Association of Transcription and Speech Professionals Registered Professional Reporter

The NCRA Code of Professional Ethics requires reporters to remain impartial and preserve the record. Going off the record requires the agreement of all counsel present; if one objects, the reporter must continue writing.

A court reporter must ensure the integrity of the record at all times. Relying solely on the machine’s internal memory or backup audio risks losing testimony if those systems also fail, so proceedings must be halted until the primary system is restored.

The term ‘well-documented’ is a compound modifier preceding a noun and requires a hyphen. ‘Rapidly escalating’ uses an -ly adverb, which should never be hyphenated when modifying an adjective or participle.

Once an exhibit is marked on the record, it must be accounted for in the transcript’s index. The reporter should note it was marked for identification to accurately reflect the events, while the other options improperly alter or omit parts of the official record.

Spondylolisthesis is the medical term for the forward displacement of a vertebra. Surgical fusion is arthrodesis, inflammation is myelitis or radiculitis, and lateral curvature is scoliosis.

A reporter must read back exactly what is in their notes and never guess or alter the record from memory. Playing backup audio is generally not permitted unless explicitly ordered by the judge, and refusing a readback violates the reporter’s duties.

The standard transcript format adopted by the NCRA and most jurisdictions requires 25 numbered lines of text per page. The other options violate these standard formatting guidelines, which are designed to prevent page-padding.

The NCRA Code of Professional Ethics (COPE) restricts reporters from giving or receiving gifts exceeding $150 in the aggregate per year to avoid the appearance of bias. Accepting the gift, even with disclosure or for donation purposes, violates the strict limit on gift values.

Conflict resolution in CAT software uses artificial intelligence and context rules to differentiate between homophones or words sharing the same steno outline (e.g., their/there/they’re). The other options describe hardware troubleshooting, anti-bounce features, and audio sync, not dictionary conflicts.

Court reporters generally only have notary and administering authority within their commissioned jurisdiction. Administering an oath to an out-of-state witness requires a stipulation from all parties on the record to waive jurisdictional requirements.

‘Voir dire’ is Old French for ‘to speak the truth’ and is the preliminary examination of a witness or a juror. ‘Res ipsa loquitur’ means the thing speaks for itself, ‘subpoena duces tecum’ is an order to bring documents, and ‘habeas corpus’ relates to unlawful detention.

The court reporter’s duty is to capture the English words spoken on the record, which in this case are the words of the interpreter. It is the responsibility of the attorneys, not the reporter, to object to the interpreter’s methodology or accuracy.

NCRA guidelines recommend retaining notes for transcribed civil depositions for at least one year. Untranscribed notes typically require a longer retention period (often 5+ years), but once the official transcript is produced and delivered, the requirement drops to 1 year.

Under NCRA COPE, a reporter must offer the same services to all parties to maintain impartiality. The defense attorney is entitled to purchase a copy of the rough draft at any time, and the reporter does not need the opposing counsel’s permission to fulfill this request.

CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) relies on immediate readability, meaning a high unedited translation rate (typically 98% or higher) is the critical metric. Typing speed alone does not account for dictionary translation accuracy, and final formatting does not help the consumer during the live event.

The reporter must capture everything that happens while on the record. Since the examining attorney did not agree to go off the record, the reporter must continue to write any spoken words and note the physical departure of the witness via a parenthetical.

A myocardial infarction occurs when blood flow to a part of the heart is blocked, commonly known as a heart attack. A stroke is a cerebrovascular accident, and a blood clot in the lung is a pulmonary embolism.

A motion in limine is filed before a trial begins to prevent certain highly prejudicial or irrelevant evidence from being introduced to the jury. Overturning a verdict is a JNOV, changing location is a change of venue, and compelling an answer is a motion to compel.

The reporter has an ethical duty to correct substantive errors to ensure the integrity of the record. This is properly done by issuing an errata sheet or amended transcript to all ordering parties simultaneously, maintaining transparency and impartiality.

The court reporter’s duty is to capture the spoken word verbatim. If an attorney misreads a document while reading it into the record, the reporter must transcribe the misread words exactly as spoken, not what is printed on the page.