Whether you are a court reporter interested in COCRA membership, news, student recruitment, or you're interested in learning more about exciting career opportunities, we hope you find the resources you're looking for. Happy navigating!
Posted on September 3rd, 2008 at 9:58 am, by admin
For those of you wondering who the people are behind StenoCast, the people that will be leading the Realtime Seminar that we we have planned for September 20th, I’m happy to introduce you to Messieurs Michael Appelman, Sr. and Jr. I asked them to introduce themselves to the COCRA membership and without further ado, here they are in their own words.
Michael Appelman, Sr.
California CSR, RPR, RMR
Official Reporter San Diego Superior Court 1982 – 2006
Started StenoCast November 2004
For the past four years we have focused on one issue: How to make realtime feasible for every reporter. Through our tech support at StenoCast we have encountered virtually every issue that confronts the realtime reporter. Most issues boil down to a COM port or baud rate setting, or something relatively simple to fix. However, when you add in a heavy dose of stress and a few extra sets of eyes watching the reporter’s every move, it’s sometimes difficult to remember even simple things. Who do you call for realtime assistance when you’re in the middle of a job? This seminar will help you to think logically and systematically through the various issues you face in the real world and, more importantly, teach you how to fix them.
Michael Appelman, Jr.
Computer consultant / networking 2000 – 2004
Started StenoCast November 2004
Inventor of the StenoCast X1-Lithium and StenoCast X7
Posted on August 20th, 2008 at 5:49 pm, by Gordon Aiavao
I’m happy to announce to those of you planning on attending the Fall Conference this September 20th that you can now register online! Just think of it! You don’t have to fill out a hardcopy form and then fish around for a stamp and then make it to the nearest mailbox to get your registration form in.
The Fall Conference will be held at the
San Francisco State University Downtown Campus at the Westfield San Francisco Center
Click on this link, and then on the upper left-hand side you’ll find two links. One link is for the online version of our Fall Conference Brochure and the link right below that is the link you want to click on to get you to the online registration site. Follow the simple instructions and enter your payment and you’ll be set to attend our conference.
Posted on August 14th, 2008 at 1:40 pm, by Gordon Aiavao
So for those of you eagerly awaiting the launch of our COCRA Fall Conference, I’m happy to say that we’ve uploaded the entire COCRA Fall Conference Brochure to the COCRA website which means you can download the brochure and registration form.
You can download the brochure by clicking here, and I’ve included snapshots of the brochure below so that you’ll get a small taste of what’s to come when you download the entire brochure or when you get it in the mail.
UPDATE: I’ve gotten a few comments about the size of the brochure. Just a reminder folks to use the Adobe tools at the top and click on the minimize button to the size you want.
Posted on August 13th, 2008 at 4:26 pm, by Gordon Aiavao
You should have received a postcard some weeks ago telling you to save the date of September 20th, 2008, for COCRA’s Fall Conference. Now, I know what you’re saying. Didn’t COCRA have their annual conference in April? Well, the answer is, yes we did. And it was such a huge success and we got back such great feedback from the attendants. And one comment we had was from a person asking us if we were going to hold another conference in the fall. We thought about it and decided, what the heck? Let’s hold another conference in the Fall.
Now, aside from the fact that we want the chance again to see all of you who came in April, as well as the fact that we hope to see those of you who couldn’t make it in April, there are three main reasons why we decided to have a Fall Conference.
Reason Number 1: NCRA CEU Deadline Is September 30th
We know that many of you are members of NCRA and that you attend our conferences and their conventions to maintain the minimum number of CEUs for your various NCRA-issued licenses like the RPR. Well, the deadline to get your CEUs into NCRA if this year is your last year in the three-year cycle is September 30th. So show up at our conference in September, collect 6 CEUs, and if you’ve acquired the number of CEUs you need, you’re good to go!
Now, keep in mind that if you had planned on attending the DRA or CCRA conventions to pick up any remaining NCRA CEUs before the deadline, keep in mind that both conventions will be held after the deadline for this year. COCRA’s Conference is September 20th and falls before the deadline.
Reason Number 2: California Rules of Court Rule 10.474.
What is California Rules of Court Rule 10.474? Well, there’s a long answer and there’s a short answer. Here’s the long answer which is the section of Court Rule 10.474 that applies to official reporters:
(c) Hours-based requirements
(2)Each court employee who is not a manager or supervisor must complete 8 hours of continuing education every two years, with the exception of employees who do not provide court administrative or operational services. Those employees are not subject to the continuing education hours-based requirement but must complete any education or training required by law and any other education required by the court executive officer.
