Summary
Stenography for legal proceedings is a highly skilled profession which requires the full, uninterrupted attention of the Court Reporter and Editor to ensure the transcript is produced as accurately as possible and delivered in a timely fashion.
Information
Court reporting is physically and mentally tiring and the welfare of our court reporting teams is of the utmost importance to Opus 2. As such it is vital that sufficient rest breaks are provided during a sitting day and included in the final hearing timetable to protect their health and safety at work.
This requirement is essential in all circumstances but is particularly critical in the case of remote transcription where they are not visible on screen and due to the widely acknowledged impact of virtual fatigue.
We appreciate that the Judge/Tribunal, in consultation with the parties, will set the timetable to accommodate all participants and potentially different time zones.
However, we ask that the parties also proactively ensure that adequate breaks are factored in for the court reporting team, in line with the terms in our contract, namely that:
Opus 2’s court reporters are permitted to take short 10-minute rest breaks every one and a half (1.5) hours plus one extended 60 minute meal break.
The length of time that a Court Reporter can transcribe on a sitting day varies and as such we will require a hearing timetable, inclusive of planned breaks, in advance to ensure that appropriate resource can be assigned to the hearing upon confirmation of instruction.
Where the break structure detailed above does not easily fit within the planned timetable, we will consult with our Reporter Management Team and seek to agree mutually acceptable sitting hours with the parties.