Tomorrow I have a very serious post that I think I’ll be leaving up at least the entire week as the “most recent post.”
Today I have a new way of conceptualizing all the things I’ve written about.
Stenonymous.com shares image explaining the controversy with Speech-to-Text Institute in 60 seconds.
I read about how hardworking people like you don’t have time to read material like mine.
This means liars who have smooth, simple arguments can win you over faster than someone like me who spends time trying to explain the truth.
I lucked out. I have the time. With contributions from the community, I can expand operations until Stenonymous is able to incorporate and begin feeding money back into the field.
I will be working on a prettier image for you. But feel free to share this one. I need your help.
Divided, my research makes it clear that court reporter incomes will freeze or fall. Whatever your financial situation is, it will degrade if your income comes from being a working court reporter.
Together, we’ll make a difference.
You may not believe it. And that’s okay. Because I don’t always know what to believe either. We are human.
The truth remains the truth whether you believe it or not. Just one company stands to gain hundreds of millions of dollars if you don’t believe me. Consequently, many of them are working together to lie to you in violation of fraud, antitrust, and false advertising laws.
I was scared when I started down this road. Scared of what you might think of me. Scared of what the largest players in the game might try to do to me. I was loaded with so much fear that my health degraded.
I recovered because you stood with me.
I will stand up for you. Will you stand with me?
I will stand up for you. Will you stand with me?
I will stand up for you. Will you stand with me?
All rise.
Christopher Day addresses the audience for this blog post.
Addendum:
A reader stated “it reminds me of a business/professional form of the Margaret Mitchell Effect.” I thought this was brilliant, so it gets a home here. Just let me know if you want your name here, reader!
A wonderful reader sent me this article quoting ex-Sonalight CEO Spenser Skates. Notably:
“We spent a month just talking and exploring different ideas. You really want to find a problem that fits your strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Voice recognition was almost too hard technically to solve. It’s like this probabilistic problem where there’s not a clear right answer. Analytics, to the average engineer, it’s a pretty hard problem — but to us, it was a cakewalk, because we were algorithm guys. Building a distributed data store was very straightforward for us. It’s like ‘OK, that’s a solvable problem with a clear answer. If we do it, people want it. Great, let’s go to work on that.’ It was a million times easier.” Ex-Sonalite CEO Spenser Skates speaks about why him and his co-founder moved from “solving” voice recognition to “solving” analytics.
Let me get some self-aggrandizement in.
Half a decade ago, I wrote that computers only do what you give them instructions to do, and explained that there are solvable and insolvable problems. And I explained that voice recognition is a solvable problem, but that it will take indeterminate time and resources to solve. The CEOs, salespeople, and software engineers of the world know this already. They have probably known it decades longer than the vast majority of the population. Despite that, they lie and say their products are better than they are so that they can try to recoup the investor money they’re burning on what is — like Mr. Money Bags just told you — a “probabilistic problem where there’s not a clear right answer.” Said another way, some of the brightest minds on this planet could not, and still cannot, figure this problem out 100% despite the billions of dollars spent to solve it. It’s not quite as much as it would be to solve world hunger, but let’s just say we could’ve solved some pretty big problems with the time and money spent on “get computer to know what I say.”
Then journalists lap up the bullshit and ride the hype train, because who’s going to challenge Microsoft? Who’s going to challenge Google? Who’s going to challenge these rich and powerful entities and power players that make money off of the ignorance and fanciful beliefs of a population that believes with all its heart that tech will solve all our problems and grow exponentially into some kind of singularity (partial joke)?
Stenography’s citizen journalist remains reliant on your eyes. Please continue to send me stuff like this. I’m grateful.
P.S.
Rant that I felt better for a post script.
