Tag: strategy

Shortage Solutions 6: Pay the Piper

Everybody knows the story about the Pied Piper. A town has a terrible vermin problem and the Pied Piper comes, promising to do away with the problem. The Piper uses his or her flute, pipe, or whatever musical instrument the story calls for, and plays a magical tune that lets him or her lead all the rats to the river to be drowned. Upon the Piper making good on their promise, the town refuses to pay the Piper, and the Piper uses that magical tune to lead all the children away. The moral of the story is pay your debts — or else!

When I was a newbie, people had no trouble telling me I needed to pay my dues, accept whatever an agency was willing to toss me, and move forward. Those people were right. In the beginning, one needs to be hungry and establish themselves. So it’s with some amusement that I get to say now to all of you: Make sure after that initial starter period that the Piper is paid. Court reporters, you are the Piper. The agency is not the Piper. The agency went through the trouble of marketing and receiving work to dish out to you, but if any one particular agency didn’t exist, the depositions would still be occurring, the demand is more or less fixed.

In the face of fixed demand and a fairly specialized skill set of deposition or stenographic reporting, it makes sense that as the supply of court reporters goes down, the price must rise. Here in New York we were pretty depressed on rates. Agencies were offering $3.25 a page and 25 cents on a copy, if that. Things were bad. Now the shoe is literally on the other foot, and it’s time for reporters to demand to be paid, and for agencies to pay them before the reporters take your children away.

I have to say, one starter company that seems to get this shifting paradigm is NexDep. It looks like they want to pay Reporters 4 a page and 2 a copy. 2 dollars, just so you know, not two cents. I reached out to Daniel Perelman, ostensibly NexDep’s founder, just to get a little more insight on what they’re doing or things they’d like reporters to know about their company.

My very first question was whether they had a referral program like many of the success stories out there, and he confirmed that NexDep does have a referral program where a percentage of every job from the referred client would go to the referrer.

Next I asked about wait time, and Mr. Perelman explained they don’t currently bill for wait time, but also stated he was open to it and understood the need to bill for wait time in the event a reporter was sitting and waiting for hours on their time. He did also mention to me that the reporter’s full-day appearance fee is always given, even if the deposition is a half hour long.

Asked about RFPs and whether NexDep was taking a step into any of that territory, Mr. Perelman stated that they were open to any business opportunity, but also noted that his experience with RFP contracts tended to result in low pay for reporters. My takeaway was that if it wasn’t getting his reporters paid, he wasn’t going to take it.

Finally, asked if he had anything he wanted to tell reporters or the field about his company, he wrote, “Nexdep is the first to market on-demand court reporting platform. We’re popular not because of our low rates, but because we make scheduling incredibly fast and simple on the client end, while also making the accepting of jobs fair and easy on the reporter end. We’ve made freelance court reporting a truly freelance career again.” Honestly, I first met Mr. Perelman at the Plaza College Court Reporting Symposium, and he was honest and upfront about not being a reporter, but his company policies tell me he knows who we are and the value we bring to the table.

Now all this said, I have definitely had some anecdotes from reporters who said “I signed up for NexDep and haven’t gotten anything yet.” So that indicates to me that there’s definitely a larger market share for NexDep to go out there and grab — but maybe this is an opportunity for all the other agencies and all reporters to figure out that one sure route to retain reporting professionals is to make sure they’re getting paid for doing the lion’s share of the work.

Law For Stenographers (US) (FRCP)

I had previously shared law for Stenographers in New York and my understanding of New York law as it pertains to remote swearing of witnesses. I wanted to bring out some information about the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which govern our federal depositions and activity there. The bulk of the Federal Rules have nothing to do with stenographers, but there are a number of Federal Rules that pertain specifically to our duties as stenographers and what they label as officers or deposition officers.

Rule 28. Rule 28 (a)(1)(A) lays out that a deposition may be taken before an officer authorized to administer oaths by federal law or by the place of examination within the United States. You should be very familiar with your state law as to who can administer oaths, or ask to be qualified by stipulation pursuant to any of the rules we are about to get into.

Rule 30. Rule 30 (b)(5), very similar to our CPLR in New York, has language that “unless stipulated by the parties…” long story short is that that “unless” language opens up the opportunity for parties to stipulate to things like remote swearing, or alter the procedure. Once again, one of the few times in law that attorneys can stipulate away the law. Please know a reader wrote to me on 1/16/20 and stated their interpretation was not that the attorneys can stipulate away notary law and have the notary swear the witness, but rather proceed as if the witness is under oath and have them read and sign as such. As of yet, I have no case law on this issue.

Do note there there is a list of stuff you as the officer is supposed to do here, like placing your name and address on the record, the date, time, place of the deposition, deponent’s name, your administration of the oath, and the identity of all persons present. At the end, you must state that the deposition is complete and set out any stipulations of the attorneys.

Rule 30 (b)(3) states the method of recording the deposition must be in the deposition notice. Do yourself a favor and educate attorneys to ensure their deposition notice says stenographically recorded.

Rule 30 (b)(4) explicitly allows remote proceedings, and with the language in Rule 30 (b) (5), and in the absence of contrary case law, one may draw an inference that so long as you are not violating your state law, it is also permissible to swear a witness while not in their presence.

Rule 30 (c) (2). Again, like our CPLR in New York, objections need to be made at the time of the examination on the record. If they have objections to the way you’re swearing or what’s occurring, they need to make them then and there. Long story short, they can’t really come back 9 months later and say you did something wrong — though they may try.

Rule 30 (e) tells us that upon request by a deponent or party before the deposition is completed, the deponent must be allowed to review the transcript. This is what we call read and sign.

Rule 30 (f) explains how the officer is to send the deposition to the ordering attorney. Common sense stuff like identifying it and sealing the envelope. It then largely becomes the responsibility of the attorney.

Rule 30 (f)(3) says unless otherwise stipulated, you have to retain your stenographic notes and provide a transcript upon payment of reasonable fees.

Rule 32. Rule 32 (d)(2) makes it resoundingly clear that any objection to your qualifications as an officer at the deposition must be challenged promptly, either at the deposition or soon thereafter. Rule 32 (d)(3) again makes it clear that objections that are not made pretty much at the time of the deposition are waived.

Addendum:

Unsworn depositions, particularly on the federal side, can open up reporters to liability. See Dineen Squillante’s post on this. Looking forward to its publication in Vermont!

Shortage Solutions 5: Public Perception

  • I know a stenographic educator or three, and one of them said to me recently that they believed the field would die. Being more quizzical than abrasive for once in my life, I asked why. The educator told me somberly that it was public perception. Succinctly, if everyone believes it is an antiquated job with no future, it’ll become an antiquated job with no future.
  • Of course, such a grim conclusion comes with some serious upsides. If everyone believes that the field of stenography is thriving — and if you follow my work, you know that I think it is — then we will see the thing become many times more vibrant than it is today. Every piece of positive press goes to showing the country that our field is strong. Every time you read something that is indicative of growth, we are actually growing a little more as a community. To their credit, Veritext sees this too, and is taking at least some interest and leadership in the public perception of the reporting industry by offering a .1 CEU webinar, and right at the top they say “re-popularizing the reporting profession together.”
  • As the news spreads that stenography is the thing to do, more people will invest in training stenographers and becoming stenographers, and the shortage might just take care of itself. To all those entities and allies in New York and around the country celebrating stenography, don’t be afraid to get some press into your events and let them in just a little on who we are and the importance of the record we protect. In many ways we have started on this road of positivity and changing perceptions, and I am not the first to propose this idea, but I am happy to be a part of spreading the message that this field has a future and can provide for the people and families in it.

    • NCRA Bylaw Amendment Proposals 2019

    Like many of you, I got the email proposing bylaw changes. You’re free to read them for yourself if you are a member of NCRA. I wanted to give a brief summary of each and my general thoughts. Voting will take place August 15, 2019, so set that in your calendars and make sure you make your voice heard in the next election. Remember, they send out the emails to electronically vote, and they hold that vote open the whole day, meaning you do not have to be present.

