OK Court Reporter cheat sheet

Oklahoma district courts follow the Oklahoma Pleading Code (12 O.S. §§ 2001 et seq.) for civil procedure; a deposition subpoena duces tecum is governed by 12 O.S. § 2004.1 and requires service with reasonable notice.

Under 12 O.S. § 2014, a deposition notice must state the time, place, and manner of recording, and a party may specify audio, audiovisual, or stenographic means; the officer must be a disinterested person.

Oklahoma Rules of the Supreme Court, Rule 1.10 governs the form of appellate records; a transcript for appeal must be certified and filed within the time fixed by the court, not merely delivered to counsel.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals controls criminal appeals; trial transcripts and post-conviction filings follow the Rules of the Court of Criminal Appeals, Title 22, Chapter 18, App.

Juror voir dire and bench conferences may be transcribed only when the court so orders or when a party requests recording at the time; silence in the record is presumed waived.

An oath or affirmation must be administered before testimony; 12 O.S. § 401 requires witnesses to be sworn, and the reporter notes the oath in the record.

In Oklahoma, court reporters are appointed by the district judge and take an oath of office; transcripts are prima facie evidence of the proceedings under 12 O.S. § 3202.

Objections must be recorded with the ground stated; a general objection without stated grounds is preserved only to the extent the ground is apparent from context.

Burden of proof: preponderance of the evidence (civil), clear and convincing (intermediate), beyond a reasonable doubt (criminal) - each is a distinct standard, not interchangeable.

Sustained = objection granted; overruled = objection denied. The reporter records the ruling verbatim and does not editorialize.

A proffer is an offer of proof made outside the jury's hearing to preserve excluded testimony; it is transcribed and marked for the record.

Distinguish dictum (nonbinding observation) from holding (the court's dispositive legal ruling); only the holding binds future cases.

Sua sponte means the court acts on its own motion; ex parte means without notice to the opposing party; in camera means in chambers or outside the public record.

Res judicata bars relitigation of the same claim; collateral estoppel (issue preclusion) bars relitigation of an issue actually decided.

A demurrer in older Oklahoma practice challenges the legal sufficiency of a pleading; modern practice uses a motion to dismiss under 12 O.S. § 2012(B).

Voir dire, venire, challenge for cause, and peremptory challenge are distinct: the panel, the pool, a removal for bias, and a nondisclosed removal, respectively.

Use the serial comma before the final conjunction in a series of three or more items; consistency within the transcript matters more than the style guide chosen.

A restrictive clause takes no comma and uses that/which accordingly; a nonrestrictive clause is set off by commas and uses which.

Quotation marks enclose spoken words; punctuation ending the quotation goes inside the closing mark in American style, except when a citation follows.

Em dashes mark abrupt interruption; ellipses mark trailing off or omission. Preserve the speaker's actual pause type in the record.

Subject-verb agreement follows the grammatical subject, not intervening prepositional phrases; collective nouns take singular verbs in American usage.

Spell out numbers one through nine and use numerals for 10 and above in ordinary prose; dates, times, and money follow numerals in transcripts.

Avoid dangling modifiers: the introductory participial phrase must modify the grammatical subject of the main clause.

Use brackets for editorial insertion and [sic] to signal an error reproduced verbatim; never silently correct quoted testimony.

Standard transcript page: 25 numbered lines, with a title page identifying court, case number, parties, judge, and proceeding date.

Each speaker's name or designation appears in capitals at the left margin followed by a colon; colloquy is single-spaced with a blank line between speakers.

Page numbering is consecutive; each page carries the case caption or short style and the page number at the top.

Exhibits are marked with numbers (plaintiff/defendant) or letters as the court directs and are listed in an index with the page of first reference.

Certification includes the reporter's name, the date, the statement that the transcript is a true and correct record, and the signature; it is attached at the end.

Q. and A. designations are used for question-and-answer format; narrative testimony omits them but retains paragraph indentation.

Reading and sign language interpreters are identified by name and credential; interpreted testimony is marked as such in the record.

Errata sheets correct errors after delivery and must be filed with the court; the original certified transcript remains the record unless amended by order.

Real-time accuracy benchmark: 96–98 percent for live feed, with the remainder corrected before certification; verbatim means word-for-word, not summary.

Stenographic speed thresholds commonly used in Oklahoma certification: 180–200 wpm for literary, 200–225 wpm for jury charge, and 225 wpm for testimony.

Homophone traps in legal dictation: counsel/council, waiver/waver, lien/lean, tort/tart, statute/statue, principal/principle, bear/bare.

Fingerspelling and briefs must be consistent; a misstroked brief that produces a valid but wrong word is caught only by proofreading against context.

Do not transcribe nonverbal fillers as words unless meaningful; mark inaudible passages as [inaudible] and unintelligible as [unintelligible] rather than guessing.

Numbers, dates, and case citations are read back and verified against the record; dollar amounts and statute sections are high-risk error points.

When two speakers overlap, transcribe the audible portion and note the interruption; never attribute words to a speaker who did not say them.

Proofread in three passes: sense (meaning), spelling and names, then format and page numbering.

The court reporter is an officer of the court; impartiality is required, and the reporter may not give legal advice or alter testimony to favor a party.

Confidentiality attaches to grand jury proceedings, juvenile matters, sealed records, and in camera hearings; disclosure outside the record requires a court order.

Ex parte communication with the judge about a pending case is prohibited except on scheduling or administrative matters.

A reporter must disclose any conflict of interest, including a familial or financial relationship with a party or counsel, before accepting the assignment.

Transcripts are produced on request of a party or by court order; the reporter may not release a transcript to a nonparty without authorization.

Fees for transcripts are governed by statute or court order; charging different rates to different parties for the same transcript may violate equal-access rules.

Perjury or falsification in a transcript is a criminal offense and grounds for loss of certification; corrections must follow the errata procedure.

Retention: keep notes and stenographic records for the period required by court rule or statute, and preserve them when an appeal is pending.

Stenotype machines output a stroke code translated by CAT software; the writer's dictionary maps strokes to words and must be maintained and backed up.

Real-time feed requires a computer, translation software, and a connection to counsel or the judge; latency and accuracy depend on dictionary depth and writer speed.

Audio backup recording is standard practice; verify levels and time sync with the stenographic record before the proceeding begins.

Digital reporting (audio plus timestamped notes) is used in some proceedings; the recording must be preserved and authenticated to serve as the record.

Power protection: use a UPS and spare batteries; a mid-hearing failure requires noting the interruption and resuming on the record.

File security: encrypt transcript files, use unique passwords, and back up to a second location; client confidentiality extends to electronic storage.

Scopists and proofreaders edit real-time output; the certified reporter remains responsible for the final transcript's accuracy.

Compatibility: verify that CAT software exports in the format the court requires (PDF, ASCII, or a specific e-filing format) before the deadline.