It has been said that it is easier to know how to do the right thing if you have a code of ethics to follow. In court reporting, there is a code of ethics for court reporters but not necessarily a written code for court reporting firm owners. Owners of court reporting firms have an entirely different set of ethical situations that are likely to arise. We’ve thought of nine ethical codes that could be applied by court reporting firm owners.
Ethics of Court Reporting Firm Owners
A court reporting firm and its owners shall:
- Protect the record. Court reporters are officers of the court. Court reporters and firm owners must ensure that the firm and the firm’s court reporters are independent, impartial keepers of the record.
- Disallow any appearance of impropriety. Disclose any contracts with any party to the case on the record at each deposition, including special rates charged to the party to the contract. This is required in the State of Michigan pursuant to MCL 600.1490-1493.
- Charge each party in the litigation fairly and according to the laws of the state for transcripts and other court reporting fees.Reporters in the State of Michigan must follow the 2/3rds rule for transcripts as set out in MCL 600.1491 (2)(b), i.e., you cannot be charged more than 2/3rds the cost of the original for a copy.
- Do not sell the reporter’s transcript, unbeknownst to the reporter, for the financial benefit of the firm owner at the expense of the court reporter. As keeper of the record, the reporter is an officer of the court and should be fairly compensated.
- Require a court reporter to transcribe back-ordered transcripts.Only proceed with transcribing the reporter’s notes if the reporter is unavailable due to death, disability, or if the reporter cannot be reached after due diligence. If the firm has to have another reporter transcribe the proceedings, indicate on the certificate page who the transcribing reporter is to sustain the integrity of the record. Never indicate the original reporter transcribed the deposition if they have not done so.
- Regularly reinforce the practice of ethical behavior with reporters and provide ethics training. It is important for a firm’s reporters to know their firm owner is 100% behind the ethical behavior of their firm.
- Avoid the appearance of impropriety by excessive gift giving. Gift giving should not exceed $25 per incidence and $100 aggregate for the year for each client per IRS guidelines, and some clients’ firms discourage gift giving of any kind. Court reporting firms should be cognizant of the risk they put their clients in when they exceed this ethical amount. Gifts should never be given on a quid pro quo for work given. Repeat customer incentive programs are examples of “pay for work given” and should not be offered.
- Educate clients regarding the consequences of excessive gift giving and the potential tax implications to their client of such gift giving. The gift may be considered as property of the attorney’s client, not property of the attorney or staff. There may also be tax implications to an attorney’s firm if an attorney and/or legal assistant for the firm is accepting gifts and not reporting such on their tax returns.
- Refuse to assist in deposition or trial strategy for either party to a lawsuit while simultaneously providing the court reporting services for the case. There should be a complete separation of the trial technology business and the court reporting services business so there is no appearance of the court reporting firm appearing to be working for one side to the detriment of the other in a case.
For more on court reporting ethics from our perspective, download this free report: “Thoughts on Court Reporter Ethics: From a Court Reporting Firm Owner”.