ES Style Guide (Record)

You should not, under any circumstances, contact Speechpad's customers or anyone referenced in the audio or video files. Doing so would result in immediate termination of your account.

ATTENTION: Please look at the accompanying documents once you accept a job. They are crucial and should be used for spellings, addresses, and titles. We have seen numerous misspellings of names, and emails/chats asking for information that is available on the documents. 

• "Streeted" is a more specific term that falls under the broader category of "Out of Custody."

• All "Streeted" individuals are technically "Out of Custody," but not everyone "Out of Custody" is necessarily "Streeted."

• Conditions of Release are rules set by the Court or parole board that an individual must follow after being released from custody to ensure compliance with legal requirements and public safety. "Out of Custody" would be the correct label for the individual in this scenario, as they are under release conditions but are not physically incarcerated. The conditions may include being released on bail, parole, probation, subject to specific restrictions, or ongoing supervision.

• If you're unsure whether the speaker refers to an individual being released from an institution or simply no longer detained, go with "Out of Custody."

• Please use "Streeted" as the INSTITUTION in the following instances: 

Location 

• • • • If the hearing is conducted online, please use "Remote Via Webex" as the LOCATION or whatever web or video conferencing app they are using.

      • Refer to the job number listed in the Additional Instructions to determine where the hearing is held. 

      • Use the location from the Institutions and Locations by County sheet and add the room number from the Hearing Calendar or Job Info Sheet. 

Ex. 

If the hearing is held in Kings (e.g. DOCCS-KINGS-PH-3304), then the location is in Kings County Court.

If the hearing is held in Monroe (e.g. DOCCS-MONROE-FRH-3332), then the location is Monroe County Hall of Justice. 

If the hearing is held in Bronx (e.g. DOCCS-BRONX-FRH-3226), then the location is Bronx Hall of Justice. 

• • • • If there are two courthouses for a county, please first look at the Additional Instructions (1). If not provided, please look at the Job Info Sheet (2). If not provided, please look at the Hearing Calendar/Production Form (3).

      • Do not use the "#" symbol for the room number.

Ex.

• You can look up other addresses not found in this list through the DOCSS website on the Area Offices page. 

• You can find the Type of Hearing in the job number included in the additional instructions.

Ex. 

DOCCS-BRONX-FRH-2026 --> FRH is for Final Revocation Hearing

DOCCS-BRONX-PH-2027 --> PH is for Preliminary Hearing

• Add "virtual hearing" to the hearing type if it's a virtual hearing.

• Add the start time under the date in this format: x:xx a.m./p.m. 

• Only the names of the people present are listed in APPEARANCES. 

• All appearances should be followed by a comma after their names. (Sample below)  

• Please pay close attention to the spacing in the appearances section.💡TIP: Once you're done typing the appearances, highlight them (1), click on "line and paragraph spacing" (2) and click on 1.0 (3). 

• If there are two attorneys for the parolee, please format as follows: 

Ex. 

MACI EAST, ESQ., 

ABIGAIL SLOAN, ESQ.,

Attorneys for the Parolee, The Legal Aid Society

• When a law graduate is serving as an attorney for the parolee, format their title and information accordingly:

Ex. 

ASHLEY TORUNO, 

Law Graduate 

MICHAEL ONAH, ESQ., 

Attorneys for the Parolee, The Legal Aid Society

• If you can't find a detail in the accompanying documents or transcriber instructions, please leave that section blank but don't delete it. 

Formatting

• Do not use old templates, only the new one. Click on File > Export > Custom Template File.

• Do not change the formatting of the transcript. Download and open the template in Word. 

• If formatting is accidentally removed, the speaker tags and paragraphs are indented by two (2) tabs and there are two (2) spaces after colons and ending punctuation e.g. periods and question marks.

• Make sure line numbers (25 per page) are showing on the side.

• Template should be white.

• File Name

• You will use the job number, i.e. DOCCS-BRONX-PH-238 with the hearing date, then the person's last name, and first initial. 

Ex. DOCCS-BRONX-PH-244_01-01-2024_BYRD, K. 

• Use the person's legal name, not the nickname, in the file name. 

Ex. 

Parolee Anthony Martinez is referred to by a nickname, Tony, during the proceedings. File name should be DOCCS-KINGS-PH-1179-6-26-2024_MARTINEZ, A., not MARTINEZ, T. 

• • • • Do not add an extra space between paragraphs. Only hit the Return key once.

      • At the beginning of the transcript, add (On the record at hh:mm a.m./p.m.)

      • Speaker labels should be in all caps, then a colon and 2 spaces. 

Ex. 

MS. MANN:  Are you here?

• Below is a list of titles for speaker tags.

ALJ      Administrative Law Judge

BC      Bureau Chief

COMMISSIONER Commissioner

DEP. CHIEF    Deputy Chief

DET. Detective

INV. Investigator 

MR./MS.

