Court Reporters & Employment Situations

EMPLOYMENT AND COURT REPORTING



As the 2009 summer faded this year, it was with relief that our calendar seemed to be on the rise with settings. This fall we have noticed some incredible spikes, up and down, on our calendar. This has been a very unusual year in that some of our more reliable clients have dropped out of our 80/20 list and some on the other end of that list have risen upwards.

Normally trends can easily be spotted. This year not so easy to see what is transpiring in the legal community. Personal injury, usually the bread and butter in our industry, has been less than stellar. Asbestos litigation is also quite reduced; although, it's been in a downward trend over the past few years.

It's been pointed out that more and more insurance companies are attempting to drive harder bargains from service providers.

People are saying that 2010 will be the year where reversal of many of these down trends will happen. Many analysts are being bearish on predictions which seems to run counter of any soon to be seen reversal in the markets.

The Christmas shopping period this year has been tauted as the make it or break it for many retailers. It would seem that we may lose some old venerable friends this winter from the economic crisis that doesn't seem to be going away very quickly.

I wish all of my friends and colleagues the

best for the upcoming holidays,






~ The Beagle

LET THE SUMMER GAMES BEGIN

Power in Participation

As was noted in the prior blog post, NCRA will begin a process of countering the Motion To Rescind action by offering up twisted logic in an attempt to persuade members to "see it their way." But time is running out on their logic and influence. Members are stepping up to regain the respect they deserve.

To see it way the Board of Directors would like you to see it, one would have to be blind folded and then immediately struck dumb by a bolt of lightning.

Their latest mass missive has something to do with the "Power of Knowledge," but the Beagle feels that they are not sharing any knowledge but simple rhetoric in an attempt to offer reasons for holding fast on certifying a technology that is in direct conflict with the NCRA Constitution and its Bylaws.

The constant drumbeat of their message can be intoxicating or mezmerizing but once you remove yourself from that humming message logic and commonsense prevails. When you look deeper into the motivation behind their "exploration" of an alternative technology, you have to wonder who is running the shop at NCRA.

It flies in your face that it isn't the Board of Directors. One must think that there is some background organization pulling the strings of the puppets that can't be seen. No average and hard working stenographic court reporter should be swayed by their flawed logic of dwindling membership or that NCRA needs to stay relevant to survive or the association is in financial distress.

When viewing the blog site of http://www.motiontorescind.wordpress.com/, it is certainly evident that a lot of people are quite interested in pulling back the reins of NCRA and getting it restored to the path that the Constitution and Bylaws outline.

One would think it odd that with all the negative feedback over this issue that a responsible board would manage to call a meeting and revoke the portion that is upsetting to so many.

Look at any poll that has been set up to sample people's feelings on this issue, overwhelmingly in favor to losing this assinine certification of recording technology. How stupid is that really?

~ The Beagle

NCRA ~ Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

A Circus Act That Even Barnum & Bailey Would Admire.

As we move through the summer months, the antics of NCRA Leadership will undoubtedly soar to new and unexplored heights in attempts to discredit the viable candidates that the Beagle has heard will be stepping up to challenge others for Board positions.

All the posturing will be for naught because those that have sided with the "pro" faction regarding ER/DAR, the Beagle predicts, will come up short on vote count. The membership at large has grown tired of the irresponsibility that has been demonstrated over the past number of years. You read it on the different message threads that even NCRA has available online. You read it in personal emails. You read it all over...even on people's faces.

The Beagle was at a Spring Seminar this past weekend and the anger was palpable. Members were wondering what was in the water back in Virginia as no one thought the motion that was made in November 2008 was made with a thinking cap on.

As a reasonable thinking individual, one can only think that if the current Board of Directors would like to stay relevant, they should make an amendment to remove those idiotic thoughts regarding ER/DAR and voice writers and float those ideas out to membership to see if they would like to include those folks in their association rather than try to back door them in.

Visit http://www.motiontorescind.wordpress.com/ and get an education ~

CAN'T THEY CATCH THE DRIFT?

~ The Beagle

NCRA Constitution & Bylaws - The Right To Participate

Membership Rights Being Overlooked and Trampled by Board of Directors.

When the NCRA convention convenes August 6, 2009 and shuts down August 9, 2009, it is the Beagle's hope that the Board of Directors will have the common decency to begin to advocate for membership rights.

The last few months has enlightened some members of this national organization to become much more involved in righting what they see as a ship that has lost its course.

The leadership of associations such as NCRA are the stewards of the profession and yet it seems that a small band has decided to hijack and take the good ship into a direction that the folks who have paid their steerage fees for years and years do not necessarily favor.