If that’s the long answer, what’s the short answer? Well, it’s this: Every court employee has to complete 8 hours of education within a two-year period. You’re probably wondering then when the two year period began. Well, the answer is it began in January of 2007!! But don’t panic!! If you haven’t gotten your 8 hours of education you can eliminate 6 of them by showing up to COCRA’s Fall Conference and then picking up another 2 hours at DRA’s or CCRA’s convention.
We will provide all Fall Conference attendees with a letter attesting to the fact that attendees have earned 6 hours of continuing education.
Reason Number 3: COCRA Partners with StenoCast
The Fall Conference will focus primarily on the nuts and bolts of getting your realtime together. Our main speaker will be Michael Appleton of StenoCast. In addition to giving attendees an overall look at realtime, he’ll also give attendees a look at tech gadgets that will be of interest to reporters, and he’ll also be discussing why your next choice for a computer should be an Apple computer. This will be the first time that COCRA will be partnering with a third party vendor and we think that this Fall’s seminars focussed on realtime will be beneficial for everyone attending.
Now, over the next few weeks I’ll be giving those of you planning on attending more information on the conference, the FABULOUS location, as well as how easy it is to get to the conference for those of you from out of town. So be sure to keep checking back!!
and Electronic Recording, on a Positive Note? CONGRATULATIONS TO THE DEPOSITION REPORTERS ASSOCIATION [DRA]! DRA worked hard to ensure the passage of a National Court Reporters Association [NCRA] bylaws amendment, and they won!
Thanks to all of you who voted through direct member voting, 72.1 percent decided any state with NCRA membership exceeding ten percent may have more than one NCRA affiliate.
COCRA supported DRA from the beginning and may benefit from all of their hard work. We are grateful to know such an amazing group of freelance court reporters! HOW MANY OF YOU ARE A MEMBER? Christina Schwandt from Bakersfield, California, is a member of COCRA, CCRA, DRA, AND NCRA!
When we, at COCRA, spoke with Christina at the NCRA conference, we were, frankly, completely inspired.
How wonderful it is to know that there are reporters like Christina out there, going above and beyond to ensure all of our futures are supported. She is the reporter that enables all associations to thrive in a difficult atmosphere for our profession.
With everything going on in a court reporter’s busy world, he/she may think, “I have to buy gas, groceries, and this economy is bringing me down. I can’t belong to any association. Besides, what have they done for me lately?”
Well, thank goodness for Christina Schwandt. Her generosity to her profession and all associations made it possible for COCRA and our other associations to fight and win, once again, in Sacramento this year.
Each and every association listed above helped California defeat ER. Without the support of reporters like Christina, we may have lost the battle.
Thank you, Christina! ELECTRONIC RECORDING [ER] EXPANSION - WHAT’S A CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER TO DO?
Laura Dennis, PLC, of L. Dennis & Associates, Inc., and Nate Smith, NCRA Senior Government Relations Specialist, NCRA Staff Liaison, and ER Task Force member say, “Stay positive.” There is plenty of evidence that already proves ER is an inferior product that causes mistrials, delays, and more money to the public than some would ever admit to. Maybe it’s time we focus on how valuable certified shorthand reporters are to our great country!
We, at COCRA, started thinking about all the things court reporters do for the U.S. besides providing the best record available.
Have you heard about the court reporters donating their time to transcribe over 1,000 videos sent to the Library of Congress to document stories of our U.S. veterans?
Have you heard about the official court reporters in San Francisco who did pro bono court reporting for the Battered Women’s Shelter?
Have you heard about the court reporters in Los Angeles who raised over $18,500 to sponsor a search-and-rescue dog team in memory of Julie Ann Brandau, the reporter killed in Atlanta in March of 2005? Those donations came from reporters and friends of reporters from all over the country.
Not only are there many articles pointing out the finer points of the court reporter, such as “Human Touch Beats Technology,” but many people don’t realize that court reporters provide the closed captioning that helps over 50 million Americans every day.
Next time somebody does the “court reporter finger dance” when describing your profession, be sure to point out some of these positive aspects of being a court reporter. Offer a realtime demonstration to anyone who wants to watch. Let everyone know that we are a profession that will continue to provide the best record out there. Be inspired!
Thanks, once again, for your valuable time.
The COCRA Team
Those of you who are NCRA members are probably more than aware that his year saw a historic change in the way NCRA conducts its elections. This is the first year that NCRA has allowed members to vote online. We have the results for the two contested seats and bylaws amendments.
