I’m delighted to share an email I received from Washington’s very own, Ron Cook.  As you can see, Ron has been busy at work, along with a number of the top realtime reporters in the country, developing an NCRA training program for realtime that will be available to the states in just a few weeks.  Look for more information about  TRAIN at our Spring Seminar behing held at Green River Community College on April 21st.

I also want to highly recommend TechCon and Boot Camp.  Both of these programs will be jam packed with useful information.  Please check the links below and join me in Washington, DC later this month.

Steve Crandall, CLVS

President

____________________

I would like to call your attention to an exciting and important program that is underway at NCRA. In February, an NCRA-board commissioned task force will deliver the inaugural presentation of a realtime training program that we then will hand over to state leaders for delivery to court reporters in your area. The goal is to help court reporters to overcome the trepidations we know that many have related to writing realtime — the fear, the technology, and the cost. On the morning of Sunday, February 26th, members of the task force will guide state leaders through the presentation during a session that will precede NCRA’s Legislative Boot Camp for state leaders and likewise coincide with TechCon. It will be a two-hour session during which we will “hand over the keys” to the presentation — providing you with an electronic copy that you can take back to your state for immediate use.

The program is known as TRAIN, an acronym that stands for “Taking Realtime Awareness and Innovation Nationwide.” I should mention that it was inspired by similar successful programs that have been implemented at the state level.

The presentation will be turn-key — it will include instructions for the user, slides, and an accompanying script. It will be as simple as possible for a volunteer to deliver as is, but of course can be customized to suit individual style and tastes. In any case, the idea is for the presentation to be as simple as possible and it will focus on the major benefits of writing realtime, along with the simple steps that reporters can make to get there.

Our entire conversation leading to the development of the program is that realtime is not nearly as scary as it seems, that no one is perfect, and that any reporter can begin right now. It will touch ever so slightly on writing itself, but be much more about the basics.

If someone from your state association is going to be attending either Boot Camp from February 26-28 or NCRA’s TechCon from February 24-26, both of which will be held in the Washington, DC Area at the Reston Hyatt, please urge them to attend the TRAIN session.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about TRAIN, please let me know. While we will be introducing TRAIN during Boot Camp, this is just the start of a sustained campaign to engage state leaders in taking our message about realtime to reporters on the local level. In the Writing Our Future initiative, members pointed to realtime as the major point of differentiation between stenographic reporters and other methods and urged NCRA to do everything it can to encourage more reporters to write realtime. This program is one part of the answer to your request.

To register for Boot Camp, visit the Boot Camp homepage at  Boot Camp

To register for TechCon, visit TechCon

On the one hand, this will be a simple program. On the other, it will be a major step forward for reporters who attend and are inspired to begin writing realtime. Thanks for your time and we look forward to working with you on getting everyone on board with the TRAIN program.

Best regards,

Ron Cook

CCR, RMR, CRR

January 27, 1937- November 19, 2011

The court reporting community has lost a friend, mentor, and a tireless champion for our profession.  Karen Louise Larsen, CSR, RPR, passed away Saturday, November 19, 2011, at the age of 74.  A warm and gentle soul, Karen will be sorely missed not only for her contributions to the profession, but for her kind and giving nature.

 Karen was born January 27, 1937 in Palmer, Alaska.  After graduating from Anchorage High School in 1955, Karen attended the University of Washington “on and off”, as she put it, from 1955 through 1962.  Karen then went on to the fabled Auerswald’s Business School from 1971-73, where she began her journey toward becoming a court reporter.  She finished up at the Northwest Institute of Stenographic Arts in October of 1973.

Karen began her career in October of 1973 with Donna Davis & Associates.  She went on to form her own freelance agency, Larsen & Smith, Inc., with her dear friend, Sharon Smith.  The firm grew to approximately 10 reporters; in June of 1996, Seattle Deposition Reporters and Larsen & Smith joined forces and enjoyed a remarkable merger of talent that continues to this very day.

Not one to sit around and let someone else steer the boat, Karen joined and volunteered for NCRA in 1974, the WCRA in 1976, the Freelance Shorthand Reporters of Washington in 1977, and STAR in 1983.  She spent countless hours in service to these various organizations up to her very last days.  Just last September, Karen presented an ethics class to WCRA members at the Spokane convention.  As part of WCRA, Karen was Secretary from 1980-84; Vice-President from 1984-86; President Elect from 1986-88; President from 1988-90; Past President from 1990-91; Editor from 1985-87; and CSR Board Liaison from 1990-94.  In 1993, WCRA presented Karen with its Distinguished Service Award.  Still full of vim and vigor, Karen was the 1998 Spring Seminar Chair, and the Chair for the Court Reporters Task Force regarding contracting.

If you thought Karen only spent her time on WCRA matters, you would be amazed at the amount of work Karen did for NCRA.  She was the Local Convention Chairman from 1986-87; NCSA delegate from Washington from 1986-90; served on the Nominations Committee from 1990-91; was NCSA Vice Chairman from 1992-93; was NCSA Chairman from 1993-95; served on the Ethics Committee from 1991-94, and as Chair of that committee from 1993-94.  She was Director from 1995-98, and worked on CASE from 1997-2000, and as chair from 1999-2000.  She also was a part of the convention planning task force, and the student seminar chair from 2000-01.

Along the way, Karen wrote several publications for our profession’s magazine, the Journal of Court Reporting.  She also wrote numerous articles for WSR.  Karen participated in many presentations to court reporting classes, to the UW Law School, and a WSBA CLE class on how lawyers can best work with court reporters.  She also presented a CLE class on the use of realtime.