    1. Amendment 1 is going to make it so members may submit written or verbal requests to be reinstated. This is a great choice for all those members who have left who want to join back up because they’ll have more options. I’ll vote yes.
      Amendment 2 would make it clear that registered members can be reinstated as registered members as long as they fulfill educational requirements. This is also a great move. It shows that the NCRA is not money grabbing for the exam dollars. In my view, if it was a money grab amendment, they’d demand returning members retest and re-qualify for certs. This is pretty much the opposite, pro-stenographer, and I’ll vote yes.
      Amendment 3 seems to be about moving the proration of dues from the bylaws to the policies and procedures. Without an argument as to how this might hurt us as members, I’ll vote yes.
      Amendment 4 deals with how leadership seats will be assigned in the event of a vacancy. It seems to streamline the process and simplify it. The only thing I will caution here is that the language might be challengeable or confusing in that the previous language was that in the event of a vacancy, the president-elect would take the president’s office, and if that term was six months or less, have the opportunity to serve a full term. This new proposed language just says “half a term” when it should probably say “half a term or less.” This new language could probably be argued to allow someone who serves more or less than half a term to still go on to serve another full term. I would urge us to revisit this language next year. That said, I’ll be voting yes.
      Amendment 5 just changed the language to make more sense, saying the nominating committee will meet before the election instead of before the next election. This is an easy yes.
      Amendment 6 changes the National Committee of State Associations to the National Congress of State Associations. Oddly enough, I had written about this in the recent NCRA survey, saying we need more emphasis on state action. This is definitely more emphasis on state action, and I’ll be voting yes.
      Amendment 7 would change the requirements to be a state association affiliated with the NCRA. Currently you must show your organization is in line with NCRA’s bylaws and constitution and that most of your members are stenographic reporters. This would remove that majority stenographic members requirement. Now, some people will likely urge a no vote on this one because it can come off as anti-stenographer, but there is a clever catch. NCRA’s bylaws and constitution are all about promulgating stenographic reporters. So basically it would allow hybrid state associations to affiliate with NCRA if they were in line with promoting stenography. This is a creative way to be inclusionary, and I’m voting yes, but I also have to urge us to make sure we have a process for taking away affiliation if an association shifts from our team to against us.

    Be Smart With Social Media

    Social media is a powerful tool. Like any tool, it needs to be handled properly. We have had unions, associations, and individual reporters growing their online presence and using it to get details and ideas out to fellow stenographers. All that said, whether you’re posting a joke or creating a professional networking masterpiece, it’s time for some advice on social media.

    First, realize that people will see what you post. You’ve got to be pretty comfortable with anyone and everyone seeing it, from your best friend to your worst enemy. What you do on social media is largely not private, no matter the group, setting, or structure. As a new person, this can be intimidating and dissuade you from participating in discussions. We’ll get into why that’s a bad idea, but first let’s run over some quick tips to make your use of social media enjoyable.

      If you are freelancing, posting directly about your agency can bite. In every group, there is a person, persons, or Parsons that will leak your post to your agency to curry favor or because your post offends their sensibilities. If you have a delicate piece of information that you want published, seek out a confidant or method to anonymously publish the information. If it’s newsworthy or going to help stenographers, then it’s worth protecting yourself first.
      If you are freelancing, posting about setting rates or conspiring to fix rates can get you in legal trouble. It’s called price fixing, and it’s a concern because we are not considered workers or employees, but independent contractors on the same level of business as agencies. We all know that the power and reach we have as individuals is different. That doesn’t change antitrust law.
      If you’re working as an employee or even freelancing, posting about a job can hurt you badly. We are supposed to be neutral, and in some states there are ethical rules we can break if we are not careful. There is a line between talking about a political idea or law and talking about an actual case that you reported on. My advice? Don’t cross the line. Imagine screen shots of what you say being printed in news.
      Be kind. The family members or friends of whoever you talk about may be watching. Easy example, I once posted about a stenographer losing their job. Someone who was close to that person reminded us then and there, we all struggle in life, don’t rush to judgment.
      Test your own beliefs. You will see crazy claims out there on the Internet. Rarely should you dismiss what people say out of hand or make final conclusions. Perfect example, I saw a transcript I thought was page padding. I came to learn that that was that state’s mandated page layout. What you think is not always what is true.
      Controls can help. Social media is a tool. Privacy settings can screen out some people from seeing stuff. You can choose who to follow, who to block, and all sorts of other content preferences. Spend just one afternoon reviewing your settings and make sure you’re getting the most relevant info in your feed.

    So now we get to the logical end: This stuff is stressful. Why don’t I just delete my social media? You can. There is no law against that. But social media is this amazing tool for staying current and tuned into what the field is doing. We get the great marketplace of ideas, dispatches from agencies, and food for our own thoughts. Life is stressful, but very few of us run off into the wild to live off the grid. Why? Because the benefits of society are greater than the simplicity we’d otherwise have. Similarly, the benefits of social media are greater than the peace gained by never engaging. That said, engage smartly so that your tool never gets used as a weapon against you.

    The Cost of Doing Business

    Dragging up part of an old retainer agreement just to prove a point here. As you can see from this example, if the case went to depositions, the law firm intended to charge almost fifteen dollars a page to me, the client. Let’s just say that in New York at that time, 2014, it was pretty easy to find someone to do it for 4. Many of my contemporaries were working for $3.25 a page or less. Being somewhat shy, I never bothered to ask why that was so high or explain the going rate of a stenographer.

    But this should raise some questions for us in the field. If this was in a retainer, what kind of rates are really being charged for our services? Is there really a race to the bottom? Certainly, some owners have bid low to get contracts, and that can hurt our fees, but I have felt for a long time that if we started to see invoices from various law firms around the city and state, we’d see a pattern emerge of winners and losers.

    The losers are undoubtedly those who do not make it part of their business to learn what they are truly worth. Learn exactly what the market will bear and demand it. The lucky thing about being a loser, I can say from experience, is that it is a mindset more than a personality trait. We all have the capability of changing our minds, pulling ourselves out of a worker mentality of “I will work and get what they pay” to “What is my value really?”

    In deciding your rates and what you want in life, you should create a simple spreadsheet or list. You can use Google Sheets today for free. Write down all of your expenses. Your business and personal expenses. How much is your food, shelter, supplies per month? Add to those expenses any business expenses you might have to improve your business. Think classes, certifications, equipment. You take that list of expenses, and you have the absolute bear minimum you must make. Now consider what you would like to make. Go over to my math tables on how many pages you need to make your desired annual salary. Look at the different amount of work you have to do at each rate, and see for yourself the cost of doing business.

    Remember that you are the provider. It’s not going to get much cheaper than your expenses unless you live a very lavish lifestyle. Why does everything cost so much? Because at the end of the day, people and their families have to eat. So don’t be shy about applying that to your business, asking questions, pushing up your rates when appropriate, and be confident about the skill you’re selling. Hopefully seeing $14.95 in print raises questions for you like it did for me. You’re a winner, earn like one.

    Table of Contents

    *This page is no longer updated and has been moved to here.

    Articles or posts that I believe have no more value are omitted from this page but may be found via the search box.

    Shortage Solutions 13: Unionization 6/21/22
    A shortage solution that discusses the potential of unionization for deposition reporters.

    June-July 2022 Rates Survey 6/16/22
    A survey for court reporter rates in Q3 2022.

    What to Say When Offered $0.60 Per Audio Minute 6/15/22
    A memorialization of one stenographer’s words after being offered less than a third of the going rate.

    MockWoman: Apprentice Required for Mock Depo Experience 6/14/22
    An invitation for apprentices to reach out to Ana Fatima Costa for a mock depo experience.

    Create Content for Stenonymous! 6/13/22
    An invitation for others to write on Stenonymous.

    I Asked the Public About Stenography. Here’s What Happened. 6/9/22
    In this post I reveal the results of a survey released and marketed to the public.

    Depp v Heard Steno Discussion 6/7/22
    This post talks about media surrounding Depp v Heard stenographer Judy Bellinger.

    New York’s Short(age) Squeeze 6/3/22
    A deep dive into New York’s rates adjusted for inflation to 2022.

    Releasing Stenonymous June 2022 Ad Report
    The release of report of Stenonymous ads between 2020 and May 2022

    Join Chris DeGrazio’s Virtual Steno Events!
    A promotion of virtual events held by Chris DeGrazio in May 2022.

    The Irreversible Institute 5/26/22
    An analysis of the bad info put out by the Speech-to-Text Institute.

    Steno: It’s Like Believing Your Husband When He Says “She Meant Nothing to Me.” 5/24/22
    A repost of a comment by Jeanese Johnson.

    Need A Court Reporter? Check This Out. 5/19/22
    An advertisement for attorneys seeking stenographers.

    Correcting the Record on Dave Wenhold and NCRA 5/18/22
    Making it clear that negative things I wrote about Dave Wenhold in December 2021 were a result of my medical situation. Also discusses the NCRA Advocacy Center.

    Pro Say Podcast features Steven Lerner, Glitchy Rollout of Digital Court Reporting 5/16/22
    Journalist Steven Lerner was among the first to cover the stenographer shortage debate.

    PYRP Zoom: StoryCloud Situation 5/4/22
    Post announcing Protect Your Record Project’s meeting with Jo Ann Byles Holmgren.

    Phishing for Court Reporting Associations 5/3/22
    A post describing the wave of phishing that hit court reporting associations in 2022.

    Eclipse Users, Dineen Squillante’s AutoBrief/InfoBar Webinar is Available! 4/29/22
    A post announcing the availability of a popular Eclipse trainer’s webinar.

    NCRA: “We must warn legal professionals…” about digital! 4/28/22
    A post highlighting NCRA’s 2022 President Dibble’s announcement to bar association leaders and lawyers.

    Bulletin: NCRA Misquote Removed & ILCRA Victory 4/12/22
    A bulletin highlighting an Illinois Court Reporter Association victory and the removal of a lie published about NCRA.

