NCRA member Early Langley, RPR, a freelance court reporter from Danville, Calif., was recently recognized in a story posted by Forward Motion Sports.
NCRA member highlighted in South Dakota story
January 28, 2020 by
SiouxFalls.Business highlighted NCRA member Pat Beck, RMR, and her daughter, Paige Franzen, in a Jan. 6 story about the shortage of court reporters in Sioux Falls, S.D.
NCRA member’s legal tech startup earns Fountain Innovation Fund’s second investment
January 10, 2020 by
Startland News posted an article on Jan. 8 about NCRA member Lauren Lawrence, RPR, Kansas City, Mo., founder of Stenovate, being selected as the second startup to earn support from the Fountain Innovation Fund.
NCRA member shares wellness tips
January 3, 2020 by
NCRA member Donna Linton, RMR, a freelance court reporter from Ashburn, Va., shared her self-care tips in a wellness piece posted by The Washington Post on Dec. 30.
Court reporter can’t escape job even on sons’ hockey trips
November 19, 2019 by
The Norman [Okla.] Transcript posted an article on Nov. 18 about how court reporter Marla Cullison juggles her role as a hockey mom and an official court reporter.
NCRA member running for local city council seat
September 27, 2019 by
C&G Newspapers posted an interview on Sept. 25 with NCRA member Mindy Moore, a freelance court reporter and firm owner from Warren, Mich., who is running for a seat on the local city council representing District 3.
Phipps Reporting acquires Accurate Stenotype
August 26, 2019 by
Phipps Reporting has acquired Accurate Stenotype, a 43- year-old Tallahassee-based court reporting firm. “Aligning with firms like Accurate who share our core values is part of our strategic plan to become one of the strongest firms in the industry. This acquisition further enhances our commitment to quality stenographic services and ethics,” said Christine Phipps, RPR, President and CEO of Phipps Reporting based in West Palm Beach.
Weigl, Zweizig return as national champs
August 17, 2019 by
Jeffrey Weigl, RMR, CRR, CRC, from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, won the 2019 Speed Contest, held on Aug. 14, during the NCRA 2019 Convention & Expo in Denver, Colo. His overall accuracy rate was 97.54 percent, or 87 errors total. This is Weigl’s third win in the Speed Contest. In second place overall for Speed was Patricia Nilsen, RMR, CRR, CRC, CRI, of Nashville, Tenn., and in third was Traci Mertens, RDR, CRR, CRC, of Belleville, Ill.
Doug Zweizig, RDR, CRR, of Baltimore, Md., is the new Realtime Contest champion. Zweizig previously won the contest in 2006 and 2015. Mark Kislingbury, FAPR, RDR, CRR, of Houston, Texas, earned second place overall in the competition, and Weigl placed third overall.
The Speed Contest consists of three legs: literary at 220 wpm, legal opinion at 230 wpm, and testimony at 280 wpm. Contestants have a total of 90 minutes per leg for transcription.
The Realtime Contest consists of two legs: literary at 200 wpm and testimony at 225 wpm. Contestants must turn in an ASCII file immediately following the end of dictation.
In both contests, contestants must receive 95 percent accuracy to qualify; accuracy also determines the winners.
Educator of the Year awarded
August 17, 2019 by
Margaret (Peg) Sokalski-Dorchack, RMR, a court reporting program director for MacCormac College in Chicago, Ill., was given the 2019 CASE Award of Excellence. The announcement was made at NCRA’s Convention & Expo being held in Denver, Colo., Aug. 15-18.
NCRA’s CASE (Council on Approved Student Education) Award of Excellence recognizes the important role student education plays in the court reporting profession and honors educators for their dedication and outstanding achievement and leadership. Recipients are nominated by an NCRA member.
Sokalski-Dorchack has been a member of NCRA for almost 40 years. She is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. After being honorably discharged, she began the court reporting program at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in Cuyahoga, Ohio, under the leadership of Dr. Angela Hergenröeder, the first recipient of NCRA’s outstanding educator award.
Sokalski-Dorchack earned the Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) certification while still in school and completed her associate’s degree. She worked as an official reporter in one of Ohio’s courts. Dr. Hergenröeder asked her to teach an evening class at Tri-C during her first year as a reporter, and it was clear that this was where Sokalski-Dorchack’s passion lay. She went back to school and finished her bachelor’s degree in technical education and earned her master’s degree in business education. While working as a reporter, she also earned her Registered Merit Reporter (RMR) certification.
Sokalski-Dorchack moved to the Chicago area with her family and taught at Triton College; Career Colleges of Chicago; and MacCormac College full-time, where she has spent a total of 22 years, the last being in her current position as the program director of the court reporting program. She has published Speed Advantage Q&A, two volumes of Q&A tests for speeds of 80 to 130 words per minute. She is currently collaborating with colleagues on an updated version of a theory text.
Sokalski-Dorchack is also a recipient of the Illinois Outstanding Educator Award awarded by the Illinois Court Reporters Association.
NCRF recognizes Mervin Vaughn with altruism award
August 17, 2019 by
The National Court Reporters Foundation (NCRF) presented the 2019 Santo J. Aurelio Award to Mervin E. Vaughn, RPR, from Runnels, Iowa. The announcement was made at a special Awards Luncheon held at NCRA’s Convention & Expo Aug. 15-18, in Denver, Colo.
The Aurelio Award is given to a working court reporter with more than 25 years of experience who has given back to the profession and to the court reporting community with no expectation of any reward.
Vaughn has worked as a freelance and an official court reporter and currently serves as president of Huney-Vaughn Court Reporters in Des Moines, Iowa. He graduated in 1965 from the American Institute of Business in Des Moines before serving in the U.S. Army in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968.
He has been a long-time supporter of NCRF and has served in numerous volunteer positions for NCRA at the national level. He is a lifetime retired member and holds the nationally recognized professional certification of Registered Professional Reporter (RPR). At the state level, his volunteer service to the Iowa Court Reporters Association (ICRA) spans more than 50 years.
He has also been a long-time advocate for young reporters entering the profession and is known for hosting student interns or recruiting working court reporters to attend marketing events for a local court reporting school.
For his military service, Vaughn was awarded the U.S. Army Commendation Medal for “distinguishing themselves by exceptionally meritorious service in support of allied counterinsurgency operations in the Republic of Vietnam.”
His community involvement has included volunteering for a local non-profit that assists families with a child or an adult impacted by Down Syndrome and has served for more than 20 years in various positions to support his local church.
His selflessness when giving back to others has clearly been recognized by such acts as having a scholarship established in his name, which support students entering a trade school. He has also received letters of recommendations from judges, attorneys, instructors, former students, friends, and family, for having this honor bestowed on him.
In the words of one of his children: “My dad has given his whole life to his career and strongly believes in helping others. From leaving his fiancée to go serve his country, to encouraging any student he counters, he has always put court reporting as his top priority. He has done so while rebuilding his company after a devastating fire and saying goodbye to his best friend and business partner. He’s the only person who encouraged me to pursue my CLVS and the reason we are planning our own VHP day, because he saw a need for our community.”