Testimony (Jury Charge and Question-and-Answer) Dictation and Transcription
The question-and-answer leg
Testimony dictation is scored on verbatim capture of questions, answers, colloquy, and non-verbal events. Format is fixed: speaker names in full caps followed by a colon, Q for the examining attorney and A for the witness, and BY-lines when counsel resumes ("BY MR. REYES:"). Objections, argument, and rulings are reported as spoken; you do not summarize them.
Jury charge dictation
The court reads instructions slowly, often from the Illinois Pattern Jury Instructions with citations, and often only once. Capture the instruction number, title, and text exactly, and number the instructions as read. If the judge says "the jury will disregard the last answer," that is reported, not deleted.
Handling the unspoken
Use parentheticals for events, not for inferences: (Whereupon, the witness nodded affirmatively.), (Exhibit 3 was marked for identification.), (Bench conference held.). Do not write that a witness was nervous or that counsel appeared angry.
Worked example
You hear: "MR. REYES: Objection, hearsay. THE COURT: Sustained. BY MR. REYES: Q. Did you sign the lease?" Output: MR. REYES: Objection, hearsay. / THE COURT: Sustained. / BY MR. REYES: / Q. Did you sign the lease? Reasoning: the objection and ruling are part of the record and keep their speaker designations; the BY-line re-establishes who is questioning; Q. resumes because the witness will answer.
Traps
Paraphrasing an awkward question to make it grammatical; dropping bench conferences; treating "off the record" as a signal to stop writing anything; losing the exhibit number; failing to number IPI instructions as read.