    Why Stenographic Court Reporting Is Superior to Digital 4/8/22
    A post that explores why a live stenographer is better than the record-and-transcribe digital reporting method.

    StoryCloud Crushed in Texas 3/29/22
    A post describing what happened to StoryCloud in Spring 2022.

    Why I Suspect Big Box is Ready for Big Burial 2/16/22
    A post speculating that the larger firms may be servicing big debts that make long-term low prices unsustainable for them.

    $100 Off Kentley Insights Market Research Report for CRCW 2022! 2/5/22
    Post announcing a court reporting & stenotype services market research report discount for Stenonymous readers.

    Victoria Hudgins’ Analyses for Legaltech News are Digital Court Reporting Marketing 2/2/22
    Hit piece for an “analyst” that routinely analyzes our industry in a way that highlights digital technology and ignores stenographic technology.

    NYSCRA’s Upcoming Webinars Can Shape Our Profession 2/1/22
    Piece announcing NYSCRA’s early 2022 webinars.

    Got Sued? Get Steno Mug Available Now At Steno Swag 1/31/22
    A post announcing the availability of the “Got Sued? Get Steno” mug.

    Stenonymous Becomes StenoKeyboards Affiliate 1/31/22
    Announcement that users could purchase from StenoKeyboards through Stenonymous’s affiliate link.

    Shaunise Day Presents the Fearless Stenographers Conference 2022 1/30/22
    Post announcing the Fearless Stenographers Conference. At the conference, Mark Kislingbury broke his former world record for stenotype speed and reached 370 words per minute.

    U.S. Legal Support Posts for Stenographic Court Reporter 1/28/22
    A post highlighting U.S. Legal Support’s creation of the Director of Reporter Engagement role and its first 2022 LinkedIn blast for a stenographic reporter.

    Veritext Apparently Charged the Equivalent of $37 Per Page in Texas 1/28/22
    A post highlighting what I would consider high charges relative to our industry.

    Breaking Barriers? Open Steno Leads the Way 1/23/22
    A summary of the January 2022 Open Steno event.

    Why Active Readback’s No Steno Man is Wrong 1/22/22
    A post that examines the veracity of Nick Mahurin’s claims about steno.

    Our Shortage is Not the Only One Being Exaggerated 1/20/22
    As of 2022, corporate consolidation and shortage concerns were impacting multiple industries. This post touched on that.

    Worlds Collide: Open Steno Meets Professional Stenographers 2022 1/19/22
    An announcement for the January 2022 Open Steno event that brought professionals and hobbyists together.

    Stenograph’s Disrespect of Stenographers Continues with Texas 1/18/22
    A post memorializing Stenograph’s cancellation of a meeting with Texas court reporters.

    New Mailing Address, Stenograph Update, and Academic Integrity, Oh My! 1/15/22
    A general update on the blog and a request for digital transcripts.

    Shortage Explained 1/14/22
    Some believe I do not believe there is a stenographer shortage. This post attempted to lay out my claims more clearly.

    How To Report CR Antitrust Violation to FTC
    This post explained how to report antitrust violations to FTC. The concern at the time was student consumers being lied to about digital court reporting.

    Illegal Conduct in Court Reporting Explained 1/9/22
    This post tried to summarize why I believe the shortage was being

    NYSCRA’s Press Release Reprints for CRCW 2022 Hit the Web Today! 1/8/22
    Post announcing a New York State Court Reporters Association press release.

    URGENT — Kentucky A to Z Needs Machines/Writers!
    Used Stenonymous to help call for A to Z writers.

    ESYOH Used to Misrepresent NCRA’s Commissioned Forecast 1/5/22
    A post showing how ESYOH was used to misrepresent the NCRA’s stance on digital court reporters.

    Response to Times Bulletin Bullying Accusations 1/4/22
    A dishonest article was made about me. I documented successfully getting it taken down.

    Pre-Launch: Project Phoenix 1/1/22
    A post about Project Phoenix.

    Stenonymous Upgrades Payment System and Announces Matching Pledges! 12/29/21
    After my medical ordeal, I utilized Stenonymous for fundraising.

    I Am Alive and Well 12/28/21
    A post that touched on my December 2021 medical situation and let readers know I was okay.

    Court Reporting Antitrust Conspiracy Explained 12/17/21
    A post explaining why I believed something shady was going on in court reporting.

    Stenonymous Receives Demand for Correction & Apology from Naegeli 12/16/21
    Naegeli demanded correction and apology, and I responded.

    PSA: Pattern Cancellations May Be Evidence of Deceit 12/14/21
    A PSA explaining that court reporting firms that cancel frequently may not be honest.

    Video Evidence That Veritext is Defrauding Consumers 12/12/21
    Video showing how Veritext downplays stenographers as old or outdated. This education was given to prosecutors. Many prosecutors go into civil litigation. Getting civil litigation lawyers to agree with digital reporting is the only way digital reporting will fly.

    Pre-Launch: Stenonymous’s Project Phoenix 12/11/21
    A post announcing the Stenonymous Project Phoenix survey.

    Selling to Veritext? Read This. 12/8/21
    A post talking about the private equity game as it relates to court reporting.

    STTI Copies NCRA, Assumes Lawyers Can’t Tell the Difference 12/2/21
    A post memorializing STTI’s letter to bar associations.

    Veritext and US Legal Launch Pro-Steno Emails November 2021 12/1/21
    A post memorializing Veritext and U.S. Legal Support’s pro-steno activity.

    Stenonymous to Hire Investigative Team for 2022 11/30/21
    A post where I explained I planned to hire an investigation team.

    Bloomfield College Seeking Court Reporting Instructors 11/29/21
    A post about Bloomfield College’s need for instructors.

    Stenograph’s Phoenix Won’t Rise From the Ashes 11/27/21
    A post noting propaganda techniques in Stenograph’s/STTI’s materials.

    Black Friday Sale — Verbit News for Free 11/26/21
    A post following Verbit, a relative newcomer to the court reporting and captioning space.

    2021 Holiday Offer for Digital Court Reporters 11/24/21
    An appeal for more collaboration and funding, including some pie-in-the-sky ideas.

    Open Steno’s Unprecedented Growth Continues 11/23/21
    OpenSteno.org continues its push to grow the stenographic legion.

    Stenonymous Promotes Naegeli’s Lawsuit Threat on Twitter 11/22/21
    After Naegeli’s lawsuit threat I promoted it on Twitter to 8,000 people and Naegeli backed down.

    Rumors that LiveLitigation is Linked to vTestify False, says President 11/21/21
    Though both companies may have used the branding “LiveDeposition,” the president of LiveLitigation says they are competitors.

    Naegeli Threatens Legal Filing Against Stenonymous 11/20/21
    Due to my 11/19/21 post, Naegeli threatened to sue me.

    Naegeli Charged $11.50 Per Page on a Copy Sale 11/19/21
    This post exposed how Naegeli charged $11.50 on a copy sale, even if that’s not what was ultimately received.

    Day 1 of Stenograph Boycott, Company Releases Pro-Steno Teaser 11/18/21
    After I called for a boycott, Stenograph put out pro-steno images to appease customers.

    NCRA Joins Battle, Calls Out Potentially Illegal Conduct 11/17/21
    NCRA announced to the country that procedural rules were being violated in many states, so I reported on it.

    Is Stenograph Sabotaging Stenographer Software Support? 11/16/21
    This post memorialized the deterioration of Stenograph customer service in 2021.

    Orange Legal, A Veritext Company, May Share Location with BlueLedge 11/12/21
    This post explored the fact that Orange Legal appears to share a location with BlueLedge.

    BlueLedge Connected with Veritext and Stenograph 11/11/21
    This post showed the friendliness of BlueLedge, a digital court reporting training program, with Stenograph and Veritext.

    Identimap Offers Free Trial to Court Reporting Businesses 11/10/21
    This post explained Identimap’s offer to court reporting businesses.

    US Legal Support Switches to Ultimate Staffing in Its Bid to Betray Industry 11/9/21
    After months of daily LinkedIn posts searching for digital court reporters, US Legal switched to using Ultimate Staffing to post the digital court reporter jobs.

    Court Reporter EDU is FoS 11/7/21
    This post exposes CourtReporterEDU.org, a site that appears to be dedicated to providing resources for people looking to become court reporters / stenographers. The site actually redirects people to Ed 2 Go / BlueLedge.

    US Legal Terrified of Stenonymous, Donates $50k to Project Steno 11/6/21
    A jab at US Legal Support for donating a comparatively trivial amount of money to Project Steno while doing everything in its power to undermine, underpay, and eradicate stenographers.

    Stenograph’s Public Relations Problem 11/5/21
    This post explains that Stenograph’s good will towards stenographers is manufactured to appease so that Stenograph can sell to both stenographers and digital court reporters. I explain that it is in stenographers’ best interest to boycott unless and until the company ceases all digital court reporting promotion and why stenographers have that power.

    Proof STTI is a Propaganda Machine 11/4/21
    In this post I revealed that if STTI’s claims about stenographer shortage were accurate, 16% of jobs would be uncovered.