OBSERVER    Legal Aid Society observer

OFC.     Officer           Ex. OFC. MENA

PAROLEE

PHO     Preliminary Hearing Officer

PO      Parole Officer

PRS      Parole Revocation Specialist (plaintiff)

SGT.     Sergeant          Ex. SGT. COOPER

THE INTERPRETER  Interpreter

THE REPORTER

THE WITNESS

TPR.     Trooper 

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER

• • • • Use the UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER speaker tag when the speaker cannot be confirmed. 

      • Attorneys and individuals without a specified title should be referred to as "Mr." or "Ms." 

      • When the PHO starts a hearing, please put the introductory section in one paragraph, which includes the hearing date and time, the name and ID numbers of the individual involved, and the name of the judge or hearing officer presiding over the hearing. 

Ex. 

Today is January 13th, 2025.  This is the preliminary hearing in the parole violation -- well, this a continuance in the parole violation of Radalax Echavarria.  NYSID number 12232955R.  Case number A011898.  I am Hearing Officer Arroyo, designated by the Board of Parole to preside over this proceeding.

• • • • The second paragraph will almost always be them asking for the appearances. 

      • Phonetic Spelling 

When a speaker uses phonetic clarification (e.g., "A as in apple, 123"), format it as follows:

• • • • • • Include commas to separate the elements (e.g., "A, as in apple, 123").

          • Do not use quotation marks around the letter or word. 

Ex. 

✅ A, as in apple, 123.

✅ 12345Q, as in queen.

❌ "A," as in "apple," 123.

• • • • Remove any speech off the record. "Can we go off record?" stays in the transcript. Anything after is not transcribed until they come back on the record.

      • When individuals go off the record or return to the record, use the following format with the exact time:

Ex. 

(Off the Record at hh:mm a.m./p.m.)

(On the Record at hh:mm a.m./p.m.) 

• • • • To indicate when they go off record, you can open the "eScribers" tab and click on the "recess" button. Enter the times they went off the record and went back on the record. This will enter the correct format for recess.

      • Omit the clerk’s words. 

Ex. Omit when he/she says “You're on the record now.”

• • • • Reintroduce the speaker ID after parenthetical tags. 

      • There shouldn't be any silence tags or timestamps. (indiscernible) and (Parties confer) are the only tags used.

      • Use (indiscernible) instead of inaudible or crosstalk. 

      • (Parties confer) tag 

        • Use this tag to indicate when parties are speaking amongst themselves. This is not considered an on-the-record conversation.

        • Representative scenarios:

          • • Attorneys or PRSes confer with one another, often involving a senior guiding a less experienced colleague.

            • PRS and a defense attorney confer out of the microphone range.

            • The parolee and his attorney are conversing with each other and they are not addressing the court.

• • • Do not list known/unknown individuals who only confer and do not speak on the record on the cover page.  

    • When a charge is part of an official statement and read aloud from a document during the hearing, enclose the charge in quotation marks. 

Ex. 

PRS BURROUGHS:  Yep.  Charge number 3.  "Eugenio Mendoza violated Rule number 1 of the Conditions of Release in that they failed to make their office report to the Manhattan Area Office, located at 314 West 40th Street, New York, New York, on November 26th, 2024, and thereafter as directed."

• Until sworn, the speaker tag is the name (Ex. PO Williams). After sworn, then use THE WITNESS. 

• Whether it's one witness or multiple witnesses, please use THE WITNESS as the speaker tag. 

• There is no need to transcribe word for word when someone is sworn in. Transcribe as follows. Spell out the title. 

Ex. (Parole Officer Georgette Jones sworn)

• Colloquy refers to the formal dialogue or exchange that takes place between the examining attorney and the individual being questioned during legal proceedings. 

• No indentation Before Q & A (colloquy)

• There is no period after Qs and As.

• A voir dire is a legal process where attorneys question potential jurors to determine if they are fit to serve on a jury. This is treated as colloquy and should be formatted accordingly. 

Ex. 

VOIR DIRE BY MS. CLAD:

Q So you took that photograph yourself, right?

A I'm sorry, ma'am?

Q You took the photograph that's being offered yourself?

A Myself.

• When the individual being questioned responds directly to the judge or opposing counsel during objections or clarifications, these responses are not considered part of the colloquy with the examining attorney. Instead, the transcript should label these responses as "THE WITNESS." 

• After a colloquy, once a witness is excused, the speaker tag should revert to the original speaker tag. 

In this example, instead of THE WITNESS, it is now PO CHAMBERS.

MR. ONAH:  I have no further questions.

PHO ARROYO:  You're excused, Officer Chambers.

PO CHAMBERS:  Thank you.

