The first thing to be done in makinga transcription of evidence, is to make a heading of the form of those shown in the printed pages throughout the court cases in this department of the book, the parties to the suit being stated at the upper left hand corner of the first sheet, but not too near top - say at a distance of about two inches from the top of the legal cap sheet. commencing the name of the court opposite it, beginning in the middle of the line; on the next line, the judge's name and the case number; then, just as you would commence a letter, write the name of town, state and date on the next line. Near the beginning of the left hand side of the sheet, name the appearances, (that is, the lawyers of each side of the case) on separate lines; then you should make in the center of a line the words "Testimony for Plaintiff" as on page 175, or "for Commonwealth," according to the sort of case, and next line to that, flush with left-hand side of page, state the first witness' name, with the customary words "being duly sworn, testified as follows" or words to that effect, as shown in the different instances of these court cases; then, on the next line, centre a heading entitled Direct Examination or Examination-in-Chief, and on next line flush, the name of the lawyer conducting that examination, and on the next and other lines after that, commence questions and answers a little in from the left-hand end of the lines, each question and answer on a separate paragraph, as in our printed pages, 176 to 220; or the answers in the same paragraph as the question, as on page 175, if you so prefer. But you will find there is more money in making separate paragraphs, for both questions and answers, and, if the transcription is made in typewriting, which should be the case, make the lines wide spaced, if possible, for when done by the folio, a legal cap sheet, whether wide or narrow spaced, is counted as 2 1/2 folios, each folio being supposed to contain a hundred words, the page itself being counted as 250 words, whether wide or narrow spaced, so there is no need of writing it narrow.

The laws of different states vary in regard to the legal rate for law reporting, and some states have no law at all on this subject. The general price, however, is twenty to twenty-five cents a folio for a complete ordinary transcription, which would be from fifty to sixty-two cents a page. In such instances, a reporter is not expected to charge anything for attendance in court, except at a session where there is no evidence taken at all, or nothing to write out, in which case a good reporter charges ten dollars a day for such attendance, or five dollars for half day, unless the rate is set by law. Sometimes a contract is made with separate provision for time and transcription - that is, five to ten dollars per diem for attendance and ten cents a hundred words, or twenty-five cents a legal cap page, for transcription; the net payment being about the same as 25 cents a folio with no charge for attendance.

This is where one copy only is furnished. Where additional copies of the testimony are desired, and the request for them is made to the reporter before he commences to write out the case, he is expected to charge five cents a page for each carbon duplicate copy made at the same time that he makes the original copy; but, if an order is given after, and an original duplicate is requested, the price for an original duplicate is generally ten cents a legal cap page. The regular price used to be ten and five cents per folio for duplicates; but, at present, owing to the existence of numerous typewriting copying offices, carbon duplicates have been reduced to that price per page.

In making your first page of transcription,be sure to skip a line before the date, also between the date and the appearances, between the appearances and the heading Testimony for Plaintiff, between that heading and the first witness' name, and between the latter and the words Direct Examination, as shown in the type-written example on page 175, and, if you are writing on legal cap paper that has a double line at the left hand margin, such as is seen in our court shorthand plates, let all your writing be placed to the right of that double line; but, if you are writing on a paper with no such ruled margin, you can write the regular width of the machine, starting all questions or other new paragraphs five typewriter spaces (about half an inch) to the right.

Always leave, on all pages, a space about two inches from the top of the sheet, so that when the pages are bound at the top, which is the case with legal cap paper, no writing will be covered. This will also give you an opportunity to render a bill for a larger number of pages than would otherwise be the case. Number every page at bottom.

Whenever there is a break in the testimony, such as shown by the interruption in illustration on page 176, skip a line, whether it be to state an objection or to show an interruption of any kind. Place "Objected to" and similar descriptive words, on lines by themselves, preceded and followed by spacing, in the same way as the instances shown throughout the cases in this book. Always skip a line before a new heading, such as "Cross Examination," etc.

On the second or subsequent day of a trial, it is not necessary to write a new-heading on first page of the case. See page 200.

It is best to skip two or three lines preceding the introduction of the testimony of a new witness, if it is put on same page as another's, and so with such portions of the case as "Rebuttal" or "Sur-Rebuttal;" but, if these would occur below the center of the page, it is best to commence them on a new page. The opening of the defense should always be commenced on a new page and generally, though not always, the Charge of the Court.

After all this testimony is transcribed, then you want to prepare a full title page, an index of the evidence, if there are several witnesses, and make a backer for the case, or for each different day of the case, if it be a long one. There are illustrated such a title page and index to evidence, as well as a couple of backers, on pages 172 to 174, of this portion of the book. The title and index are sometimes placed on one sheet, but if the index be very long, the title may be put alone on a page and the index on the next or as many other pages as may be necessary, though such index should be on the same kind of paper as the testimony; the name of the court, date and term being at the top, when the title and index are on the same page. Put the date at the bottom of the page, when the title is alone on the page, the name of the case being in brackets at the left hand center near top and, under that, the appearances, or not, as the case may be; and when the title is thus alone on a page, other little particulars may be added at option, and, if it is a criminal case, the names of the jurors.