It is not the job of journalists to be seekers of the truth. They have become stenographers for the rich and powerful. Stenographers are uniquely positioned to fill the gap. I dare say that, just by presenting what two different sides say, we’d be doing more journalism. Because I’m at a stage in my life where I’ve told multiple journalists about the blatant fraud being committed and they’ve either danced around the issue and eliminated what I told them from the article, like Maia Spoto did, or participated in “journalistic equalizing,” as Steve Lerner did. De facto silencing of the truth through blatant and indefensible lies of omission. Could be their editors. Could be the culture of their outlets. Could be that journalists discriminate against people like me that are open and honest about mental health struggles and successful ongoing treatment. Could even be that some journalists are independently wealthy and see people like me as being against wealthy people, and they don’t like that. The nuance of “no, I don’t hate people with money for having money. I know people who are better off than I ever will be and we’re cool because they don’t steal from their employees or engage in schemes to defraud thousands of jobseekers” isoften lost on my detractors. I’ve been told maybe our field isn’t exciting enough to write about. But at a certain point it’s almost comical to look back at the number of journalists that uncritically published about our labor shortage only to turn around and ignore the fraud claims.
What can I do but publish my findings and see what happens? Maybe someday court reporters will realize that they give millions of dollars to the National Court Reporters Association each year and it was ready, willing, and did actually watch the Speech-to-Text Institute flood the market with lies and set the stage for stenographer jobs to be eliminated. By contrast, court reporters gave me $10,000 and I made sure the STTI got sued and shut down its website.
It’s kind of like how I feel about CoverCrow. More adoption of the cause would benefit us. Issues could be worked out. Once the thing became self-sustaining, it would give working reporters a lot more power because it would decentralize the method by which they find and agree to jobs. It’s just math and reasoning.
Similarly, if there were more widespread adoption of my sort of brand of journalism, there would be significant systemic changes. It’s a power dynamic thing. Without checks, wealth concentrates at the top. The top then uses its power to effectively control government regulators (corporate capture) This is the basis of logic for our antitrust laws. That concentration is currently what’s happening all across America (corporate consolidation).
In a functioning democratic republic, the government enforces the laws that stop wealth from concentrating to that very dangerous point. If the government failed to do so, the free press would jump in and destroy every single politician involved in the wholesale selling of the country (Citizens United & beyond). The government isn’t enforcing the law and the free press is literally actively assisting in the fuckification of America by blacking out opposition voices, effectively handing a monopoly to “the concentrated wealth” with regard to the narrative that the public hears.
It’s said that Einstein wrote about a time when the very rich would control the means of communication and it would be impossible for citizens to make informed decisions. Democracy would be broken. According to Full Fact, this is not true. Einstein wrote that that had already happened in 1949.
We have had over 70 years of corporate consolidation since then.
(And Robert Reich states in my fuckification link that corporate consolidation costs the average American family over $5,000 a year. So if anyone here thinks that something that costs the average family over 5% of their income is a political idea not worth covering, I respectfully disagree. Thanks again, reader!)
New York State Unified Court System issues a statement on Court Reporting & Captioning Week 2024New York State Unified Court System issues a statement on Court Reporting & Captioning Week 2024
This follows other positive statements about court reporters from the New York State Unified Court System.
Statewide NYSUCS positions are posted here. Court reporter postings are under the court operations section. Previously, every 1 to 4 years a civil service exam was posted by law, but is my understanding that is being done away with for JG-24 court reporters. As of writing I believe JG-27 Senior Court Reporters still require an exam.
Asked for comment about what jobseekers can expect from a career with the New York State Unified Court System, ASSCR Union President Eric Allen issued the following statement:
“Any court stenographer seeking a job within the Unified Court System of the State of New York can expect to be working in an environment where they are respected and sought after. The pay scale in New York is one of the highest of the big states. In addition to that, the New York State court system is always actively seeking court stenographers. New York wants officials. They have made that abundantly clear.
Each and every official court reporter in New York is represented by a union which will offer them many benefits above and beyond what their employer offers. Working in the NY Court system will have you feeling you are where you belong. If you are wanting to be an official, New York, especially New York City, is where you ought to be.”
That says it all, reporters. Take the next step and make moves to become a New York State official court reporter today!
Addendum:
This post will be advertised on Facebook until February 15th. Donations to Stenonymous.com in the next 7 days will help extend that time period.