    Is US Legal Giving Digital Reporters Benefits? 11/4/21
    A post comparing the temporarily good treatment of digital court reporters to the historically atrocious treatment of stenographic court reporters.

    StenoMasters Membership Free to Seven Students — Charter Imminent! 11/3/21
    A post revealing StenoMasters would soon be chartered. Several students were given their first year free.

    My Transformation 11/1/21
    A post revealing more of my thoughts on human psychology, how I used that to help myself and others, and how I hope others will use my discoveries for good.

    U.S. Legal Support Charged the Equivalent of $4.90 on a Copy Sale in CA 10/31/21
    A post revealing how U.S. Legal charged $4.90 a page on a copy. A court ruled $2.50 was reasonable.

    Tipping Points Are Hard! 10/27/21
    A post revealing my letter to the FTC and Twitter campaign exposing Peter Giammanco’s behavior.

    Support A Steno Streamer Today! 10/26/21
    A post announcing my support for VaderBabe87, a steno Twitch streamer.

    Veritext and US Legal Lied to the Public About Stenographer Shortage 10/23/21
    This post explored how two major court reporting companies inflated the required enrollments to solve the stenographer shortage by a factor of six.

    Want a Press Release? Write Me Today! 10/21/21
    My post offering press release services.

    Becki Joins the Stenographic Legion! 10/20/21
    Becki’s TikTok took the steno world by storm months prior to this post. She unboxed her new stenotype on camera, and this post memorializes that.

    Verbit Continues Trying to Brainwash an Industry 10/19/21
    A post that pits actual numbers against Verbit’s overblown claims of stenographer shortage.

    Steno101’s Spotify Ad Has Taken Off 10/18/21
    A post memorializing Steno101.com’s Spotify ad launch.

    A Little About Copyright and This Blog 10/16/21
    A lighthearted post where I explained I would not enforce any copyright that I own related to this blog and encouraged readers to use it in whatever legal way they wanted.

    Arizona Asked for Public Comment on Recording and We Responded 10/14/21
    A memorialization of Arizona’s attempt to change the court rules and our response as a field.

    My Open Email to Readback Active Reporting 10/12/21
    A post where I revealed an e-mail I wrote to Readback Active Reporting, a firm attempting to sell digital court reporting under the ruse of being a new classification, “active reporting.”

    Upcoming Appearances with Stenographers World and PYRP 10/8/21
    A post where I announced a weekend of online appearances and said something controversial.

    BLS Statistics on Our Field May Be Unreliable 10/7/21
    A post that exposes how the Bureau of Labor Statistics data has changed over time and why it may be accurate as of October 2021.

    AI Researchers Have Similar Expectation & Belief Problems to Ours 10/6/21
    A post that discusses AI winter and points to the importance of funding and investor perception.


    We Defeated The Stenographer Shortage Twice Before I Was Born and Will Again 10/4/21
    A look at historic stenographer shortages and what that might mean for our current shortage.

    When Autocraptions Fail, Stenographers Step Up 10/2/21
    A post memorializing when a stenographer stepped up to help people suffering from bad captions.

    Upcoming Online Events Court Reporters Are Invited To! 9/29/21
    A post that announces Ana Fatima Costa’s 9/30 workshop and AAUW’s 10/5 workshop.

    U.S. Legal Support Continues Its Attack On Minority Speakers 9/28/21
    A post that lines up and explains more succinctly my case for why U.S. Legal is exaggerating and exacerbating the shortage.

    Zombie Corporations in Court Reporting (2-minute video) 9/27/21
    A video post explaining zombie corporations and a brief reasoning for my belief that much of the private equity money in court reporting is devoted to zombie corporations.

    Big Companies Are Not Using Digital Reporting Because of Stenographer Shortage 9/24/21
    A post showing that despite claims that the use of digital reporting is due to stenographer shortage, few good faith attempts to recruit stenographers or build interest in the field are made.

    Find Your Voice With StenoMasters 9/23/21
    A blog post promoting StenoMasters, a nonprofit dedicated to helping stenographers and the public with public speaking.

    If You Think I’m Your Enemy, Watch This Video 9/20/21
    Realizing that some of my message gets lost in writing, I took to video to explain myself to my fellow court reporters.

    How 60 Stenographers Changed Reality 9/17/21
    This post urged reporters to see their own power as individuals.

    Verbit Published Kentuckiana Proceeding Audio Online Without Anyone’s Permission     9/15/21
    This post exposed how Verbit posted family court proceeding audio on the internet and paved the way to the audio being taken down.

    Investors Misled, Verbit Lies, Media Buys It 9/14/21
    This post explored various claims by Verbit and why they were misleading or untrue.

    US Legal Rep: Does It Really Matter If Done Legally and Ethically…? 9/13/21
    This post exposed that US Legal Support may be lying to court reporting consumers about the stenographer shortage.

    How Corporations Gaslight Stenographers Into Fighting Each Other and How To Beat That 9/9/21
    This post exposed the gaslighting that causes infighting in our field and distracts us from talking about actual issues.

    The Layperson’s Guide To Why Stenographic Reporting Is More Efficient Than Digital Reporting 9/8/21
    This post laid out some facts about digital reporting that are rarely talked about and dives deeper than “what if the microphone doesn’t pick it up.”

    Allison Hall — $20 to Sponsor a Student in Need 9/7/21
    This post celebrates the anniversary of Paying It Forward, a group of stenographers coming together to help students and newbies break down financial barriers to entry in our field.

    NYSCRA Offering RPR WKT Test Prep September 2021 9/4/21
    This post advertises NYSCRA’s September 2021 test prep.

    How Science and Psychology Help This Blog Beat Digital Reporting CEOs 9/3/21
    A post that explains the importance of narratives, psychology, recruiting digital reporters, and sharing information.

    I Figured Out Why ASR Is So Hard To Perfect 9/2/21
    A post I put out with an epiphany as to why automatic speech recognition is not closing the gap to 100%.

    Was Ducker Worldwide Wrong About Stenographer Shortage? 9/1/21
    A post about Ducker Worldwide’s Court Reporting Industry Outlook 2013-2014.

    What Court Reporters Can Learn From Y2K 8/31/21
    A glance at the history of Y2K and how we can use that as a model for solving the stenographer shortage.

    Stenographer Energy & Social Media Recruitment 8/30/21
    A review of a popular TikTok about stenography and a jab at the dishonesty of US Legal Support.

    What Is Realtime Voice Writing and Why Is It Better Than Digital Reporting? 8/22/21
    An explanation of voice writing and why it blows digital reporting out of the water.

    Drillmaker for Students/Educators 8/6/21
    A post introducing a simple computer script that anyone can use to help make lists of random words for drills.

    Fear Public Speaking? Try StenoMasters! 8/4/21
    A post announcing the birth of StenoMasters, an non-for-profit online speaking club for court reporters.

    The Magic of Cost Shifting – How Big Companies Beat the Working Reporter     8/4/21
    A post that gets into cost shifting and how some court reporting companies can shift costs to make it harder for the working reporter to compete directly with them.

    Is VITAC Paying Below Market Rates for Captioners? 7/27/21
    A post that explores job postings by VITAC and compares it to providers’ past experiences in captioning.

    Will Verbit Go Public in 2022? 7/23/21
    This post gently critiques a Forbes article and points out possible futures for the Verbit company.

    The Importance of Plover and Open Steno 7/19/21
    This post talks about the Open Steno 2021 survey.

    PCRA Wouldn’t Say Whether It Sees the Future Generation as Being Digital Reporters
    & What You Can Do About It     7/17/21
    This post describes a webinar held by PCRA on June 26, 2021 that platformed digital reporting, why digital reporting is not an adequate court reporting technology, and what court reporters can do to safeguard their associations.

    NCRA News. Career Launcher and President’s Party 7/14/21
    This post describes NCRF’s Career Launcher, a series of modules to help new reporters. It also mentions the NCRA convention president’s party.

    Why I Resigned From the NYSCRA Board and NCRA Strong, and the Future of this Blog 7/7/21
    This post dives into why I resigned from several volunteer activities and announces my intention to continue providing industry news.

    John Belcher on Winning Depositions 7/1/21
    This post showcases information from John Belcher with regard to depositions.

    Gartner: 85% of AI Implementations Will Fail By 2022 6/30/21
    This post talks about Gartner’s prediction that 85% of AI business solutions will fail and explains why that might be the case.

    Thinking of Taking Private Clients? New York Reporter: …Trust Yourself and Go Do It. 6/28/21
    This post showcases a Q&A with a New York reporter that was able to double their money by taking private clients.

    Over-Engineering Will Hurt Your Business 6/24/21
    This post explores over-engineering and the dangers of it in a general sense. It also explains how automatic speech recognition and AI relates to over-engineering.

    Steno & Me (Under the Sea Parody) 6/24/21
    These lyrics are a parody of Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid set to a steno theme. Immediately after this post was launched, it was discovered that more than 10% of stenographers are also mermaids.

