AAERT CET Certified Electronic Transcriber cheat sheet

Colloquy format places the speaker's name (or Q/A label) at the left margin followed by a colon, with the spoken text beginning at a consistent tab stop.

A change of speaker always starts a new paragraph; never run two speakers together in one paragraph, even for a single word.

Verbatim transcription preserves false starts, repeated words, and filler (um, uh) unless the style guide or client instructs otherwise.

Nonverbal and audible events are enclosed in parentheses or brackets per the governing style guide (e.g., (laughter), [inaudible], (indicating)).

[Inaudible] or [inaudible 00:12:34] marks unintelligible speech; a guessed word must never be substituted silently for unclear audio.

Page numbering runs consecutively across the whole transcript, and each page footer typically carries the page number plus the case or job identifier.

Proofreading order: compare audio to text for omissions, then check speaker attribution, then spelling of names, then punctuation and format.

Homophone traps in legal audio include 'counsel/council,' 'waive/wave,' 'statute/statue,' 'lien/lean,' and 'hearsay/here say.'

Foot pedal mapping convention: left = rewind/back, center = play/pause, right = fast-forward; rewind is set to a fixed few-second step for repeat listening.

A digital audio timestamp is a running offset from the start of the file; a timestamp of 00:14:07 means 14 minutes 7 seconds into the recording.

Express Scribe, For The Record, and similar players support variable speed playback; pitch correction keeps voices intelligible at reduced speed.

Noise-cancelling headphones reduce steady background hum; a boom or headset microphone reduces keyboard noise bleeding into dictation.

Audio file formats: WAV is uncompressed and largest; MP3 and similar lossy formats shrink size at some cost to fidelity.

Draft/rough-draft transcripts are marked as unedited and are not certified; certified transcripts are proofread against the audio and carry the transcriber's certification statement.

Backing up audio and transcripts to a second location protects against drive failure; file naming should follow the client's convention (case number, date, disc).

A foot pedal connected via USB generally requires no driver on modern systems; if the pedal fails, keyboard hotkeys serve as the fallback.

A deposition is sworn out-of-court testimony recorded by a court reporter or electronic recorder, usable at trial for impeachment or when the witness is unavailable.

An arraignment is the initial appearance where the defendant is informed of the charges and enters a plea.

Discovery is the pretrial exchange of information; it includes interrogatories (written questions), requests for production, and depositions.

A subpoena commands a witness to appear or produce documents; a subpoena duces tecum specifically commands production of documents or things.

Objections at a deposition are stated on the record; counsel may instruct a witness not to answer only in narrow circumstances such as privilege.

'Off the record' means recording is suspended; 'on the record' resumes it, and the transcript should reflect those transitions.

An exhibit marked at a hearing or deposition is identified by number or letter and its marking is captured in the transcript.

A ruling is the court's decision on a point of law or an objection; a verdict is the factfinder's decision on the case.

Transcribers handle confidential proceedings; discussing case content outside the assignment is a confidentiality breach.

A transcriber certifies accuracy only for work personally produced and proofread; certifying another's unverified work is improper.

When audio is unintelligible, the ethical choice is to flag it ([inaudible] or a note) rather than guess a plausible word.

Conflicts of interest (e.g., a relative is a party to the case) must be disclosed before accepting the assignment.

Transcripts should not be altered after certification except through a documented correction process that preserves the original record.

Deadlines and scope commitments are professional obligations; if a deadline cannot be met, the client must be notified in advance, not after the fact.

Accepting payment contingent on the content of testimony, or editing testimony to favor a party, is a fundamental ethical violation.

Secure handling includes encrypted transfer and controlled storage; unencrypted email of confidential transcripts is generally disfavored.

Sua sponte: the court acts on its own motion, without a party's request.

Ex parte: a proceeding involving only one side, typically without notice to the opposing party.

Voir dire: the examination of prospective jurors, or in some jurisdictions the preliminary examination of a witness.

Hearsay: an out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted; generally inadmissible subject to exceptions.

Stipulation: an agreement between parties on a fact or procedure, often read into the record.

Pro se: a party representing themselves without an attorney.

Res ipsa loquitur: 'the thing speaks for itself,' a doctrine permitting an inference of negligence from the nature of an accident.

Continuance: a postponement or adjournment of a proceeding to a later date.

Impeachment: attacking a witness's credibility, often with a prior inconsistent statement.