This app ate the draft I made about r/court_reporting! Technology is crazy.
r/court_reporting now joins r/courtreporting and r/stenography as places where machine shorthand writers can be chronically online talk to each other anonymously through Reddit. Made by a not-me court reporter, for court reporters, it’s worth joining the discussion today!
In other news, we already have a couple of pledges and a couple hundred eyes on the post about New York City unionization from yesterday. Word about the idea has been posted to the Industry Times of New York.
I gotta say though, alternative publications like mine thrive off word-of-mouth spread from readers like you. If anyone out there would like to share the Industry Times press release or my post from yesterday, I’d be eternally grateful, even if you share it under the guise of an insult about me so that the agencies don’t catch on. I had the privilege of very briefly speaking with two figureheads from the then-defunct Federation of Shorthand over the years. I got the sense that one of the reasons it didn’t work out was it was hard to reach people. It’s still hard to reach people. But now the internet is so ubiquitous that word can travel faster and farther than was imaginable in the whole history of mankind. Surely, if we can get some shares, we can reach more people than those reporters of the past were able to.
And, you know, like I said yesterday, once this gets rolling it becomes a model that is theoretically reproducible in other states. I’ve already had a reporter reach out about the terrible treatment they’ve received in another state, the pain of doing the “freelance” thing with disabilities, and the hope that the unionization model will take off and protect new reporters.
For anyone that’s doing great in this field, I know you don’t want to let negativity into your bubble. I was the same way. But the purpose of acknowledging these negative situations is to progress toward positive solutions.
Let me remind everybody that the paragons of silence and ignorance that instinctively cling to their failing traditions are the ones that brought us to a place where we have very little institutional support, a falling median wage, and the public perception that this profession cannot meet the demands of a modern world. Yet we persist, insistent on assisting each other through a time of rapid change and artificial upheaval of our previously unchallenged prevalence. We must listen to the stories of struggle, lest we see a cascading failure and consequent erasure of our principles and paradigm.
Virtual Vision Board Party 2023. Steno Vision with Carrie Hewerdine, Deneé Vadell, and Stephanie Hicks. Links Below.
If I asked you what vision you have for yourself, what would you say?
Last December, Deneé Vadell, Stephanie Hicks, and Carrie Hewerdine hosted a virtual vision board party where students and reporters created vision boards while uplifting music played. Some people used posterboard and magazine clippings, while others created theirs electronically. I ended up doing both and loving the experience. Tunes were jamming, people were vibing and leaning side to side as they got creative with their colleagues.
Passing a specific speed, graduating, becoming certified, paying off debts, traveling, and living a healthy and more balanced life are some of the visions that became realities for some of the attendees.
What do you envision for yourself?
Vision Board by Chris DeGrazio
I remember the first time I learned what a vision board was. I thought the idea was silly. I’ve always respected and appreciated the value and motivation they provide others, but I never saw myself as someone who would be into that sort of thing.
What appealed to me was the social element. Being able to spend time with friends and be creative? Heck yeah!
If you’re able to attend this year, please consider joining the Facebook group “Steno Vision by StenoFluencer” and share pics of a vision board you’ve created in the past. We’d love to see! Maybe you can share a story of how a vision board has helped you accomplish a specific goal in your life.
May your year be filled with insights. May your health be good. May your visions become realities.
– Chris DeGrazio
Vision Board by Aralin Camacho, RPR
The vision board party was amazing and very unique. Deneé has a special way of always making people feel comfortable and cheering them on.
One of my goals was to earn my RPR which Deneé helped me with by encouraging me, we were determined to accomplish our goals, and I was able to become certified in January 2023.
I loved the way everyone collaborated together to make goals a reality, which was lovely because everyone was in the comfort of their own home but on camera together while Denee’ provided great music to set the tone for a magical evening.
I loved it and would definitely continue to attend these because Deneé’s energy is magnetic!
– Aralin Camacho, RPR
My board is in a frame next to my makeup station. I look at it every day and repeat out loud the goals I plan to achieve. It makes me smile, looking at the creativity I put into this special creation, knowing my mantra is coming to fruition. P.S. I still listen to the music you played for inspiration!