Jason Meadors, RPR, CRR of Fort Collins, Colorado 509 votes (45.2%)
Position of Director (three-year term)
Tami Smith, RPR, CPE of Lansing, Michigan 519 votes (52.5%)
Donna Collins, RPR, CRR, CCP, FAPR of Dallas, Texas 470 votes (47.6%)
Bylaws Amendments
1. That Article III, Membership, Section 3, Participating Members, be changed to include CART providers among the list of reporter types eligible to join as Participating Members.
1,035 members (96.1%) voted in favor
41 members (3.8%) were opposed.
2. That Article III, Membership, Section 5, Student Members, be simplified and the four-year limitation on eligibility for Student Membership be eliminated.
989 members (95.7%) voted in favor
44 members (4.3%) were opposed
3. That Article XVI, Affiliated Units, Section 3(c), Definitions, be amended to allow states that have more than 10 percent of NCRA’s membership to have more than one affiliated unit.
751 members (72.1%) voted in favor
290 members (27.9%) were opposed
COCRA has been pushing for our members to support DRA’s bylaws amendments to Article XVI regarding allowing affiliated status to those states that have more than one court reporter association. We congratulate DRA on the DECISIVE passage of their amendment to the bylaws.
WOW - The last few weeks have been crazy! The fight to keep Electronic Recording out of the budget was a HUGE fight. Thankfully, we have our hard-working lobbyists (along with far too many people to list - and I would hate to leave out a single one of them!), who did a fantastic job of keeping ER at bay. They talked with everyone who would listen, and then some, about the downfalls of using ER as a means of keeping the record. Please read previous blogs to see what it all entailed.
WHEW - We can finally breathe a sigh of relief . . . NOT!!!
Now, more than ever, we need to prepare for the next step. We need to fortify our forces, rally the troops, and go on the offense!
What does that mean for you and me? What is our role as reporters?
COCRA needs your support for our Legislative Fund. It’s extremely important that our lobbyists keep up with where we have left off this year. Next year will be here before you know it - with a new budget that will most likely have even more cuts! Therefore, I urge each of you to contribute a minimum of $60 - obviously, the more the better - to the Legislative Fund. Think of it, that’s only a few pleas. We can’t afford not to!
Please don’t delay. Send your contributions to: California Official Court Reporters Association - Legislative Fund, One Capitol Mall, Suite 320, Sacramento, CA 95814.
Posted on July 19th, 2008 at 12:14 pm, by Gordon Aiavao
Many of you COCRA members who’ve attended our annual conferences in the past have probably had the opportunity to hear a legislative report given by Barry Broad, COCRA’s lead legislative advocate in Sacramento. And if you’ve heard Barry speak, you know that he’s deeply invested in defending the court reporting profession. You may have even picked up on what a colorful personality he is.
Yet what you may not know is that Barry is also a published author. Barry’s novel “The Eve of Destruction” gets released soon and if you’re wondering what Barry’s novel is about, you can check out this synopsis published in an interview that Barry gave to the Los Angeles Times.
As lawmakers droned, he fell into a daydream. Broad, an avid news consumer and armchair geopoliticist, began pondering the Middle East, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
“What if CIA secret agents could engineer a Chernobyl-like nuclear meltdown that would stymie Iran’s ambitions to build a nuclear bomb?” Broad mused. “What if Iran’s mullahs could smuggle a radioactive ‘dirty bomb’ into the Port of Los Angeles and set it off at Griffith Observatory?” And “what if both events were to occur simultaneously?”
Almost makes the battles that officials have with electronic recording pale in comparison. You can read the rest of the interview with Barry and learn more about his book by clicking here. And Barry will be having a book signing in Sacramento next month and I’ll post more info on it or update this post.
COCRA is excited to announce new training exclusively for official reporters through the California Center for Judicial Education & Research (CJER), which is the education division of the AOC.
And here’s the best part: You can receive this education on the job, during your work hours at NO cost to the reporter, and it qualifies for your continuing education requirements!
COCRA’s Lyn Yard said, “As a supervising reporter, I had attended other training programs through CJER, which were always professional, relevant and well presented, and I thought, Why is there nothing offered specifically for court reporters?So I took the idea to the COCRA board, and they unanimously agreed to initiate contact with CJER about developing reporter training and education.”
Lyn told us, “When I first contacted Maggie Cimino [CJER Education Division Manager] about the possibility of developing a court reporter education program, her response was, ‘Wonderful!But we have been unable to determine how to provide education at times when reporters could be available.’”Maggie reported that CJER had investigated this possibility during the RRTF (concluded in 2004), and had even developed some curriculum, which they shared with us.It had been determined that the only time reporters were available to participate in continuing education was in the evenings and on the weekends, and CJER is unavailable to provide services during those times.