    Share Something For Me? 6/22/21
    This post touches briefly on how social media algorithms can hamper the spread of information and asks court reporters to share my 6/19/21 article in order to counter false perceptions about stenography in the media.

    Relationship Conflicts & What You Can Do When It All Goes Wrong 6/21/21
    This post talks about the types of personalities you might run into when buying something from someone. It also proposes a process for resolving conflict. It is geared toward business relationships but can be used for personal relationships also.

    Journalists May Be Reporting Black People’s Stories Wrong 6/19/21
    This post was utilized in an ad campaign to bring more attention to our field with regard to the study Testifying While Black. Many outlets reported false or misleading headlines regarding the study. This article dives into the dishonesty of several media sources when it comes to stenographic court reporting.

    Recording Endangered By Stenography’s Retirement Cliff 6/17/21
    This post talks about how the stenographer shortage can hurt the record-and-transcribe modality of taking down the record. In brief, it shows how stenographers are used to transcribe work in many places that have “switched to digital.”

    Outreach Webinar by Project Steno – June 6, 2021 6/2/21
    This post boosted the 6/6/21 Project Steno/NYSCRA webinar pertaining to high school outreach.

    1 in 4 Court Reporting Companies May Be Unprofitable 5/28/21
    This post describes a 2019 report by Kentley Insights, explains what zombie companies are, and goes on to suggest that the unprofitable companies in the field are the ones using digital reporting.

    Does Stenonymous Spend More On Steno Ads Than US Legal? 5/27/21
    In this post US Legal’s LinkedIn campaign to recruit digital court reporters is exposed. The post also shows how Stenonymous has been used to expose thousands of people to stenographic court reporting and contrasts that with US Legal’s apparent lack of a stenographic recruitment strategy.

    Vote Yes! NCRA 2021 Proposed Bylaw Amendments 5/25/21
    This post advertises the 2021 proposed bylaw amendments and gives my opinion of each.

    Court Reporters Speak Up For The Record On Future Trials 6/2/21
    This post explores the April 2021 report by the Future Trials Working Group to the New York State Unified Court System. It also showcases association and union response to the report and the reply received by the court system.

    MGR Interviewed on the Treatment of Reporters 5/18/21
    This post shares my interview with Marc Russo, owner of MGR Reporting, on the treatment of reporters.

    CART v Autocraption, A Strategic Overview For Captioners 5/13/21
    This post gives information to CART providers to help them cope with the hype and lies surrounding automatic speech recognition (ASR) and sentiments by some that they are replaceable. It talks about how captioners can protect consumers and why consumers need that protection.

    Literal v Readable, A Primer on Transcribing What We Hear 5/10/21
    This post describes several issues stenographers may run into on the job, including whether to edit something that is spoken or leave it completely verbatim. It explains how context matters in our work.

    Paying It Forward with Allie Hall 5/4/21
    This post mentions Allie Hall’s efforts with regard to Paying It Forward and how reporters can contribute.

    A Primer on ASR and Machine Learning For Stenographers 4/22/21
    This post explains some of the technology behind automatic speech recognition and machine learning in simple terms so that stenographers can understand it and educate their clients.

    How We Discuss Errors and Automatic Speech Recognition     4/12/21
    This post explains automatic speech recognition’s word error rate metric and compares it to how court reporters measure errors.

    For Digital Court Reporters and Transcribers, Check Out Steno! 3/1/21
    This post was used in an ad campaign to expose digital court reporters and transcribers to stenography and express to them in simple terms why it is better to learn the skill of and work in the field of stenographic court reporting.

    Facebook Boosting 101 2/26/21
    This post explored the power of paid advertising and showed stenographers how they can multiply their reach by 20.

    For Students Saddled With Unpayable Student Loan Debt 2/24/21
    This post presents links and resources relating to options students in debt have.

    Aggressive Marketing — Growth or Flailing? 2/22/21
    This article dives into Fyre Festival and describes how sometimes companies talk a good game even when their product or idea is unprofitable or poorly executed. It also takes a look at VIQ Solutions, parent of Net Transcripts, Inc., and how despite making millions in revenue, VIQ reported over $300,000 in losses.

    Help Chris DeGrazio Celebrate International Women’s Day! 2/19/21
    Court reporter Chris DeGrazio sought to celebrate International Women’s Day by creating a collage. This post helped advertise it.

    Court Reporter Humor – Stenoholics & Andy Bajaña 2/15/21
    Stenoholics and Andy Bajana have some hilarious videos related to court reporting. You can get links to them through this post.

    Finding Time 2/12/21
    This article talks about time management, the importance of scheduling, and using common tools such as calendars and schedulers. It also cautions against taking too much time trying to find the “perfect” tool.

    Scholarships & Contests For Students February 2021 2/11/21
    This post provides information with regard to 2021 scholarships and contests for stenography students.

    You Need 2FA Now 2/10/21
    This post talks about two-factor authentication (2FA) and why court reporters need to use it wherever it is available.

    Veritext “Provides More Work To Stenographers Than Any Other Firm In The Country” 2/9/21
    After reaching out to Veritext for comment regarding what I perceived as a nonsensical and incongruent recruitment strategy, I reached out to Veritext for comment.

    Need Continuing Education? Consider CCR Seminars. 2/8/21
    This post breaks down the value of one private court reporting education company, CCR Seminars.

    List of New York Agencies 2/5/21
    This post provides a list of New York agencies in spreadsheet format.

    The Ultimate Guide To Officialship (NY) 2/4/21
    An anonymous person had been harassing me for several years. One of their “gibes” or implications was that I was an official reporter that posts a lot about freelance and I should post more about officialship. So I did.

    Collective Power of Stenographers 2/3/21
    This post is a mathematical demonstration of the power of stenographers. Often, stenographers share posts from companies or electronic recording companies as gospel. This post notes that reporters collectively have more money and power than any organization.

    For The Record Documentary Goes Free 2/2/21
    This post reported Marc Greenberg’s announcement that the For The Record documentary would become free.

    NYSCRA’s CRCW 2021 & My Thoughts On The Future 2/1/21
    This post announced several NYSCRA plans for Court Reporting & Captioning Week 2021 and explained why reporters must stand by their associations.

    Can Freelancers Apply For Workers Compensation Benefits? (NY) 1/29/21
    This post explored under what circumstances an “independent contractor” could attempt to claim workers comp benefits in New York.

    GGU Presentation & Why You Matter 1/28/21
    This post talked about Ana Fatima Costa’s presentation for Golden Gate University, Court Reporter Tips Every Lawyer Needs To Make the Best Record. It also went on to describe how any reporter can make an impact.

    Beware Commercial Leasing Agreements for Equipment 12/27/20
    This post explains commercial leasing agreements and how they can be very costly traps for reporters if reporters do not fully understand the agreement.

    Can You Hear Me Now? Computer Parts For Steno Made Simple 12/22/20
    This post explains to court reporters what they’re looking at when buying computers. It gives simple descriptions of components and how to make good purchasing decisions. It also provides simple troubleshooting tips or ideas.

    What Law Offices Need To Know About A Court Reporter Shortage 12/15/20
    This post was used in an ad campaign to explain the court reporting shortage to law offices. It focused heavily on combatting misinformation about our shortage and explained where stenographers could be found.

    Remote Notarial Acts Executive Orders (NY 2020) 11/5/20
    During the pandemic the governor of New York issued an executive order which allowed remote notarial acts. This post tracked the orders and extensions for court reporters.

    Trolls and You 10/17/20
    This post explored trolls-for-hire and exposed how cheap it could be to organize a misinformation campaign. The post also noted examples of likely trolls. It also counseled against the advice “don’t feed the trolls” and explained the importance of not allowing trolls to dictate the conversation.

    The Question To Ask Yourself When Viewing An ASR Demo 10/10/20
    This post compared several high-profile technology buys to automatic speech recognition technology and its dearth of such purchases. It also showed that ASR technology by the biggest players in the business was inadequate for court reporting.

    Turning Omissions Into Opportunity 9/19/20
    This post explored several omissions in the media regarding court reporting and demonstrated how court reporters can use these omissions to inform journalists.

    What Verbit Leadership Needs To Know     9/12/20
    This post appealed to Verbit leadership and pointed out how exaggerated claims could make the company look bad.

    How To Spot More Better Marketing 8/25/20
    A short guide on seeing through puffery.

    Common Scams 8/18/20
    A guide to spotting scams that may be adaptable to our industry.

    August Asterisks 2020 (Jobs) 8/13/20
    An August 2020 post about jobs that were available.

    StenoKey, Stenographic Education Innovation? 7/1/20
    A post about StenoKey, an educational program by Katiana Walton.

    Stenonymous on VICE News Tonight 6/18/20
    A post covering my TV appearance regarding the Testifying While Black Study by Taylor Jones, et al.

    June Jettisons 2020 (Jobs Post) 6/16/20
    A June 2020 post about jobs that were available.

    Expedite Legal, Enhancing Coverage Nationwide? 6/15/20
    A post covering Expedite Legal, an app service connecting lawyers to legal service providers like court reporters.