– Lisa Neal, RPR
I was excited about the vision board party with Deneé and Stephanie. I had a lot of fun. I passed my CCRA CCG exam. And paid off credit card debt.
– Felicia Price, CCG
Vision Board by Amanda Lundberg, RPR, CRC, NM CSR #567
My virtual vision board helped me focus on the upcoming year. I’ve had many local adventures, focused on improving my skills, and started volunteering at our local animal shelter. Next year I’m going to get to the travel part!
– Amanda Lundberg, RPR, CRC, NM CSR #567
It’s great to see your goals that are in your head and heart visualized on the vision board. It motivates you into action to complete the tasks needed to accomplish your goals.
– Bernice Whitlock
Vision Board by McKalie Bellew, RPR.Vision Board by McKalie Bellew, RPR
In December of 2022, I attended a virtual vision board party hosted by Deneé Vadell, or StenoFluencer. The vision board party was such an amazing experience and confidence boost. My vision board manifested for me to obtain my RSR, RPR and my Arizona State license. In March I obtained my RSR, in April I obtained my Washington state license, in July I obtained my RPR and in October I obtained my Arizona state license. I kept my vision board where I could always see it in my office at home and it was a great motivator. Going through the process of finding all the words of encouragement and affirmation to add to my board was so fulfilling imagining how great I wanted to be and knew I could be.
I love doing anything with the steno community, virtual or in person, and being surrounded by like-minded friends working toward a career in this profession made it that much more memorable and meaningful! I can’t wait to see what I whip up for my vision board for 2024!
– McKalie Bellew, RPR
After attending the virtual vision board party, I finally had enough courage to make the change in my career that I’ve always been scared to do. I went from freelance to court and passed the state court test. Never let fear stop you from achieving your goals! Thank you so much for all that you do to promote Steno.
– Anna Monchas-Gorvitz
Vision Board by Stephanie Hicks, RMR
This event was everything 👏🏽 Deneé Vadell’s playlist + Carrie Hewerdine’s energy + everyone’s positive energy and focus on the task at hand 🙌🏽 My vision board turned out amazing!! Can’t wait to add to it over the course of the year and accomplish all of my goals! 🔥🔥❤️
– Stephanie Hicks, RMR
Vision Board by Margary Rogers, RPR, CRI
Last year’s vision board party gave me a chance with like-minded individuals to sit quietly and allow visions of the future to seep below the surface of just thinking about it. I kept focusing on more time for me, and I got just that. Several vacations during the year, but the same amount of money billed as the previous year. So win-win.
– Carrie Hewerdine, RDR
Vision Board by Deneé Vadell, RPR
Vision boards help you visualize your success. By looking at your vision board daily, you immerse yourself in a visual representation of what you want or hope to achieve. This helps create a positive and powerful image in your mind while making you believe in your ability to achieve your goals.
Once I started creating vision boards, the game changed! In the last 5 years, I put goals & dreams on my vision board such as becoming a homeowner, getting my RPR, getting a black luxury car, having a destination wedding, traveling more, combining love and money, and saving money. I’ve achieved all of the above! I truly believe in the famous quote, “Write the vision and make it plain.”
I realized that vision boards changed my life and I wanted to share it with the steno community and anyone else who was interested, so I hosted a virtual vision board party for stenographers and also had them invite friends and family to join in with them.
I asked my steno bestie, Stephanie Hicks, RMR, if she would host it with me and then I asked Carrie Hewerdine, RDR, if she would be our special guest. The party was so successful. I plan on hosting one every year even if I don’t need to create a new board.
The next Virtual Vision Board Party will be held via Zoom on December 16th, 2023, from 7:00-10:00 p.m. ET. You can register for free at this link below.
On Thursday the Onondaga Criminal Court arraignments had a surprise visit from the embattled z-list court reporting personality, X, formerly known as George Santos. Santos, having been charged with being too compliant with police officers, was discovered to be a stenographer just shortly into the proceeding.
Stenonymous publishes “real” court transcript for creative writing exercise.
