Publisher's Notebook

HOT SPRINGS–Hey buddy, want to get your hands on a “dirty transcript”?

Attendees at the annual meeting of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys perked up when Bill Archambault mentioned a “dirty transcript” in a seminar about using technology for courtroom presentations.

Seems most people weren’t familiar with the term. Was that something that came in a plain brown envelope? Was it something one might send over the cell phone to Jenn Sterger?

Nothing that spicy. A “dirty transcript” is one that the court reporter hasn’t edited and formatted just yet. It’s the raw data at the end of a day of trial. Archambault said he once used a dirty transcript to create part of a PowerPoint for closing.

So give Archambault credit for introducing a new term into the legal lexicon. But retired Richmond Circuit Judge Ted Markow, who was also on the panel, got the last word. He said he had never seen a “dirty transcript.” He added, “I don’t think I want to.”