Court Reporting Practice Standards and Board of Review Procedures
Domain 2: Practice standards and Board of Review procedures
This domain tests the daily duties that make a record reliable and the administrative process that reviews certification and conduct. The exam favors scenarios about transcript integrity, retention, and what the Board of Review can and cannot decide.
Core practice standards
The official reporter or recorder must administer oaths or affirmations, capture all oral proceedings on the record, and preserve the notes or recordings that constitute the official record. The record must be logged: case number, date, judge, participants, exhibits, interruptions, and any off-the-record agreements. Transcripts must be produced from the official record, formatted under SCAO requirements, and certified by the reporter. A certified transcript may not be altered without a court order. Notes, recordings, and backups must be retained for the required period because appeals and board complaints can arise long after trial.
Board of Review
MCR 8.108 provides for a Court Reporting and Recording Board of Review appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court. It functions as an administrative review body for SCAO certification decisions and disciplinary matters, not as an appellate court for the underlying case. A complaint or appeal is filed with the SCAO; the SCAO screens and investigates; matters within the board's jurisdiction are set for notice and hearing. The board may take evidence, hear argument, and issue a written decision. Sanctions can include reprimand, conditions, suspension, or revocation of certification. The board's focus is whether the reporter or recorder met certification and practice standards.
Worked example
A party claims a certified reporter omitted a bench conference and refuses to correct the transcript. Reasoning: the reporter must first produce the retained record; if the transcript is certified, correction ordinarily requires a court order, not a private edit. The party files a complaint with the SCAO. If the dispute concerns certification or professional conduct, the Board of Review may hear it; the board does not retry the bench conference's legal effect. The remedy may be a corrected transcript, discipline, or both.
Traps
Do not edit a certified transcript to "fix" it. Do not destroy notes or backups before the retention period ends. Do not miss board filing deadlines or communicate ex parte with board members. Do not ask the board to reverse the trial court's ruling; it reviews certification and conduct. Do not rely on a single recording with no backup or log.