The Beagle has learned that this organization has a media to avail its members to called Direct Member Voting (DMV). It is a tool that could easily help answer questions that are facing leadership by simply asking their members if this proposed direction is something they are in favor of pursuing rather than ignoring the thoughts and feelings of so many.

When the final gong is sounded on their convention in August, it would appear that a restoration of direction will be plotted or there will be an exodus of some truly longstanding and loyal members.

I ask that you review a prior post on this blog that refers to a heightened desire to start a rival faction to NCRA...the dependence of this effort will be reflected in the outcome of the votes taken in Washington, D.C.

~ The Beagle

A New National Reporters Association

A New National Shorthand Reporters Association ~ Ten years ago would you have even given this a moment's notice? With the National Court Reporters Association's (NCRA) membership closing in on 30,000 members in 1998, a virtual jaugernaut in volunteer associations, nothing seemed impossible. That is until corporate America entered the scene.

Now, with its membership crumbling and losing nearly 1000 members a year for the past 10 years or so, it is faced with changing itself from being the representative of an honorable profession to prostituting itself to other would-be professions that are clamoring to become relevant in the business of being "Guardians of the Record."

No matter what private forum you choose, you will find disfavor running rampant with NCRA members and former members. These aren't just plain jane people we're talking about here either. People who have held office in NCRA, people who attained NCRA's highest certifications, PEOPLE WHO CARED.

There is a movement afoot to dislodge the corporate strangle hold on NCRA and to those people only the best of luck can be offered as there is no doubt on anyone's part that the current office holders and NCRA management will do their darndest to block any change.

If members and former members of NCRA want to make change and attempt to revert to what the organization stood for then they will have to become a bit more organized and thoughtful in their efforts to overtake the mountain that now stands before them. Much like a battle front, although this particular battle front has spies embedded on both sides, this confrontation will certainly take time and casualties will be littered throughout the landscape.

There is an independent movement from this avenue approach to start a new national organization. This seems be gathering traction and may well overtake what the Beagle sees as a much more difficult task of infiltrating the power structure at NCRA. Either way, there is a hard struggle ahead for NCRA.

~ The Beagle

Court Reporting & The Perfect Transcript

COURT REPORTING and the PERFECT TRANSCRIPT

If it exists, we all search for it, the perfect transcript is like Mona Lisa’s smile. Perfect in every way.

Free from all error. No misspeaks. Run on sentences are completely absent. The answer waits patiently for the question.

Numbers are eloquently spoken as though soft rain falling on leaves. Complex medical terms are thoughtfully spelled out by the medical professionals.

Names and addresses are provided on a slip of paper for correctness. Thoughtful attorneys ask if you need a glass of water or perhaps a stretch break.

When the clock strikes 12:00 Noon and you suggest a lunch break, you are recognized as a person; one who has normal needs. Even though they’ve been drinking water and steaming cups of coffee while you’ve been dutifully taking down every word.

When the end of the day rolls in, they all look to you and ask if it would be okay if you would get the transcript to them in a couple of weeks and they would all enjoy a copy with a thorough listing of all the extras.

You smile and say, “No, problem, I can get that to you whenever you please.”

They ask if you need help in putting away your equipment, assistance to the elevator, a final cold bottle of water to take along.

This something we all wish for but very rarely ever encounter.

~ The Beagle

The Court Reporting Industry Could Learn From This Simple Lesson!

The Mouse Story with a Moral!

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to
see the farmer and his wife open a package.

What food might this contain?'

The mouse wondered …

He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed
the warning:

’There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!’

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head
and said,’Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern
to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot
be bothered by it.’

The mouse turned to the pig and told him,
’There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!’

The pig sympathized, but said, ‘I am
so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is
nothing I can do about it but pray.
Be assured you are in my prayers.’

The mouse turned to the cow and said
’There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!’

The cow said, ‘Wow, Mr. Mouse.
I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off
my nose.’

So, the mouse returned to the
house, head down and dejected, to face
the farmer's mousetrap ...alone.

That very night a sound was heard
throughout the house -- like the sound of
a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what
was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous
snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital ,
and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever,
with fresh chicken soup...

So the farmer took his hatchet to
the farmyard for the soup's main
ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends
and neighbors came to sit with her around
the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral,
the farmer had the cow slaughtered to
provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in
the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone
is facing a problem and think it doesn't
concern you, remember ---

When one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

We are all involved in this journey called life.

We must keep an eye outfor one another and
make an extra effort to encourage one another.

REMEMBER. . . .EACH OF US IS A VITAL THREAD
IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY;
OUR LIVES ARE WOVEN TOGETHER FOR A REASON.

One of the best things to hold onto in this world is
a FRIEND.

Have a great week and be good to yourself!