    Check Out 225 and Beyond (Beware of Busywork) 6/14/20
    A post promoting the work of Euan Williams.

    How Organizations & Associations Work 6/13/20
    A post that explains how associations work and the volunteer structure of them.

    May Machinations 2020 (Jobs Post) 5/12/20
    A May 2020 post that described available jobs.

    NYSCRA Student Webinar May 2020 5/5/20
    A post advertising the May 2020 NYSCRA student webinar.

    Stenopalooza was POWerful 5/3/20
    A post summarizing Stenopalooza 2020 and NCRA STRONG

    Pricing Pages In A Market of Fear 4/6/20
    A post that discussed supply and demand and the dearth of work in our field at the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

    April Applications 2020 (Jobs Post) 4/1/20
    An April 2020 post about jobs that were available.

    Steno Shortage Stats March 2020 3/14/2020
    This post gave fast facts reporters could keep in mind when discussing the stenographer shortage.

    What Verbit Investors Need To Know     3/4/20
    This post investigated Verbit’s series A funding claims and compared them with series B funding claims. It also explained how a cost savings estimate by STTI was pathetic.

    Trust Issues, Brought To You By Veritext 2/25/20
    A post that examines the actions of Veritext versus statements made by the company.

    Eastern District NY Hiring! 2/13/20 2/13/20
    A post outlining a job opening in February 2020 for the Eastern District of New York federal court.

    Stenonymous on Facebook 2/3/20
    A post that announces the beginning of the Stenonymous discussion group on Facebook.

    Fantastic February 2020 2/1/20
    A post that lists jobs that were available in February 2020.

    The Savior Chimera     1/29/20
    A post that examines NCRA v AAERT and their relative abilities to combat the court reporter shortage.

    Copyright and Stenography 1/24/20
    A post that dives into the lack of copyright protection for stenographic court reporting.

    Shortage Solutions 12: Stenography 1/23/20
    A post that gives mathematical reasons on why it is smarter to address the court reporter shortage with stenographers than transcribers.

    Shortage Solutions 11: Logistics 1/22/20
    This post discusses the possibility of getting clients to space out depositions instead of starting everything at 10:00 a.m. in order to improve the logistical difficulty in getting a stenographic court reporter at every deposition.

    A Night In Brooklyn, PYRP 78 1/21/20
    A post that details an initiative by Protect Your Record Project and gives examples of how every reporter can advocate.

    Why & When Leaders Stay Silent 1/15/20
    A post about why leaders do not always address or acknowledge adversarial organizations and/or detractors.

    NYSCRA 2020 Survey, Lobbying     1/9/20
    A post about NYSCRA’s 2020 survey as well as some ideas I wrote to the association.

    January 2020, Just Apply! 1/6/20
    A post regarding jobs available in January 2020.

    Stenographers, Planet Depos Is Not Your Friend 12/10/19
    A post documenting attempts by Planet Depos to attract digital court reporters.

    The Economics of Caring     12/6/19
    A musing about apathy and how it can cost you your job.

    Pricing Yourself Out of the Market 12/4/19
    A post that briefly talks about the potential of pricing oneself out of the market and then launches into a defense of why rates in certain markets could be higher.

    December Dirigibles 2019 12/2/19
    A post describing jobs available in December 2019.

    The Impossible Institute 11/23/19
    A post examining the Speech-to-Text Institute and why claims that the stenographer shortage is impossible to solve are false.

    The Original and What? 11/7/19
    A discussion about copies, happiness, and altruism.

    Government v Gig Economy 11/6/19
    This post explored the possibility of the government reclassifying stenographers and what could be done if that occurred.

    November Niches 2019 11/4/19
    A November 2019 job post.

    Stenonymous Suite: Early Version 10/29/19
    My early coding experiments resulted in the Stenonymous Suite, released in the hopes people brighter than me do better.

    Historic Rate Data: New York 1990s 10/25/19
    A review of court reporter rates that showed we were making less value in 2010 than in 1991.

    MAPEC 2019 10/21/19
    A review of the reporter Empowerment Conference in 2019.

    Raise Your Rates 2019 10/4/19
    A call to get reporters to raise their rates in accordance with supply and demand.

    Loans, School, & You 10/2/19
    An explanation of debt to assist students.

    October Occupations 2019 10/1/19
    An October 2019 job post.

    Outfluence by Al Betz 9/23/19
    This program presents a professionalism and communication program called Outfluence.

    NCRA Virtual Town Hall, September 21, 2019 9/22/19
    This post described a 9/21/19 NCRA Town Hall session.

    Historic Rate Data: A First Look 9/21/19
    This post took historic rate data from the west coast and adjusted it for inflation to show court reporters were behind inflation.

    How To Create Timed Dictation 9/21/19
    This post describes how to create timed dictation.

    Buying Hype 9/17/19
    This post described the dangers of buying hype instead of thinking critically.

    Keep Enemies Closer 9/16/19
    A caution against oversharing.

    Forgiving Your Impostor Syndrome 9/13/19
    A post regarding letting go of feelings of inadequacy.

    Pattern Writing 9/12/19
    This post describes how using patterns or groups of briefs can help you remember and use them.

    Shortage Solutions 10: Contract or Employment 9/9/19
    This post proposed employment structure changes to help with shortage.

    September Submissions 2019 9/1/19
    A September 2019 post talking about available jobs in 2019.

    The Disappointment Paradigm 8/30/19
    This post describes the importance of setting boundaries.

    State Associations With Mentoring 8/23/19
    This post released a spreadsheet of nearly every stenographic court reporting association in the United States and whether it had mentoring.

    Achieve Your Dream Salary Using Retrograde Extrapolation 8/19/19
    This post describes how one can meet goals by setting the goal and working backwards to see how that goal might be accomplished.

    The Resurgence 8/16/19
    This post remarked on the resurgence of American stenography.

    Do You Log Your Practice? 8/13/19
    This post described how tracking practice could enhance progress.

    Shortage Solutions 9: Independent Listings 8/12/19
    This post explored how available directories of court reporters could end the shortage.

    Recording Grand Jury (NY) 8/11/19
    This post documented an instance where grand jury proceedings were audio recorded and related New York laws.

    Library of Congress Seeks Volunteer Transcribers 8/10/19
    This post urged stenographers to assist in transcription for the Library of Congress.

    Guarding the Record Against Misinformation 8/9/19
    This post points out misinformation in the court reporting industry and the importance of speaking against it.

    Global Alliance Founding 8/8/19
    This post documented the founding of Global Alliance.

    Combination Banking 8/7/19
    This post discusses combination banking, a better way to do Q&A.

    How Many Errors Allowed? 8/6/19
    This post presents a spreadsheet to calculate how many erors are allowed on a steno test and points out that a student did this better than me.

    The vTestify Lie 8/5/19
    This post pointed out that vTestify’s claim that it could save $3,000 per deposition was false.

    August Applications 2019 8/2/19
    An August 2019 jobs post.

    Steno Speed and the Youtube Angle 7/27/19
    This post documented my effort to preserve the old stenospeed dot com audio files.

    Can’t Outspend? Outsell. 7/25/19
    This post provided anecdotal evidence on how stenographers were being outmarketed rather than outmatched.

    Stenovate, Workspace Consolidation 7/22/19
    This post highlighted Stenovate, a transcript management software.

    Shortage Solutions 8: Retirement 7/19/19
    This post discussed how retirees could stop the stenographer shortage.

    Cert Shaming 7/17/19
    This post discussed the importance of certified and uncertified reporters not fighting each other.

    Review: A Court Reporter’s Guide to Leadership and Team Building, by Colin Yorke 7/15/19
    A review of a very short book about leadership by Colin Yorke and a giveaway to get his writing out there.

    New Speed Students, Learn To Let Go 7/10/19
    This post details the importance of avoiding the asterisk key on test day.

    Practice, Finger Drill, WKT, Dictation Marker Update 7/6/19
    This post documented by attempts at coding computer scripts that could help create finger drills, NY Civil Service WKT practice, and automatically mark dictation.

    Shortage Solutions 7: Recruitment 7/5/19
    This post described how important recruitment for stenography was and gave mathematical examples for how court reporters could increase the number of graduates just by talking about the field.

    July Jobs Jubilee (2019) 6/28/19
    A post for July 2019 jobs available.

    RE: Remote Judicial Reporting, WUNCRA 6/26/19
    A post that pointed to the danger of remote judicial reporting, as well as offered both praise and criticism for the Wake Up NCRA blog.

    Can Verbit Replace Verbatim? 6/21/19
    This post described difficulties that I anticipated Verbit was going to have with perfecting automatic speech recognition technology.

    Stenonymous Suite and Q&A Generator (Concept) 6/20/19
    This post revealed a computer programming script I was working on called the Stenonymous Suite.

    Shortage Solutions 6: Pay the Piper 6/17/19
    A post where I explained one way to end the shortage would be to pay stenographers better.

    Sexual Harassment for Stenos 6/11/19
    A post describing sexual harassment in our field, and specifically New York law.

