In response to a Feb. 9 Charlotte Observer article, NCRA President Nancy Varallo, RDR, CRR, submitted a letter to the editor to address several inaccuracies. Primarily, the article, “N.C. weighs necessity of court reporter; ‘it’s all about the money’” cites a figure that NCRA debunked several years ago indicating that transcript turnaround time was cut from 138 days to just 12 by switching to digital audio recording. Varallo notes, “That statement originated from the Utah Administrative Office of the Courts in an effort to provide an effective talking point in favor of switching to digital recording. A review of one year’s worth of transcripts determined that there were only three instances when transcripts took longer than 30 days to produce, rendering the original claim not only implausible but impossible.”
Varallo also expanded on the technological value that court reporters bring to the courtroom through realtime and modern CAT software. She concluded by noting, “Solely citing cost savings as a reason to sacrifice the integrity of the court record is a dangerous course for North Carolina’s court system to undertake. We have countless examples of court recordings failing to work, recordings being lost, and recordings being nearly completely inaudible.”
NCRA will continue to advocate in favor of official court reporters working in the courtroom as they have been proven to be the most effective means of capturing the record.
To read the full editorial, click here.
