By Honorable Bonnie M. Wheaton and Geri Barnes

The 18th Judicial Circuit is getting a headstart on the technology of the next millennium by introducing electronic digital court reporting.

Here are 10 habits which will make you a highly effective courtroom lawyer in the era of electronic court reporting:

1. State your name for the record and who you represent. Spell your name and that of the client, and recite the number of your case. The court reporter administering the system (from the control room on the 3rd floor) will "tag" your case, and the clerk will scan the bar code on the front of the court file. But it is still your responsibility to identify your case and your client.

2. Be aware of the microphones in the courtroom Microphones are located on the bench, the clerk’s desk, the witness stand, and on counsel tables. They are very high quality microphones that can pick up sounds all over the courtroom, but if you are talking into your lapel, your voice may be muffled. Do not try to move the microphones. Just speak in a normal tone. It’s not necessary to speak louder. At counsel table there will be a bar on the microphone to cut off what you and your client are saying to one another. However, it is important to remember to speak in a whisper because the sensitivity of the microphone on other counsel table could pick up what you are saying. When the Red LED is on, the microphone is on; depressing the bar will turn the mike in an off position.

3. SPEAK UP!! There is no live court reporter to ask you to repeat something. If you want it in the transcript, it is your responsibility to make sure you are audible. It will be your own fault if your appellate case is lost because your transcript is full of (INAUDIBLE) notations from the transcriber.

4. Bench conferences may be problematic until attorneys and judges learn exactly what will be recorded by each microphone. Although the judge can mute his or her microphone, the "off the record" conference might still be picked up by the microphone on the clerk’s bench. However, having court reporters monitoring this system will certainly be beneficial as they are familiar with courtroom procedures and practices.

5. Don’t talk over another attorney, and don’t let another attorney talk over you. The judge should control who speaks, but if he or she doesn’t, then you should take the initiative. There is no live reporter to yell "one at a time!"

6. Spell all proper names. Have a list of the spellings of all witness names and case citations. Also spell any technical terms or arcane phrases. The transcriber isn’t going to take the time to look up "cy pres" or"nemo est haeres viventis".

7. For divorce prove-ups, have an extra copy of the petition containing names and spellings. Leave the extra copy with the judge, and the transcribing court reporter will pick it up.

8. Inform the clients that all conversations are recorded in the courtroom. The electronic system won’t go off the record when the judge leaves the bench. It is a dumb/smart machine that will take down everything that is said. Both attorneys and clients should refrain from saying anything they don’t want to see in black and white. (The judges hope that the system improves civility in the courtrooms)

9. Ordering procedures for transcripts is unchanged. Orders can be placed in the main court reporters’ office on the 3rd floor. The ordering attorney will get a hard copy for $1.80 per page, and copies ordered simultaneously are $.50 per page. Attorneys will not be able to obtain a copy of the actual tape. The original recording will be kept for 10 years on either DVD-Ram Disks or CD-R Disks.

10. Read-back of questions or answers is not efficient. If a read back is required, it will usually be done by the control room to play back a portion. It is also possible to do a playback directly from the courtrooms; however, initially it be will done by the control room. It requires the judge to call the control room and request that the system administrator find the question or answer. It is doubtful that many judges will allow a "read-back" for it involves a brief period of time in order to accomplish this task. So formulate your questions succinctly from the start.

There will be demonstrations available. The dates and times are to be announced and I encourage all to participate.

Honorable Bonnie M. Wheaton is a Presiding Judge in the Chancery Division. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the DCBA.