After the reveal, Mr. Santos was asked by the Court to relieve the official court reporter taking the proceedings. Mr. Santos allegedly turned to her, smiled, and said, “don’t worry, I got this. I’m the NCRA Fastest Fingers Award Winner of 2023. Elon Musk is going to buy you a horse for your trouble.”
Once Santos was behind the keys of the stenotype, the rest of it went well for him. In the transcript obtained by Court Tee Vee, an unprecedented situation unfolded.
THE COURT: Well, Mr. Santos, it seems there’s been a mistake. Your lawyer, Mr. Richards, has pointed out that the accusatory instrument has a fatal defect. The case is dismissed and sealed.
THE PROSECUTOR: Oh, Mr. Santos, we are so, so sorry for our malicious prosecution. Please don’t use the transcript of this proceeding to sue us.
MR. RICHARDS: My client is a benevolent and understanding person. In addition to being the first man to the moon and the only person to single handedly save an entire school bus of children with his left pinky, he donated enough to charity to end world hunger and eliminated unemployment worldwide. There’s no reason for him to sue you, and your apology is humbly accepted.
THE COURT: By the way, Mr. Santos, thank you for ending the court reporter shortage fraud by creating a controversy so obnoxious that there isn’t a single person that hasn’t heard of stenography. That was a bold move, and it really paid off for your profession, they should be proud.
THE DEFENDANT: Your Honor, it was no trouble. The court reporters living here and working every day to make this county shine, they’re the real heroes.
(Whereupon, court officers and court clerks all broke into tears as the sun shone through an open window and a beam of light cast a spotlight on X, formerly known as George Santos. As he exited the courtroom, a flock of doves carrying the mice from Cinderella fluttered through the window and dropped their furry friends, and everyone left the courtroom while singing We All Lift Together from the worldwide critically acclaimed MMORPG Warframe. Yes, including the mice and doves.)
Critics question the parenthetical at the end. Court officers, known for their professionalism, helpfulness, and dedication to the safety of courthouses, and clerks, also known for their professionalism and dedication to the just and fair operation of courthouses, simply don’t do that kind of thing. A source speaking on the condition of anonymity stated that in reality, the relieved stenographer was actually 1,567% more qualified than Santos, so we’re not really sure what occurred that day.
Breaking news. Check back for more updates.
*None of this is real. It’s part of Stenonymous Whatever I Want Weekends, a thing I just made up for when I want to do something different like this parody of so many flavors. According to a source that wishes to remain anonymous, in the incident this was based on, the erroneously-charged case was dismissed and sealed 14 days after arraignment. The source believes that a small percentage of our field does not understand the gravity of our work and how it can impact people’s lives, and that by making this excerpt and attached writing exercise public, we can all be reminded that anyone can be charged with anything, and that treating all lawyers, litigants, and the public equally is imperative. “It could be any of us one day,” he said.
Thanks again, Anonymous. I share these beliefs, but even if I didn’t, I’d probably have published anyway for the literary and conceptual value.
From Anonymous and myself, thank you for making this profession shine every day with your hard work and dedication.
This is all referring to the Walden movie, if that’s not clear. The main character is a stenographer. Before I embark on what I’m about to write, keep in mind I haven’t seen the movie. I’m probably not going to see the movie until December. And what I’m about to write has no bearing on whether the movie is good, and I’m going to come from a place of just assuming the movie will be good and that its star, Emile Hirsch, is also good at acting.
That said, I did find one site that gave pretty graphic detail, citing back to TMZ. It states that Hirsch grabbed Daniele Bernfeld, a producer, and put her in a chokehold after “consuming an enormous amount of alcohol.” Further states that Hirsch “pulled her across the table and onto the floor,” landing on top of her. While on top, he allegedly began choking her before being pulled off of her by bystanders. He later pled guilty to aggravated assault, receiving 15 days in jail, and admitting there was no excuse for what he did, and that it was reckless, wrong, and irresponsible. He also noted he had no memory of what had occurred. Dani Bernfeld reportedly wrote “quite simply, this punishment does not fit the crime.”
