Making the Record
Utilizing Electronic Digital Recording Final Report
National Center for State Courts 11
Oversight of the courtroom monitor should include the same basic human resources principles
that apply to oversight over all court employees:
Job Description: If the courtroom monitor is an employee of the court, they must have a
job description that sets forth major duties, minimum education, professional
certification, and experience requirements along with who is responsible for his or her
supervision. If the courtroom monitor is a contractor, the contract must set forth the
major duties and performance expectations and establish responsibility for supervision.
The contract should also address confidentiality requirements and the security of the
recordings. Whether an employee or contractor, the court must make it clear that the
court owns the record.
o In general, courtroom monitors should possess a broad understanding of court
procedures and principles including what can be expected next in the standard
order of a trial, general familiarity with the legal terminology commonly used by
Judges and attorneys, and specific knowledge related to the digital audio
recording equipment and awareness of courtroom decorum.
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Conduct and Professional Ethics: It should be clear that the employee or contractor
courtroom monitor must comply with all statutes and court rules and that the courtroom
monitor is subject to the court system’s code of conduct for court employees. The
monitor should take any oath of office required of other court employees. The court
should consider adopting conduct and confidentiality provisions for courtroom monitors
similar to those adopted by the American Association of the Electronic Reporters and
Transcribers. The AAERT Code of Professional Ethics can be found in Appendix E of
this paper.
Responsibilities: The court should make clear the procedures that the courtroom
monitor must use to monitor the digital recording and any other procedures expected of
the courtroom monitor, including the marking of exhibits and swearing in of witnesses in
the courtroom, the maintenance of evidence, and the storage, archiving, retrieval, and
transcription of the digital record (see Section III of this paper for additional details).
Training: Courtroom monitors must receive initial hands on start-up training and follow-
up training from the digital recording vendors and court staff both on start-up procedures
and on advanced features of the system. They should also receive training from court
personnel on courtroom procedures and storage responsibilities and must receive periodic
training on these responsibilities. Training should include logging procedures, basic audio
training sufficient to enable them to understand the strengths and liabilities of
microphones, equipment set-up, operation and maintenance, failure recovery, trouble
shooting, backup and restore procedures, routine inspection procedures, microphone
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American Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers, Inc.