Court Reporters Need A Break, Too!

Anonymous Court Reporter
Sep 20, 2017
2 min read

Your deposition started at 9:00 a.m. Traffic had you on the Boston highways for an hour and a half because Boston court reporters have one of the worst commutes in the country. You get to your job, start to set up your highly advanced court reporting equipment, and the attorneys are sitting around waiting for you, even though it's only 8:45 and you think you have a few minutes to sit down, have a sip of that yummy law firm coffee, and breathe before you connect your real-time feed.

Wrong. "We're all here, so as soon as you're set up, we can start the deposition," says Mr. Taking Attorney.

All eyes are on you, Madam Court Reporter. Hurry! Hurry! Okay, good to go. Witness is sworn, and the questions and answers start to fly. At 11:30 a.m., approximately two hours and 45 minutes later, you're wondering when you're going to get a break. "Excuse me, could we take a short break?" you ask. "Sure, five more minutes."

Okay, so it's now noon. Your hands hurt, your back hurts, you need a restroom break and something to drink (no, not vodka!), and you've been writing on your steno machine for three-plus hours.

"I really need a break." Practically begging, aren't you? Silence. Then, "Five more minutes."

Here's where we need to be the professional court reporters that we are and assert ourselves. After all, you're being disregarded, and your request is being ignored. You know that if you don't have that break - and by now it really should be longer than the usual five or ten minutes - you're never going to last until 5:00 p.m.

"Excuse me, Mr. Taking Attorney. I understand that you would like to get through as much as you can today, and I really would like to accommodate you. However, if I don't get a break, you're going to need to call an ambulance by 2:00, and I would hate to have you witness my complete mental breakdown. So, I think it would be best for all of us if you allowed me to take that break right now."

As you get up while they're all sitting there looking at you, make sure you say, "I'll be back in 15 minutes or so. Thank you!"

Now, court reporters, run to the rest room, grab your water, stretch your legs, and get ready for another 200 pages!

In the wise words of a great musician:

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you might just find, you get what you need." - Mick Jagger