Facebook that lays out some of what I think of when I think of NCRA.
There is a certain cult-like thinking in court reporting where we believe in people and organizations that are clearly failing us. This is due in large part to propaganda. Being something of a propaganda expert that has used propaganda to tell the truth and raise consumer awareness, I must point out that if we do not break free from this de facto mind control, we will collectively walk off a cliff that there’s no climbing back from.
I must point out that with the kind of funding court reporters pour into the NCRA and Dave Wenhold’s pocket, Stenonymous could disrupt corporate propaganda dragging down your incomes, and has proven that in the past through the annihilation of the Speech-to-Text Institute, a venture that was backed by all the biggest names in the business including Stenograph and Veritext — and a direct threat to the prevalence of machine shorthand reporting.
I must point out that you can make a donation today on the front page of Stenonymous.com.
If change from within is not forthcoming, change from without is the only path forward.
P.S. Trey, if you happen to be reading, I know I still owe you a post. Life got in the way. I’ll be working on it sometime soon.
If you suceed in destroying NCRA, what’s your alternative to us having a strong national voice that speaks as one body for the profession? I have no problem with tying certification to membership because it helps fund our lobbing efforts and other good things, like communicating with the profession and keeping us aware of what is going on around the country.
Anyone with comparable funding could lead the charge. I’d be happy to start a national association that gives us a real voice. The problem is the money isn’t yet there for me.
NCRA has failed. The decline in court jobs makes it clear that the lobbying they are doing is at best ineffective. So ineffective that sometimes it feels like it’s by design.
If you suceed in destroying NCRA, what’s your alternative to us having a strong national voice that speaks as one body for the profession? I have no problem with tying certification to membership because it helps fund our lobbing efforts and other good things, like communicating with the profession and keeping us aware of what is going on around the country. Do these plaintiffs really have nothing else to do? I’m sad that it’s coming out of New Jersey. We need unity, not litigation. This is going to cost NCRA a ton of money to defend, money that should be going to other things that this profession desperately needs.Ted Formaroli.
Replied in the other comment. Anyone with comparable funding could lead the charge. I’d be happy to start a national association that actually works for court reporters.
The requirement that court reporters pass an NCRA RPR test to work in certain states is what the associations always called their “The Golden Handcuffs.” It has changed now, but a few years ago in Connecticut court reporters were required to maintain their NCRA CEU credits up to date or else use their RPR and not be able to work in Connecticut.
Correction. Above post should read as follows: “… or else lose their NCRA RPR and then not be able to work in Connecticut.”
AAERT has the same rule — anyone, member or not, may take the test, but they won’t receive their certificate unless they’re a member. [Eyeroll]
They’ve also propounded the same bogus story that we can’t discuss rates. However, on January 14, 2025, the FTC clarified this issue with a “Policy Statement on Exemption of Protected Labor Activity by Workers from Antitrust Liability,” which explicitly addresses the rights of freelancers and gig workers to engage in collective actions, including discussions about rates, without violating antitrust laws.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-issues-policy-statement-clarifying-independent-contractors-gig-workers-organizing-activities-are