Karen held many certificates attesting to her proficiency as a court reporter:  Oregon Certificate of Competency (1974); Washington Statutory Exam (1975); Registered Professional Reporter (1979) Washington CSR (1989), and three of the four parts of the RMR (1985).

Believe it or not, while undertaking all of the above, she actually spent a lot of time on many hobbies.  Karen was an accomplished pianist, and loved the symphony and ballet.  She was a voracious recipe hoarder and also loved to knit.  Her greatest joy, of course, was her family, son Hans and his wife, Sara, and their daughters Jordan (7) and Megan (4), and son Mark and his wife, Karen, and their daughters, Caitlin (23), and Sarah (21).  Karen’s sons built a stream and pond in her beloved garden, and just two weeks ago, her new deck was completed.  Karen’s family feels comforted by the fact that she passed away surrounded by all of the beauty of her Brier home and garden.

Karen’s passing will also leave a great void with her Seattle Deposition Reporters family.  Her warmth, humor and passion for her profession will be greatly missed.

 If you have the contact information for other friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, garden club members or others that you know Karen would want to say goodbye to, please help her friends and family by forwarding this email to them with our invitation to attend. Please have them RSVP to me by email at mlarsen@anchorqea.com.

Please Join Us to Remember Karen

When:      1:30-4PM, Sunday December 18^th

Where:     Thornewood Castle, 8601 North Thorne Lane SW, Lakewood  Washington (10 minutes south of Tacoma; on American Lake.

What to Expect:  Please arrive about 1:30. After a little mingling, we’ll be sharing stories, pictures and memories of Karen’s life, beginning promptly at 2PM. So don’t be late or you’ll miss out. Between about 3 and 4 we’ll have some hors d’oeuvres and a few drinks. We’ll have some fiddlers providing some music that Karen always enjoyed. Depending on the weather, you may also wish to take a walk in the garden. Even in the cold of winter, there are a few blooms on the rose bushes.

Bring Stories and Pictures:  Karen’s sons would very much like to hear your stories about their mom.  Please bring stories to share, or bring your favorite pictures of Karen. If you’d like to email them to us, that’s great

Directions to the Castle:

1.       Take I-5 to the Thorne Lane exit (Exit #123 ) about 10 minutes south of Tacoma.

2.       Turn right (west) on Thorn Lane. Go three-tenths of a mile.

3.       Turn right again on the first street to the right (Thorne Lane).

4.        Immediately after turning right off Thorne Lane you will see this gate into Thornewood Estates. Drive up to the entry phone on the left.

5.       If the gate is not open, Enter 016 on the key pad. We will answer and buzz the gate to open. (If you forget the code number to enter, just scroll the A-Z keys down until you see “Thornewood Castle”.

6.       Enter into Thornewood Estates, follow the private road around to the 5th driveway on your right until you come to this small sign on your right (about 1 block).  Turn right down this driveway.

In an August deposition, Ex-NBA star, Allen Iverson, let the opposing counsel know exactly what he thought of him.  The Detroit News, which had obtained a copy of the deposition transcript, noted that it “reads like a bad 1970s movie.”

Iverson was facing off against attorney Gregory Lattimer who had previously won a $260,000 judgment against him and had reached a confidential settlement in another case.  Iverson made it clear he thought the lawyer was specifically targeting him.

The Detroit News published this exchange:

Iverson: “I know you lurking. I know you lurking, man. I know you lurking. … How the hell you live with [it]? You’ve been involved with three suits against me. You know what to do. You got a plan.”

Lattimer: “I just go to work every day.”

Iverson: “I know, and I’m the one that pay you, and you know it. But not this time jack. … I die before I let you get me this time.”

In a subsequent interview Lattimer said, “It was quite something.  I don’t know why he was so outraged.  It’s not like I sue him every day.”

Our annual convention in Spokane was a great success. Many thanks to Dave Storey for putting on a wonderful event. It was great to see so many of our members from all over the state come together for a weekend of networking, learning, and advancing the interests of the WCRA.

And the Davenport Hotel, what can you say? For those of us experiencing it for the first time, we now know why it is “world famous.” Hopefully many of you got the chance to also enjoy Spokane’s shopping and entertainment district and sample the variety of award-winning restaurants and pubs. Of course, the meeting rooms and the banquet rooms were stunning and have retained the original magnificence of the hotel built in 1914.

Now that the convention is behind us it is time to look ahead to the coming year. We face many challenges and continued attacks that will require us to remain vigilant and be proactive in promoting and protecting our profession. We must build strong relationships and coalitions with the entire legal community. And, we must educate the public, attorneys, judges, and administrators on the value and importance of an accurate and timely record. This is not just a business issue, it’s a matter of justice.

One of our strongest weapons in this fight is realtime. No other form of record making provides the level of accuracy, immediacy, and value to the end user. No other form of record making promotes the same level of justice. “inaudible” doesn’t just make for a bad record, it makes for bad case law. We are not just the guardians of the record. The truth of the matter is that we are the guardians of justice and realtime is our golden arrow.

Over the course of the next year you will see a number of new initiatives. In addition to our traditional committees such as Membership, Communications, Events, Education, CART, Officials, and Legislative–this year we have created committees for Realtime, Pro Bono, Mentoring, Bylaws, and Direct Member Voting. Each of these committees are critical in advancing our profession and keeping WCRA healthy, relevant, and productive.

But none of that matters without the support and involvement of our members. If you have an interest in advancing our profession by joining one or more of these committees, please visit the “Leadership” link under the “About” menu and contact the committee chairs.

With your help and involvement we can win the victories we must to advance and protect the guardians of justice.