LiveDeposition Certified Reporter Spotlight

 

Name: Donna L. Linton

Title:  Freelance Court Reporter/Agency Owner

Certifications:
RPR, RMR, CCR, CLR

 

 

 

When did you begin your court reporting career?
1984

What sparked your interest in choosing court reporting as a profession?
It was a suggestion from guidance counselor and my dad. I typed fast and was good in English, writing, and taking Gregg shorthand.

What advice would you give students or those just entering the field of Court Reporting?
Hang in there with the high standards placed on you for perfection on those speed takes. Read your notes and read transcripts to get familiar with different situations and punctuation. Always keep practicing once you become a working reporter and go to NCRA annual conventions.

What is your favorite thing about being a reporter?
The variety and learning a little bit of everything. I feel like I know everything but an expert at nothing.

As a Court Reporter, what is your worst nightmare or biggest pet peeve?
My worst nightmare is leaving my shorthand machine at home by accident. It’s never happened. My biggest pet peeve is seeing Mr. on one line and the last name on the next line in reporter transcripts. Oh, my gosh, use the keep together key. Same for the dashes.

Where is the strangest place you have taken a deposition?
Burger King because there were no more rooms left at the courthouse in Queens, New York, to hold the deposition.

What is the funniest thing you have heard during a deposition or in the courtroom?
That a husband hid in a closet of a hotel room and watched his wife have sex with a stranger she picked up. And then she proceeded to have an affair with the stranger and the husband wanted a divorce. Yup, you hear all kinds of things being a court reporter.

When not court reporting, how do you spend your free time?
I cook and read and write letters to friends, watch football, and when the opportunity presents itself, I love to dance.

What do you like most about LiveDeposition?
I can be on the Internet at the same time as providing CART and realtime.