    Law For Stenographers (US) (FRCP) 6/10/19
    Federal procedural laws I feel stenographers should know of.

    June 9 Burngirl CaseCAT Tips (2019) 6/7/19
    A post promoting a CaseCAT tip event by Burngirl.

    Shortage Solutions 5: Public Perception 6/6/19
    A post that described the importance of public perception to stenography’s survival as an industry.

    NCRA Bylaw Amendment Proposals 2019 6/5/19
    A post memorializing the 2019 NCRA bylaws amendment proposals.

    Be Smart With Social Media 6/5/19
    A post with various cautions about social media and how to use it in a way that builds your brand instead of destroying it.

    The Cost of Doing Business 6/4/19
    A post giving general advice about expenses that revealed an old retainer I signed where $14.95 per page was in the contract for depositions.

    Table of Contents 6/3/19
    This is the table of contents you are currently reading. 6/3/19 is the day it went live.

    To Our Litigators 5/31/19
    A post to lawyers about our stenographer shortage.

    NCRA 2.0 May 2019 Survey 5/28/19
    A post memorializing the NCRA 2.0 survey as well as my response.

    A Word on AI and Stenography 5/24/19
    A post discussing AI in relation to stenography and comparing technological claims to reality from other industries.

    Veritext Scholarships 5/22/19
    A post memorializing Veritext scholarships.

    Easy E-Signature in CaseCAT 5/21/19
    A post on drawing an e-signature in CaseCAT, an alternative to creating a blank PDF and signing.

    Finger Drill Generator 5/20/19
    A post describing a finger drill generator I made.

    Written Knowledge Test Randomizer 5/16/19
    A post describing a WKT test making program I wrote for the New York courts test.

    The Pitchfork Culture 5/7/19
    A response to a message I got from a reader.

    Us and Them 5/3/19
    A post that cautions against infighting.

    New York: May Jobs Bring Lifelong Careers (2019) 5/2/19
    May 2019 jobs post.

    The Audio Sink 5/1/19
    A post about how reliance on audio drags us down.

    NYSCRA Test Prep Opens To All 4/25/19
    A bulletin about NYSCRA test prep.

    Value Gradients for the Stenographer in Training (180+ WPM) 4/19/19
    A piece describing value for students.

    Tips for the Stenographer in Training 4/11/19
    General tips for students.

    Persuasive Writing Tips For The Stenographic Legion 4/5/19
    Writing tips.

    Language Study and Service Revisited 4/2/19
    A post where I revisit the Testifying While Black 2020 study.

    Big Box Reporters: We Are On The Same Side 3/28/19
    A note about how reporters that work for big box are not blind to harmful big box practices.

    Stenographers, NY Courts Want You! (2019) 3/22/19
    An announcement for the New York Unified Court System test.

    NCRA: Our Money’s On Stenographers 3/8/19
    A post that shared communication from the NCRA board.

    The Empty City Strategy 3/7/19
    A post explaining that big claims about digital reporting were not necessarily indicative of a “garrisoned fort.”

    Shortage Solutions 4: Direct Market Apps 3/6/19
    A post describing how Direct Market Apps like Expedite Legal could be a shortage game changer.

    Shortage Solutions 3: Private Labeling 3/5/19
    A solution explaining that where coverage is in danger due to squabbling over whose job it is, new agreements can be struck.

    March Madness 2019 Job Postings 3/4/19
    March 2019 job post.

    Shortage Solutions 2: Coverage Area & Marketability 3/4/19
    A post pointing out things that make stenographers and steno look good.

    Veritext Update, March 2019 3/2/19
    A post that documented the alleged firing of a Veritext VP.

    Shortage Solutions 1: Remote Proceedings 3/1/19
    A post that brought up how remote proceedings could help alleviate the shortage.

    Interview with Esquire GC 3/1/19
    An interview with Esquire’s General Counsel

    Legal Terms Refresher For Test Takers 2/28/19
    Legal terminology help for test takers.

    Court Reporter, Meet Stenographer 2/27/19
    A post describing how court reporters started to abandon the title for stenographer.

    Medical Terms Refresher For Test Takers 2/23/19
    Medical terminology help for test takers.

    NYSCRA Bagels and Lox February 2019 2/22/19
    A post summarizing the February 2019 New York State Court Reporters Association meeting.

    Stenonymous Goes (Mostly) Ad Free! 2/21/19
    A post where I announced Stenonymous would no longer have ads.

    Getting Involved: As Simple As A Like 2/20/19
    A post that explained that support in all its forms is important.

    MA Payonk: Steno First. 2/19/19
    A post about Mary Ann Payonk.

    WUNCRA, Knowledge Is Power, Spitballing Is Weak 2/18/19
    A post disagreeing with “Wake Up, NCRA.”

    There Is No Rebel Alliance 2/17/19
    A post discussing another blog post and how it is important for us to work together.

    Associations and Why You Matter 2/16/19
    The math on how association participation can change outcomes.

    Stenotrain 2/15/19
    A post that talks about Stenotrain, a court reporting training program.

    Mistaken For The Court Reporter 2/14/19
    A post that talks about discrimination in law. Female lawyers typically do not appreciate being mistaken for a court reporter, and Sharon Velazco wrote an awesome piece on why it’s great to be a court reporter.

    StenoFest 2019 2/13/19
    A post remembering Marc Greenberg’s online StenoFest.

    Silence is Deafening 2/12/19
    A post that talked about the importance of speaking up/speaking out.

    NCRA and NYSCRA: For Stenographers 2/11/19
    A promotion of two associations that support our profession.

    Steno V Digital (Archive Post) 2/10/19
    A post that noted technological growth was no longer exponential.

    Holding Companies Explanation 2/8/19
    An explanation of the concept of holding companies.

    Learn About Stenography at Plaza – February 2019 2/8/19
    A notice about the February 11 event at Plaza College.

    NYSCRA Social – You’re Invited! 2/7/19
    An announcement for the New York State Court Reporters Association February 2019 social.

