My Most Memorable Court Reporting Assignments

Dawn Hart wanted to share some of her most memorable assignments with Planet Depos, “because it’s jobs like these that make her career so indescribably amazing.”

Dawn remembers with clarity an assignment that she began in 1989, and that lasted 4 years. It was a family dispute in which a child was suing a parent. Every time an argument would ensue, Dawn would be asked to mark the argument by folding her steno notes down at that point, and head out with counsel to the judge. There, Dawn would read the argument back, the judge would rule on it, a date would be set for the deposition to continue, and Dawn would be sent back. This happened over and over again for four years, and was heart-wrenching for Dawn to watch because it was a family torn apart, but as she said, “It was necessary.” Dawn’s skill set was key to bringing this discovery full circle. Had she not been able to keep up with the argument and read it back to the judge for him to rule, the case would have never made it to court.

Dawn’s funniest assignment stems from a deposition in which the witness and his counsel were in Dawn’s presence, while examining counsel was remote to the proceedings via teleconference. The line of questioning related to the fishing habits of the witness. After some time had passed, counsel asked whether the fish the witness caught at night were different from the fish he caught during the day. The question struck Dawn’s funny bone so deeply that she couldn’t stop laughing. Every time she’d almost stop laughing, she’d think, “Does he even know what he just asked?” and she’d start laughing again. As she said, “Thank goodness examining counsel was connected remotely.”

Dawn loves to listen to people’s opinions, and that’s one of the things she likes most about her job. She will often walk into a proceeding feeling one way about a topic, and after hearing the testimony, her viewpoint will be changed entirely. She thrives on challenge, and particularly loves the pharmacological, medical and scientific assignments, because she learns so much as a result of taking the testimony and researching the formulas, chemicals, and drugs. As she says, “You can never assume a spelling or meaning, unless you’re knowledgeable about the topic. A word of advice from Dawn: “In transcribing formulas, it’s extremely important that the upper and lower case lettering, numbering, and bracketing are correct, as any single error could represent an entirely different formula.

After 33 years, Dawn still loves the job — dressing professionally, meeting new people, going to new places and learning new things. She works very hard and highly recommends court reporting as a career.