(For your convenience, directions on how to vote through NCRA’s Direct Member Voting Process and DRA’s amendment are listed below)
Mark your calendars! On July 24th, 2008, at 10:30 a.m., NCRA will hold its annual business meeting.
Why is this important to you? Because DRA has an important amendment that will pass if enough of you vote through “Direct Member Voting.” We realize most of you may not be able to attend the business meeting in Anaheim; therefore, it is vital you follow the directions below so your vote and voice will count.
With DRA’s permission, we copied their message below. If you would like to read it directly from their site, please go to www.caldra.org.
DRA is working hard to ensure all court reporters throughout the State of California have a voice. Let’s do them the service of joining in their efforts.
Directions for Direct Member Voting:
Go to http://www.ncraonline.org/ July 15, 2008
Make sure NCRA has your current email address
You can contact them by clicking on the “sign-in” link or the “View/Edit Member Information” link in the left-hand column
If you do NOT see those two links, contact NCRA at 800-272-6262
On July 24, 2008, at 10:30 a.m., you will sign on to a secure site and watch the transcript and video feed of the meeting. You can then vote through a private link for up to 12 hours.
JULY 24, 2008 AND VOTE TO SUPPORT OUR PROPOSED BYLAWS AMENDMENT!
The Deposition Reporters Association of California will again seek an NCRA bylaws amendment in order to have the opportunity to be considered an affiliate.
Some of you may recall a proposed amendment to accomplish this in 2002 and 2003. The vote in 2003 was favorable, 135 for/95 against, just not reaching the two-thirds required for the amendment to pass.
Since that time NCRA has endeavored to treat DRA, as much as possible, as a recognized state affiliate, which is greatly appreciated. However, we still aspire to be a full-fledged partner with NCRA, able to proudly say we are an NCRA affiliate working for the benefit of the profession, able to propose resolutions to NCSA, able to vote on resolutions proposed by others, able to give voice to the hundreds of NCRA members that DRA represents.
The previous bylaws proposal was to add language to allow for more than one affiliate in states with over 3,000 NCRA members. We have decided this time to use a percentage instead of a specific number. Hence, the proposed change would read as follows:
Amend Article XVI, Section 3(c) to read:
“Only one affiliated unit [shall] may be recognized from any one state, with the exception of states wherein the number of NCRA members exceeds 10 percent of NCRA membership.”
The change from “shall” to “may” is to ensure that potential affiliate status is not automatic, giving the NCRA board discretion to decide whether it is appropriate.
DRA appreciates that multiple state associations would not be sustainable in most other states. However, in California they do exist and are large enough to support full-time paid lobbyists and executive directors.
This amendment is not about seeking to replace the current California NCRA affiliate (CCRA). Rather, we are seeking inclusion for our NCRA members who have chosen DRA to represent them in their state and who wish that representation to be extended to the national arena. There is no avenue to do so without a bylaws amendment.
NCRA is known as an association of members, not states. We believe that denying DRA the opportunity to affiliate with NCRA and to have a full voice at NCSA is in conflict with this premise and disenfranchises many members based solely on a geographic determination. In terms of NCRA membership, DRA ranks among the top ten associations in the country.
DRA hopes that NCRA and its affiliate state leaders want to hear about its accomplishments and programs, including several legislative successes. We hope they want to hear, as well, a perspective that sometimes differs from that of the California NCRA affiliate.
DRA exists, has thrived and grown for over ten years, and is “home” to hundreds of NCRA members. Our goal is inclusion, participation and recognition.
Please join us in Anaheim on July 24th at the NCRA annual business meeting, in conjunction with the convention, when this amendment will be discussed and voted on! GIVE IT YOUR VOTE OF SUPPORT!
If you can’t make it in person and wish to vote on line, here is what you will need to do:
Join NCRA if you haven’t already!
Verify NCRA has a current email address for you. You can do this by going to www.NCRAonline.org. Look for the “View/Edit Member Information” comment in the left-hand column or call 800-272-6272.
In order to vote via the Web at the Anaheim business meeting, members will be able to sign on to the secure web site, review the transcript and video feed for the meeting, and vote through a private, secure link during the 12-hour voting period. Results will be verified by a third party.
The NCRA link is not up yet but will be clearly visible on NCRA’s site,
Each court employee who is not a manager or supervisor must complete 8 hours of continuing education every two years, with the exception of employees who do not provide court administrative or operational services. Those employees are not subject to the continuing education hours-based requirement but must complete any education or training required by law and any other education required by the court executive officer.
