17.3 Guidelines for Professional Practice

17.3 Guidelines for Professional Practice

Quick Summary: The NCRA Code states mandatory ethical Provisions. The separate Guidelines for Professional Practice use best-practice language and repeatedly invoke common sense, professional courtesy, and applicable law. Learn what the Guidelines actually cover; fixed arrival times, a national dress code, and one required ergonomic posture are not listed as Guidelines.

Section I: Court Reporter

Section I begins with the official reporter's role in creating the verbatim record. Its ten recommendations form a practical professional checklist:

1. Accept an assignment only when the reporter's competence can produce an accurate transcript; step aside when ability is inadequate and recommend or assign only a qualified replacement.
2. Prepare the record according to transcript rules established by statute, court order, or local custom and usage.
3. Ensure that a substitute reporter is qualified.
4. Preserve shorthand notes as a statute or court order requires, or otherwise for no less than five years, using original notes or an allowed electronic copy of the notes or English translation.
5. Meet promised delivery dates when possible, deliver timely when none is specified, and notify recipients immediately about delays.
6. Remain proficient in professional skills.
7. Keep current with literature, technology, developments, and continuing education.
8. Support national, state, and local association work that advances professional quality.
9. Cooperate with the bench and bar to improve administration of justice.
10. Consider pro bono service through qualified legal-assistance organizations, while preserving impartiality, competence, and integrity.

The five-year recommendation is a fallback, not a universal destruction date. A statute, order, employer retention schedule, litigation hold, or longer contractual duty can control. Never destroy notes merely because five years passed without checking authority.

Section II: Realtime in Legal Proceedings

The legal realtime reporter normally creates the official verbatim record, a role distinct from a CART provider who supplies communication access. Establish which role has been requested, who will receive realtime, and how the feed may be used. Accept work appropriate to skill and setting, represent qualifications accurately, obtain advance terminology when possible, know the hardware and software, and continue improving realtime skill.

The Guidelines call for a disclaimer or order form with an uncertified draft. Role clarity matters: a judge's or lawyer's realtime display may be a working aid and not the final certified transcript.

Section III: Uncertified Draft Transcripts

An uncertified draft and a certified transcript are two versions with different authority. The draft may contain errors and may not be filed with the court. It is distributed only to ordering parties, not to the public or news organizations, and comparable service should be offered to all parties.

Prevent confusion with the final record. The Guidelines say a draft should omit a completed title page, appearance page, certificate page, named swearing language, and reporter or firm certification footer. Each page should say uncertified draft transcript only; a cover disclaimer should state that it cannot be quoted or filed. Resolve untranslates and conflicts where possible before delivery. The reporter still follows all governing law, rules, and orders.

Section IV: Backup Audio Media

Backup audio does not change the reporter's duties. Read back from steno notes, interrupt when speech is unclear or overlapping, and keep the stenographic record primary. Follow recording law. If a reporter releases a backup copy, remove confidential or off-the-record material, provide a copy rather than the original, preserve the original, and make the same offer to other parties. An agency may not force production absent a court order.

Section V: Remote Proceedings

Remote guidance applies only when local rules permit the proceeding and the oath. Before starting, identify everyone and everyone present in each room, reduce microphone feedback, clarify recording restrictions, and choose a view that helps identify speakers. During the proceeding, interrupt for clarity, identify speakers, and document connection failures. Chat text is not part of the official record unless a participant reads it into the record. The transcript should identify the proceeding as remote or by videoconference and may use technical-difficulty parentheticals.

Remote notarization and oath law varies by state. A stipulation cannot create authority that controlling law withholds. Confirm witness location, identity, oath authority, court order, and recording rules before the witness is sworn.

Professional Boundaries

Good preparation can include early arrival, appropriate attire, careful cable routing, breaks, and neutral wrist posture. Those may be wise workplace practices and some related health topics may qualify for CEUs, but do not falsely attribute a fixed 30-to-60-minute arrival mandate or a specific elbow angle to the NCRA Guidelines. Likewise, a reporter should not give substantive legal advice. Direct procedural questions to the judge, clerk, or counsel and keep the reporter's own communication limited to record-making and service logistics.