• If there is an interruption in Q&A (colloquy), since direct has already been titled earlier in the document, "direct" can be dropped. 

• Multiple paragraphs per speaker are acceptable. However, ensure that each subsequent paragraph is properly indented. 

• New paragraph for a change in time, a change in who’s being addressed, a change in topic, or to represent a pause in which the speaker is waiting for people to respond, e.g. "Anyone else want to add anything?"

• Whenever a new person is spoken to, start a new paragraph. Ex. Judge is speaking to everyone in the court, stops, and then addresses the counsel. This should be a new paragraph. 

• Format docket numbers as follows: MZ-200132-24KN. 

• Look up how provisions and laws are typed in legal documents. 

Ex. Executive Law 259-i(3)(a)(1)(i), not Executive Law 259-i3a1i. 

• Do not omit "The matter is concluded" from the transcript. 

• Transcribe any expressions of gratitude or brief formalities exchanged immediately after "The hearing/matter is concluded." However, do not transcribe any content following "off the record," as previously mentioned. 

• No need for end time in the transcript. (Hearing concluded) is sufficient.

• There should be no space/blank line before (Hearing concluded). It should be directly after the transcript. 

• Victim Impact Statement (VIS) 

  • This is an oral statement made by a victim (or their family) to describe how a crime has affected them. It is typically presented during sentencing, parole hearings, or other legal proceedings.

  • Type of Hearing: Victim Impact Statement

  • Remove any sections in the cover page if the information has not been provided. 

  • No need to type in the label INSTITUTION. NEW!

• • Up to this point, the recordings we’ve received have been conducted before a commissioner. The speaker tag should be COMMISSIONER LAST NAME. 

  • Please check all accompanying documents for details on institutions, locations, and addresses. We have removed the addresses in the spreadsheet for now because they do not seem to be consistent.  

  • The Appearances section may include:

    • Observer for DOCCS - These are usually Supervising Offender Rehabilitation Coordinators.

    • Observer for the Incarcerated Individual

    • Victim

    • If there are any additional attendees, please specify their relationship to the victim as described by the commissioner (e.g., Victim’s Father, Victim’s Mother, Victim’s Granddaughter, Cousin, Sister-in-Law).

    • If anyone is mentioned as a support, please indicate it in the cover sheet. 

Ex.

“Giving a statement today would be her daughter, Hermione Jean Granger, also accompanied by a friend who is here for support only, Ron Weasley.” 

HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER

Victim's Daughter

RON WEASLEY,

Friend, Support

Transcription Conventions

• CLEAN VERBATIM. No partial words or sounds. Transcribe false starts but omit stutters, "ums," and "ahs." This allows for consistency and makes it easier for the customer's proofreaders to decide whether to remove any elements, as it’s generally simpler to delete content than to re-transcribe it. 

Ex.

Did you ever -- excuse me.  Are you able to identify her?

And how long -- sorry, did you ever have the occasion to meet?

She stated -- I informed her that she had failed.

And was she -- did you enter any CMS entries?

• Remove fillers and false starts that are less than three words for judges and attorneys and/or PRS. Witnesses should be clean verbatim as described above. NEW!

• Clean up slang (Going to, want to, etc.)

• Please use um-hum instead of mm-hmm if that is used instead of "yes."

• “Objection. Hearsay.” is two sentences. 

• "All right" as well as "Okay" are generally considered their own sentence with the customer. 

Ex. 

All right.  Just one moment please. instead of All right, just one moment please. 

Okay.  So these allegations… instead of Okay, so these allegations... NEW!

• Use lowercase a.m./p.m., not A.M./P.M. or A.m./P.m. 

• "Non" "re" and "pre" words are not hyphenated. Ex. nonprivileged, reengagement, preemptive, etc.

• It should be "time frame," not "timeframe." 

• Look up names if you're unsure of the spelling. 

Ex. PO Weller instead of Waller, even if it's spelled incorrectly in the log notes.

• All stricken statements are still transcribed. 

Ex. "Did you -- withdrawn."

• Do not use a capital letter when the quoted material is a fragment or a piece of the original sentence. 

• Case names should be formatted as Last Name v. Last Name (e.g., Smith v. Jones) or People v. Last Name (e.g., People v. Smith) underlined. The "v." stands for "versus" and should not be spelled out. NEW!

Numeric Conventions

• Dates should be written as 3/7/23 (without zeroes).

• If the speaker says "Dated 2 26 of 24," type as "2/26 of '24." 

• Dates are typed as follows: 

• Do not superscript ordinals. October 5th, 2022 should be used.

• Numbers one through ten should be written out and 11 and higher should be digits unless they are an identifying number, i.e., page 1, Exhibit 2. 

• All identifying numbers (answering, “which one?”) should be digits i.e. page 1, Exhibit 2, etc.  

