Having entered on time, the reporter should, if the trial is to be held in a court room, take his place at one of the tables within the enclos ure, as near in front of the judge's desk as possible, just under it in fact unless that is reserved for some officer or clerk, etc., and, as soon as the lawyer who has hired him, enters, he should ascertain from that lawyer if possible, the names of the different counsel who are to be employee on that case, as well as the exact and full title of that case. Such a re-quest is no evidence of a lack of knowledge of law proceedings, but will rather be considered by the lawyer as an evidence of your desire to please him by wording the title after his preferred style, if he has any, and by it you will learn a proper legal form, which will enable you to, although ignorant of all legal forms, gain that much knowledge.

We present such a form on page 174, of which we will speak later

Do not hesitate to ask any questions of this kind, putting them, if you prefer, in a way that will convey the impression that you simply want to please, not that you need the information, although, as a matter of fact, a wise man never fears to ask for information.

You should be sure to obtain the name of the judge, the name of the court, the number of the case, the term of court the names of plaintiff or plaintiffs, defendant or defendants, parties which have at times different titles. For instance: The plaintiff may be the Common wealth or may be called The People, or, in probate cases, the contestant or contestants; while, incases of appeal, the party appealing is called the complainant or appellant, in which latter case, the other side would represent the appellee. These are terms which will be more readily understood at the time of a trial, than here. In criminal cases, you must also get the name and address of every juror, as they must necessarily be given in the title to your transcription.

All this information should be obtained, if possible, before the case is on, though some of it may be gotten at intervals, or directly after the case, but it must be had before a correct transcription can be made, and the name of the counsel, or any person taking part in the case, must be known before they speak in the case, else you will not be able to write their names in your note book properly before their remarks, which must be done. Your lawyer can best give you the information, excepting the names of the jurors, which you should get as they are chosen in your presence or afterwards of the clerk or from the court records

Having obtained as much information regarding title of case, etc as can be obtained before the case comes up; then, by sitting no farther removed from your lawyer than possible, you can ask him to point out those different individuals whom he knows about to take part, at least the lawyers engaged in the case, and then you should observe them closely, note their different intonation of voice, their location at the tables, and anything else that will serve to fix their voices and personalities in your memory, so that, when one asks or says anything, during the progress of the case, even though you may be looking at your notes, you will know who is speaking, and get his name properly before his remarks in your note book, for you cannot depend upon your memory to put a name down afterwards, and there are sometimes a great many interruptions in a case, one lawyer often interfering during the examination of a witness by another, and you will have to know in an instant who is speaking, so that the transcription will present it properly.

When the witness takes the stand, you must be sure to catch his name properly, and the spelling of it as well, bearing in mind that you have some rights in that court room as well as other people: that you are there for business and your business is to make a correct report, to which end the judge, counsel, and witnesses must lend their aid. Therefore, no matter if everybody else understands who the witness is, that does not preclude you from asking for information, if you do not yourself understand whom he or she is, and you must ask the witness either to speak louder in pronouncing his or her name or to spell it for you, or both, as may be -necessary. You have a right to know these things, and should not permit any false modesty to keep you from obtaining the information, when needed, though, as a rule, what the lawyers hear you can.

When a witness is called, his name is generally spoken by the counsel or crier, but after he is sworn, he is also asked his name, so, while you may not get it when he is being first called, you will have this second opportunity (when he takes the stand) to get his name, but you must get it then in full, and perfectly, as well as any other answer of his which is given during the course of the trial. You must hear all evidence, and if you do not hear it distinctly, any portion of it, either question or answer, you have a right to ask for its repetition, and if you are going to do justice to the person who employes you, it* is your duty to do this. It does not matter how many official stenographers are present, they will not help you, and, sometimes they may take pleasure in doing just the reverse. Many of them cannot make a verbatim report - holding their places by political influence solely, and possibly could not help you, as many cases the court does not require to be transcribed, even though your employer may desire a transcription. In any case, you should conduct yourself as if it all depended on you. No matter how unskillful other reporters may be, you should aim to make an absolutely verbatim report.

Just here it is well to state, though perhaps rather disappointing for those aspirants to know who have a high idea of the profession, that there are very few strictly verbatim shorthand reporters in the world, either in courts, conventions or legislative assemblies, notwithstanding the large number that are supposed to be so. The author has, in courts, conventions, and legislative assemblies, sat beside many experienced shorthand writers, with world-wide reputations, writing all the popular systems, and, following their pencils with his eyes, has never yet seen one of them make a verbatim report where great speed was necessary, while he has seen them omit words frequently and sometimes entire sentences, which they could not get, they depending on the impossibility of any one detecting the omissions in their transcription; because even a writer, much less a speaker, can not remember all the words he or she uses, and hence would seldom discover an omission. Those professionals themselves laughed at these things, when the author pointed out the discrepancies in their notes, for it is such a common matter, and systems are generally so faulty, that many members of the profession have lost all faith in a sufficiently rapid system of shorthand to meet all emergencies.