Proofreaders are the fresh set of eyes that all court reporters wish they had at the end of the day. While some certified court reporters do not have any help in producing transcripts, some find it helpful to have a professional proofreader. After taking a job, then reading it during the editing process and proofreading it again, the transcript begins to take on a certain familiarity.
Any court stenographer will tell you they already know what it says by the third version. The question is, is that what the transcript really says or are their eyes playing tricks on them? Proofreaders will take a court reporter's transcript after it has been transcribed into English and give it a final polish. They do not need to be proficient in steno, just in grammar, spelling and format.
A good proofreader can make a court reporter shine. The proofreader goes through the transcript line by line, page by page. Every you, your and you're will make sense. Each there, their and they're will be spelled right. They will figure out the difference between similar sounding acronyms, like SEC, SCC and FCC, and make sure the transcript's context is correct. Every space, every paragraph indentation and every speaker identification are noted for accuracy.
What's the point? Even the best court reporter will occasionally miss a word or misspell a name. The eyes will sometimes see a word that is not there. They might read right over a word with similar sounds and a slightly different meaning without giving is a second thought. It might be a stenographer's best intention to go back and look up the spelling of an obscure town later. One interruption in their train of thought and the moment is lost. So is the spelling.
This is where the proofreader comes in. While it may seem like a minor inconvenience to have a typo in a legal transcript, it may prompt the client to wonder what else is wrong with it. If the speaker is misidentified, what else is misconstrued?
Some court reporters are stronger proofreaders than others. They notice the period that should be a question mark. Others may go several months before they discover that they forgot to change the file that automatically includes the year on the front page of their transcripts. Yes, it's 2010. If the court reporter's transcript still says 2009, they might want to think about a proofreader.
It's not for everyone. Punctuation is subjective in most cases. Changing routine spellings and format may be a matter of personal preference. No one thinks they make mistakes. A good litmus test for a court reporter that wonders if they need a proofreader is to go back to a transcript that was done six months ago. Print it out at full size on white paper and slowly, deliberately read it as if they were the client. Are there any errors or things that should have been done differently?
If not, they probably don't need a proofreader. If there are, this might be a good time to reevaluate the proofreading process. Find a different way or hire someone to help out on the side.
Author Resource:-
Author is a freelance writer. For more information on Certified court reporters please visit http://www.huseby.com/.
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