Ex. It's on page 7 at the bottom.

• If a sentence has two numbers, one below 11 and one over 11, please type them using this rule. Ex. "He owes three years, 20 days."

• If the speaker does a digit-by-digit clarification, transcribe as follows. Do not spell the numbers out.  

Ex. September 20th, 2-0 that is. 

• Times should be written as 9 a.m. (nine o’clock in the morning), 10 a.m. (ten o’clock in the morning) without zeroes. 

• If a sentence begins with a number, the number must be written out in words. However, case numbers, warrant numbers, and shield numbers should always be written in numerals, even at the start of a sentence. 

Ex. 

2023-CR-456 was the first case discussed. 

1876-W-890 was issued yesterday.

Twenty-three people testified during the preliminary hearing.

Forty-five pages of evidence were submitted by the prosecution. 

• Type phone numbers with a space between the parenthesis and the second chunk of numbers. Ex. (111) 222-3333  

• When "apartment" is part of an address, capitalize it. 

Ex. Wheeler Avenue, Apartment number F2.

Capitalization

• Type case number, warrant number, and shield in lowercase instead of caps.

• "NYSID number" should be typed as such. Do not capitalize the "n" in "number"

• State’s Exhibit should be capped.

• "Charge" should be capitalized when followed by a number. Ex: Charge 1, Charge number 5.

• "Rule" should be capitalized when followed by a number. Ex: Rule 1, Rule number 5.

• Hyphenate form numbers and capitalize Form. Ex: Form 90-11, Form 90-15. 

• If they are actual names of reports or forms, they should be capped. 

Ex. 

Case Summary, 

Violation of Release Report, 

Notice of Violation, 

Certificate of Release, etc.

• Change of Hearing Notice should be capitalized. 

• Capitalize "Court" when they are referring to the judge or hearing officer in the current hearing.  

• Your Honor should ALWAYs be capped. 

• "Judge" should only be capped when they are talking to the judge. For example, if you take the word "judge" out of the sentence and replace it with a name and it makes sense, it should be capped. The same with the word "Counsel."  

Ex. 

✅ I don't want to go to jail, Judge. 

       (I don't want to go to jail, Lori.) 

❌ Please tell the judge why you don't want to go to jail.  

       (Please tell the Lori why you don't want to go to jail. ) 

It wouldn't be capped in the second example because "the Lori" is nonsensical.

• Capitalize "department" when they are using it short for Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).  

• Capitalize "defense" when they are talking about the party.  

Ex. I am charging the adjournment to the Defense.

• Releasee and/or Parolee would be capped when they are talking about the current person in the hearing. 

Punctuation

• No commas after "so."

• No commas after FANBOYS as in for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. 

• No single dashes should be used.

• There should be two spaces after colons and ending punctuation e.g. periods and question marks.

• Avoid run-on sentences. If there are two complete sentences that are not joined by a coordinating conjunction (e.g., and, but, or), separate them with a period. NEW!

Ex. 

15 is still viable. 16 is not. instead of 15 is still viable, 16 is not. 

• Reporter Dashes/Double Dashes (--)

  • Reporter dashes are punctuation. Do not put punctuation after reporter dashes. We should use these just like we use ellipses in our Clean Copy files (General Transcription Style Guide). 

Ex. 

so this was -- okay

And did you -- what did you discover?

• • Use double dashes to set off asides within a sentence instead of commas. NEW!

Ex. 

Well, I see no issue with the Department -- he is on committee supervision --  providing him with his case paperwork.

• • There should only be one space on either side of the reporter dash.

  • Do not capitalize the word following a reporter dash unless it is a proper noun (e.g., Peter, I, Jill, Philadelphia).

  • Rule for multiple interruptions, including acknowledgments: 

PRS SUMTER:  Okay.  So the September 20th arrest is under docket CR-04

--  (Use double dashes when a speaker's statement is interrupted.)

ALJ MALOFF: 9/20/2024 arrest?

PRS SUMTER:  Um-hum.

ALJ MALOFF:  CR. (Do not use double dashes/dashes when a speaker is acknowledging or repeating what was said.)

PRS SUMTER:  04 --

ALJ MALOFF:  04.

PRS SUMTER:  -- 00 --

ALJ MALOFF:  00.

PRS SUMTER:  -- 30 dash -- (Spell out the word "dash" before and after a double dash.)

ALJ MALOFF:  30.

Files with Interpreters 

• Only transcribe what is spoken in English. 

• Use THE INTERPRETER as the speaker tag.

• Do not transcribe or tag non-English speech.

Helpful References 

• Accompanying Documents

Click on File > Documents > Accompanying Documents.

• • Hearing Calendar 

  • Job Info sheet 

  • Log Notes

  • Annotations

• Terms, Names, etc. 

• Other Resources

• Samples

You can find samples in this folder.