One member of the public reached out to me about it. In that person’s view, after the conviction he’s kind of minimized the incident, and that hurts his image. I can actually get where they’re coming from. Looking at some of the coverage afterwards, it was “the worst day of [his] life.” I dare say it was probably a pretty bad day for the woman he was choking too. Then again, we can look at this another way by saying “how many times does someone need to apologize for a terrible thing they did before they’re allowed to move on with their life?” Needless to say, there are going to be people with all manner of opinions, and depending on how things shake out, Hirsch’s past may impact the popularity of the movie with certain demographics.
It’s interesting for me, because I know that many people, including myself, have things in their past they’d rather not have dragged up after every achievement they make. But I also end up reflecting on my past. Had a pretty serious dispute with a woman in 2014 – 2015. Did I hurt her? Nope, I sued. Maybe about half a decade ago, a woman attacked me in my home while I was sleeping. In the dispute after waking, didn’t hurt her either. Then when I had my medical incident in 2021, I erroneously and wrongly believed a woman was trying to kill me. Did I hurt her? No. More than anyone, I know that alcohol can morph people into monsters. I’ve watched it happen to people I’ve loved. But when I used to drink heavily, I still managed not to hurt anyone. Is it just luck of the draw or is there an underlying mindset that helps to prevent violence? I don’t know.
And I think that’s where the anti-Hirsch crowd is coming from. Plenty of people drink or have other things happen to them, and they do not assault people. That’s why I’m writing today. We have to be cognizant of the fact that dependent upon the size of that crowd, the movie might flop. If it does, movie makers are bound to blame the stenography instead of the actor’s past, potentially limiting our representation in movies, music, and TV.
I’m able to separate the art from the artist in very much the same way you are all able to separate the writing I do from the professional work I perform. I look forward to seeing how things shake out and how the past might impact the future of this movie and steno itself in film/media. And overall, I’m excited to see Walden.
P.S.
Thank you, Anonymous, for raising this issue with me. Anonymous taught me a lot with relatively few messages, including just how privileged I really am. Unemployment for autistics is rumored to be somewhere between 50% and 90%, so the fact that I hold a full-time job is really a blessing, more so than I understood before today. Whether it’s luck or divine intervention, I intend to use that power for good.
A Stenonymous source came through for me on something the National Court Reporters Association is doing to prevent the sunset of the Tennessee Board of Court Reporting. Advocacy Center link went out. Sample letter and phone call templates were released for those that want to spend the time standing up for standards in court reporting. Get ‘em from your state leaders.
National Court Reporters Association responds to the attempted sunset of the Tennessee Board of Court Reporting.
There were also posts on social media about organizing.
Just for the sake of completeness, the sample letter in my possession is available for download.
I don’t always have good things to say about the National Court Reporters Association, but I will say that their responsiveness to state issues has been much better than it was once rumored to be. One New York source, for example, said that many years ago, the source called about New York cutting Workers Comp reporters, and that person was reportedly told that it was a state issue and that they’re federal. That basically meant “not our problem, deal with it.”
Let’s just say that if that line of logic existed in the NCRA ethos, it doesn’t seem to anymore. The organization has taken steps to become more supportive of state issues. Indiana was one example I can recall off the top of my head as of writing. I’ve said it online before, we need to decide if we want a profession or a club. If NCRA keeps on this path of responsiveness and communication, it’s a good sign we want to be a profession. It’s a good chance we’ll succeed.
My only real gripe is it took a couple of hours for this information to be leaked to me despite having so many Stenonymous sources…
StenoCaptions LLC issues statement after the 2023 attack on Israel.
I’m still on my hiatus, but my best friend’s company issued a statement recently, so it’s getting recognition.
To be honest, I remember a time when it was taboo for businesses to make even the slightest comment on social issues. Now it seems much more commonplace. Perhaps it’s for the better. Society lived under this false belief that work and life should be separate at all costs, don’t let one affect the other. But that’s not realistic, is it? What we do is very much a part of who we are, and sharing our positions gives us an opportunity to reconsider our own views or strengthen our communal beliefs.
