Clerk's and Reporter's Transcripts in California

How a Verbatim Record Is Created

A proceeding may be reported by an official court reporter employed by the court, by a certified shorthand reporter retained by a party and serving as an official reporter pro tempore, or, where state law authorizes it, captured by official electronic recording. State law permits courts to use electronic recording as the official record only in specified case types, principally limited civil, misdemeanor, and infraction proceedings; it is not an authorized substitute in unlimited civil, family, or probate matters.

Court-Reporter Availability Differs by County

Many superior courts no longer provide official reporters in most civil, family, and probate proceedings, and the policy differs from court to court and from department to department. In those courts, a party who wants a verbatim record must arrange a reporter in advance. The Supreme Court of California has held that a litigant who has been granted a fee waiver is entitled to an official reporter at no cost when one would otherwise be available for a fee, and courts publish procedures for requesting one.

Each superior court posts its own court-reporter policy and transcript-request procedures, and those postings — not general descriptions — control for a particular courthouse and department.

Why This Matters to an Appeal

If a hearing was not reported, a reporter's transcript cannot be created later because an appeal was filed. The statewide rules then provide alternatives — an agreed statement or a settled statement approved by the trial court — but those alternatives are more limited and more laborious than a transcript, and some appellate issues are difficult to present without a verbatim record.

That is one reason the question of how a proceeding will be captured belongs to trial strategy as much as to appellate strategy.

Appellate Strategy Before Judgment

Obtaining a Transcript and Designating It

Obtaining a transcript and properly making it part of the appellate record are related but distinct tasks. A transcript is ordered from the reporter who took the proceeding, with a deposit under the rules; the proceeding must separately be designated for the appeal so that the certified transcript becomes part of the record transmitted to the reviewing court.

Before requesting a transcript, identify the courthouse, department, date, and how the proceeding was actually captured.

Appellate Division Records

For limited civil, misdemeanor, and infraction appeals, the appellate-division rules provide for the record of oral proceedings to be prepared from the official electronic recording where one was made, or by a statement on appeal where it was not.

California Superior Court Appellate Divisions

Practical Transcript Checklist

Useful questions include:

• Which proceeding matters to the appellate issue?
• Where and when did it occur?
• Was an official reporter present?
• Was a reporter pro tempore retained?
• Was the proceeding officially electronically recorded?
• Has a certified transcript already been prepared?
• Has the oral proceeding been properly designated for the appeal?