Connect Series: Meet Court Reporter Anne Schluter!
With extensive experience working as a court reporter in both the United States and Canada, Anne is a great fit for all types of proceedings, but she’s a secret weapon when it comes to the US depositions routinely carried out at Reportex’s offices. Not only will clients receive a transcript in the perfect format for US requirements, but they can also enjoy same-day service of rough draft transcripts.
We recently asked Anne a few questions, and here’s what she had to say:
What originally got you interested in court reporting as a career?
I was attending Ferris State University in Michigan in the executive assistant program. At that time I didn’t even know what a court reporter was. My roommate was in the court reporting program and used to come back from class all the time and relay all the great things she was learning about career opportunities in the field. Her future sounded much more interesting and lucrative than mine, so I made the switch.
What do you like most about it?
I love the flexibility it gave me with my children when they were young. I was able to walk my kids to school nearly every day, and because I also worked some half days, they were often able to have friends over for play dates after school. And being self-employed, I was able to take time out to participate in various school events and field trips with them. Now that they’re older, I like having the flexibility to hit the gym on a weekday morning and get my workout done early on the days I’m not in discovery.
What is the best career advice you have ever been given?
At one of the first firms I ever worked for, the firm owner insisted that I should read novels as a way of refining my court reporting skills. I was very resistant since reading for pleasure did not sound like a very fun way to spend my downtime, but she literally handed me a novel and made me do it. Not sure how refined I am, but I was hooked. That was a very long time ago, and I still love to read whenever I have the chance.
At Reportex our core values of team, mentorship, equality, community and industry are central to what we do. Which of these values resonates most strongly with you and why?
Even though we are all self-employed individuals, at All-Star by Reportex our office feels very much like a team, or as we often refer to it, our work family. We’re constantly looking to one another for help on technical issues, grammar questions, formatting queries. Also recipe-sharing. And I’ve received some really good parenting advice over our boardroom lunches.
What single piece of advice would you give new reporters?
One piece of advice I would give to a new reporter is to make up a one-stroke brief for your local hospitals. They come up constantly, and it will save you a lot of time over the years. It sounds kind of stupid, but that’s all I could think of right now.
What does your ideal day off look like?
Well, an ideal day off would be on a beach with a margarita in my hand. But if I’m not on vacation, I like to go to the gym in the morning and get it out of the way, have lunch with friends and then take my dog Louie for a walk.
Would you rather cook or order in?
I hate cooking; plus I’m not the best at it. Definitely order in — with wine of course!