To be honest, I share their view entirely. It’s worded perfectly. It condemns what was done, unlike some sources in the media. It acknowledges the suffering of everyone involved. It doesn’t re-traumatize the audience with a retelling of the gruesome things that are known to have occurred.
There’s not much I can do from my current station in life, but I will vote for anyone that I believe will work to bring an end to senseless violence like what the world has just witnessed.
Thank you, Wendy & Joshua, for having the courage to tie your brand to your moral compass. It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s a big step forward in the evolution of modern business.
Anonymous: “Imagine Reporting in San Diego was recently acquired by Lexitas – one of the latest monopolization/consolidation moves here in CA, hence the Dallas address on the invoice. The result? They bumped up the prices. The actual per page rate comes to $9.44/pp for this 143 page transcript, after factoring in all the add-ons. I wonder how much $/pp they paid the reporter…”
I have to point back to my research about tacit parallelism. Even where competitors are not actively colluding, they see that they can jack up the prices because everybody is jacking up the prices. I don’t believe that Lexitas or Imagine was a part of the Speech-to-Text Institute or the market manipulation there.But we’re seeing how the continued consolidation of the field is leading toward very high prices for attorneys. It seems page rates are being kept artificially low and some of these companies are relying on the add-ons and surcharges to make a buck. It’s pretty smart, since it can almost double revenue.
Just to drive this home — and I get it, I’m in a different state — reporters in New York City are 30 years behind inflation. If their rates had kept up with inflation, the rate would be around $6.00 per page. That’s on our automatic O+2s . Now, to put this into perspective, reporters aren’t generally making $6.00, and though I’m overjoyed when people come out of the woodwork to say they make more than that, I hate to tell you that you’re in the deep minority. When I came out of school I was offered $2.80 (2010). Many of my classmates were offered $3.25 and that was considered a good rate. Last year I had at least one person report that they were still being offered $3.25. Some say they’ve gotten $4.00. Some say they’ve gotten $4.50. Nowhere near $6.00.
And again, with all the add-ons, we’re looking at a charge of $9.44 or $9.46, so it’s basically taking what reporters should be paid, adding 60%, and sending out a bill. That’s in the context of a profession where previously there were 70-30 splits in favor of reporters. Then we look at what reporters are being paid, and just to be nice, we’ll take the $4.50. $9.46 – $4.50. $4.96. That $4.96 is 110% of the $4.50. And now just to complete the thought, $9.46 – $3.25. $6.21. 191% of the $3.25 attorneys might pay if we just cut out the middleman — or at least the middlemen charging high.
The skeptic says: So what? You’re New York. This is California — or Texas — or wherever. To that I say if there was a genuine shortage on the scale that it was advertised as being, agencies would simply be pulling New Yorkers to go certify, license, and work. And this can be mathematically shown. If the rate for New Yorkers should be close to 6 and is actually 4.50 (we’ll cut out the 3.25s and 2.80s and pretend everyone’s getting a decent O+2). 6 – 4.50 = $1.50. We’re talking about a 33% raise for some of the best-paid people and more than doubling the income of kids who get out of school and accept $2.80 a page because they just don’t know any better. And that $6.00 is still a heck of a lot lower than the $9.44. Even if we went back to the 70-30 splits with $6.00 to the reporter, it’d be around $8.58 a page. This also doesn’t account for places where the cost of living is lower than New York City, which would effectively be an even higher raise. Again, these business folks are all about numbers and money. If there was a monumental shortage rather than a desire to depress court reporter incomes, they’d be easily pulling people in with raises or a lower cost of living — unless everywhere in the whole entire country is as underpaid as New York City, which seems unlikely. They were paying us 25 cents on copies while Ohio was getting 2 bucks.
So thank you to my Stenonymous source. You not only helped me show my audience the heavy cost of court reporting add-ons potentially doubling attorney bills, but also help bring out the fact that the shortage that was advertised (70% of the field vanishing by about 2033) is not the shortage we got (coverage issues in the California courts that refused to use money earmarked for enticing court reporters),
The rest is up to the people that share this article and keep attorneys and court reporters informed.