    Workers Rights 2/7/19

    Stenographers, Veritext is Not Your Friend 2/6/19

    What Rate Should Freelance Reporters Charge? 2/5/19

    Language Study and Service 2/5/19

    The Magic of Marketing 2/4/19

    Creating a Degree-Granting Institution in New York 1/23/19

    Direction and Control 1/9/19

    Why Can’t We Discuss Rates? 1/4/19

    The Power of No 1/2/19

    Contracting with Public Entities: Diamond’s 2010 Renewal With City 12/23/18

    To Our Agency Owners 12/20/18

    New Year New Rates Movement (NY Freelancers) 12/19/18

    Knowledge Preserved Is Power 12/18/18

    Stenographers, US Legal Is Not Your Friend 12/17/18

    NYSCRA Certs Waive Provisional Assessment for NY Courts 12/14/18

    Competing For Contracts 12/14/18

    Of Strategy and Commitment 12/13/18

    Live Steno 4U Review by Joshua Edwards 12/12/18

    The Positive Reporting Challenge 12/12/18

    To E Court Reporters and Transcribers 12/10/18

    Fun History: License Plates 12/4/18

    Veritext Buys A Diamond 12/3/18

    The Good Reporter Fallacy 11/23/18

    Learn To Caption – Real Realtime by Anissa 11/15/18

    The Frank N Sense Monster 11/14/18

    Law For Stenographers (NY) 11/13/18

    The Price of Perfection 11/13/18

    The Limitations of Institution 11/8/18

    The Truths of Employability 11/7/18

    Open Steno by Professional Writer Claire Williams 11/2/18

    Typey Type Introduction 10/29/18

    Dictation Marking Program 10/24/18

    Aloft Steno Streaming – Good News from Open Steno 10/24/18

    Good News About NCRA’s Retention Policy 10/22/18

    Transcript Marker 10/10/18

    A Satirical Response To Getting Paid 9/28/18

    A Word On Raises 8/9/18

    State Associations write an open letter to NCRA about Corporate Partners 7/27/18

    The Unsubtle Policy of Open Gates 7/25/18

    NCRA Amendment Proposals 7/18/18

    NCRA Test Retention Policy 5/16/18

    On Educational Inadequacy 3/28/18

    Stips or Stipulations 3/19/18

    Interpreted Testimony In The Third Person 3/17/18

    For The Entrepreneur 3/16/18

    When An Agency Won’t Collect 3/15/18

    Fall of Constantinople 3/14/18

    An Explanation of Anticontracting 3/13/18

    Form SS8 and Independent Contractors 3/12/18

    The Case for Higher Rates 3/5/18

    Colors and Stripes 3/1/18

    What’s In A Rate Sheet? 1/29/18

    The Importance of Friends and Allies 1/29/18

    The Power of a Contract 1/20/18

    Handling Rejection 1/18/18

    2018: Start Strong, Stay Strong 1/13/18

    Our Greatest Mistake Is Not Making Mistakes 1/13/18

    Interpreted Jobs and You 1/12/18

    Speech and Years: 2’18 1/12/18

    Specifically Pacific 1/12/18

    Dave Wenhold and Lobbying 1/8/18

    Writing Elected Officials 1/4/18

    Computer Lagging? Check This 1/2/18

    Rights and Your Wallet 12/19/17

    What’s A Taxes? 12/13/17

    My Writer Is Not Writing Realtime (Drivers) 12/5/17

    F Keys Not Working 12/5/17

    Practice Does Not Make Perfect 12/4/17

    How Briefed Is Too Briefed? 11/29/17

    Unionization of Deposition Reporters 11/26/17

    Audio Transcription, Pricing, And You 11/22/17

    State or Federal Case? 11/21/17

    Remote Swearing of Witnesses (NY) 11/15/17

    Supreme Court Test Tip 11/13/17

    Reporter Sharing 10/30/17

    CaseCAT: Characters per line using characters per inch. 10/26/17

    Passing the Supreme Court Test 2017 10/23/17

    Value of Associations 10/21/17

    Judiciary Foil Requests 10/19/17

    NY Constitutional Convention 10/19/17

    Keep It Simple, Silly 10/19/17

    Elapsed Timestamps (CaseCAT) 10/16/17

    Tips on Traps and Dirty Tricks 10/11/17

    Passive Learning versus Instant Gratification 10/11/17

    A Message From My Sister 10/10/17

    NYSCRA Offering Test Prep 9/19/17

    E-mails and Communication 9/13/17

    Freelance Loyalty 9/11/17

    Audio and You 9/10/17

    Turnaround Topsy Turvy 9/8/17

    Cultural Literacy – 9/7/17

    Where / What Parenthetical?! 9/5/17

    How Are Reporters Paid? 9/4/17

    Why Are We “We?” 9/2/17

    Public Records 9/1/17

    Take It Out or Verbatim? 8/31/17

    Interrupting When/Why/How? 8/30/17

    Off The Record 8/30/17

    Title or Caption (E-Filing) 8/29/17

    Strike That! Withdrawn! 8/28/17

    Billing Simplified 8/27/17

    The Copy Conundrum 8/19/17

    Beginner’s Trap 8/19/17

    Art of the Deal 8/15/17

    Write Stenonymously 8/12/17

    Learn Stenography! 8/12/17

    Resource Page 8/12/17

    Open Steno Project 8/6/17

    Employee v. Independent Contractor 7/24/17

    Get A Real Job! 7/3/17

    Diplomacy 6/27/17




    June Jobs Report (2019)

    Have made it a mission to get everybody sharing jobs and finding work if they want to. From New York reporters to all around the country, people are making sure everybody knows where the jobs are.

  • That said, here’s what we have open at the beginning of this month.
      • Grand Jury Bronx. This posting has been up for a while. I’ll always have a heart for grand jury work. City of New York health benefits are great, and when I was employee, free for individuals.
      The court reporter provisional job remains posted. Good luck to everyone taking the civil service test for permanent employment this month. Court reporters are being hired statewide!
      8 federal jobs open across the country, but none in New York.
      New York School of Court Reporting doesn’t have a careers page that I can see, but good businesses are always in the market for talent.
      Remember that all of these links can be obtained and bookmarked from Get A Real Job!

    To Our Litigators

    RE: Stenographic Reporters

    If you’re reading, I’m going to hope you’re the kind of lawyer that we all look up to. You’re responsive to clients, you’re honest with potential clients about what you can do for them, and you’re ready when it comes to filings, motions, discovery, or trial. Maybe you’re the one at your firm tailoring your service to your client’s budget, or maybe you oversee someone doing that for you. But the end is the same, giving the consumer the best value for the budget.

    That’s what urges me to write today. There has been a lot said about “AI” transcription and digital recording versus stenographic reporting. There has been a lot said in my field about the Ducker Report and a forecasted shortage of court reporters. Some brave companies are turning to remote reporting, where legal, to allow a stenographer to appear remotely. Other courageous reporters are doubling their workload to meet your demand.

    There is one solution that’s come out known as digital reporting. The main idea is that someone will record the proceedings, run it through a computer program, and then someone will fix up what the computer does. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is what we stenographers actually do. The major difference is we are stenographically recording (typing!) every word, and the computer is accepting that stenographic word and turning it into your English transcript.

    The bottom line is: It simply ends up being more efficient to do it our way. One person, perhaps two, can stenographically record and transcribe an entire proceeding and have it to you that night or the next morning. For your dollar, there’s just not better value. Stenographers type four to five times faster than your average typist, so to finish the same proceeding, we are talking about four or five times the usual turnaround time for transcribers, or four or five times the staffing. Take the number of stenographers you have today, and multiply that number by 3, 4, or 5. If you think there’s a shortage and/or workflow issues now, imagine a world where you need five court reporters to put together your one proceeding. Imagine a world where the transcript is questioned and you need to bring those people in to testify instead of one stenographer.

    Trust me when I say the firms switching to digital reporting or demanding you change your deposition notices to allow digital reporters are not saving you or your clients any money. Ever notice how there are almost never prices posted online for services? That’s because most of these companies act as middlemen. They make an agreement with you or the insurer, and then they make an agreement with us, the stenographers or transcribers, and they keep what’s in the middle. It’s really that simple. I would not be surprised, as a stenographer, to learn that I only made $3.25 a page on some of my old depositions with 25 cents per copy while the agency I worked with charged whatever they charged. 5? 6? 7? I don’t know. I only know that when I consulted a lawyer, the lawyer wanted almost 15 dollars a page if my case went to depositions.

    I’ve been a stenographer for a long time, and I see two roads that you, the litigators, may take. You can let the sellers decide the market, and eventually stenographers won’t be an option, or you can make a sustained demand for a stenographic reporter at every dep. When lawyers start turning to direct market apps like Appear Me, Expedite Legal, and NexDep to get stenographers, those agencies pushing the digital and AI will jump on board and do whatever it takes to increase your supply of stenographers and get your business back.

    Stenographers have been serving the legal community for decades. There’s been a push in recent years to do away with us because of a public perception that our methods are antiquated. Ironically, the people leading this charge are the companies we trusted with selling our services. So to our litigators: You now know all I know, and the customer is always right. Which will you choose?

    NCRA 2.0 May 2019 Survey

    Truly, NCRA has continued its commitment to being inclusionary and making changes to benefit all stenographers and members. Today we got an email that asked us to share our thoughts. That means you, reader, can participate in shaping the discussion for the field. You can be pretty sure that your words are going to reach somebody. Feel free to discuss it here, but before you do, go answer up, because your feelings matter, and the NCRA has taken an important step in letting you know that by asking. I encourage everyone, from the people that I am regularly in correspondence with to my anonymous readers to check in with your ideas for the future and how to make an NCRA that you want to be a part of.

    And here are my own answers, to the extent they may be helpful or act as a beginning for bigger, better ideas.

    What’s your GREAT idea?

    “Most of our fights are won or lost at the state level. NCRA has historically taken on a supportive role and/or a federal, national approach. It is probably time to put at least some focus on states, particularly the big four identified by Ducker, Illinois, California, New York, Texas. Ducker said over 50 percent of court reporting was out of those states. If we lose in any of the four, it’s over.  I understand there is a committee for this type of thing now, but it will take some more press to get this knowledge to the members that have left / stopped renewing. As a very sad example, a friend of mine formerly worked with the Workers Comp Board of New York, which was gutted by electronic recording. When that person called NCRA, that person was told something along the lines of it’s a state matter and that NCRA is federal — of course, that was the NCRA then and not today’s NCRA 2.0 — but today that means one fewer member for NCRA. We can’t change the past. We can make the future better.”

    How can YOU help?

    “I can write. I can research. Perhaps one avenue to go down is to build a strong case for federal educational grants, see what Congress has passed in relation to other industries and begin building a strong case for stenographic education funding. NCRA has been efficient at this type of federal lobbying before and that can continue.”

    Other IDEAS?

    “1. Perhaps a reworking of the bylaws is in order. Leadership in NCRA is limited to Registered members, but this ends up being more exclusionary than other methods. The unfortunate truth is that there may be qualified leaders among your participating members. We had this issue in New York. In our case it was that retired and educator stenographers could not join the board. We voted on it twice, and both times, members stepped up and said if they want to lead, have them lead.


    2. Inclusionary leadership. There are infinite ideas in the world. Perhaps it would be beneficial to NCRA’s image to come out with two or three big ideas that are being discussed, and either formally vote or informally poll members to see which is most important to them. I wouldn’t bind the board to the vote, but it’d probably make people, even the people that cannot donate time or effort in other ways, feel they have a voice. And to those that “lose” the vote, you can tell them this issue is still on our radar. You matter. Ultimately, memberships are selling the organization, and with regard to sales, feelings matter. 


    3. If the time and data is available, make an effort to reach out to those who have not renewed. Perhaps talk to them about their beliefs or why they left. Thank them, encourage them to give NCRA 2.0 a try, and make a note of common themes. For example, if you found that 25 percent of non renewals were for a specific organizational reason, wouldn’t it be worth addressing?”