how to write a court report

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How to Write a Court Report

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A court report can change the course of someone's life. Court reports are presented to the judge in certain types of cases, including criminal proceedings against a minor and adoption hearings. By presenting information in the correct format and order, you can help influence the result of the hearing.

Include Biographical Information

A court report should begin with basic information to help the reader identify the people in the case. Include the names and dates of birth of the people involved and the date of the hearing.

Establish Context

Establish context for the case. For a criminal case, this may include any details about the person’s background that may account for their behavior, such as a tumultuous childhood or upbringing. Include any circumstances that are relevant to the person’s behavior, such as drug addiction, family issues or a diagnosis of mental illness. Explain how you know this information and whether or not you observed it firsthand.

Include Situational Information

If the report you're writing is for an adoption case, include information about the potential parents and home. Specify why you believe the child should or should not be placed in the home. Provide specific examples rather than generalizations. For example, instead of saying that the parents are active in the child's life, list examples of how they are active, such as coaching a sports team or teaching the child how to fish.

Use a Formal but Simple Tone

Use formal language, because the report is intended for the court. Because the family or person involved will also be reading the report, use simple language that everyone can understand. Check the report for spelling or grammatical errors before submitting it.

• Department of Human Services: Court Reports
• Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children: How to Write a Court Report

Melissa Samaroo is a writer based in Florida. She is the author of "The Complete Dictionary of Insurance Terms, Explained Simply," "The Complete Guide to Building Backyard Ponds, Fountains and Waterfalls for Homeowners: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply" and "The Complete Guide to Writing a Successful Screenplay: Everything You Need to Know to Write and Sell a Winning Script."

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Courtroom and Report Writing Skills for Social Workers

• Clare Seymour - Anglia Ruskin University, UK
• Richard Seymour
• Description

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

For assistance with your order: Please email us at [email protected] or connect with your SAGE representative.

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A very well laid out book with a broad coverage of law as well as the core topic of the book. I really liked it; easily accessible writing style and a very nice visual feel to the book. It's really comprehensive for its size, and we are stocking it in the library as well as recommending it to students.

This was an extremely useful text which I used to construct and carry out report writing workshops. Highly recommended.

This book has been used largely by our Children and families social workers and is very useful in formulating Court reports and enhancing the skills of staff being called to court.

Helpful especially for beginners and for those wishing to understanding report writings skills

A really useful book which I refer to all the time, linking the transferable ability of writing academic assignments to the development of writing informed based court reports.

Not directly relevant to my teaching, but a useful text.

This book has not been adopte4d for use on this programme currently, but has been passed to partner agencies to supplement ongoing training as part of the assessed and supported yearin practice.

- Informative book - Language is easy to understand - Covered a good range of topics The examples given helped students to visualise how they could write their own reports.

Good Text that covers the subject well.

This has been needed for a while and we are recommending it on our PQ legal teaching . It is easy to follow and will make the most nervous future or current court practitioner more certain in what they have to do in court and importantly why !

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Court reporters are highly trained professionals who share a unique ability to convert the spoken word into information that can be read, searched, and archived. Court reporters save time, are cost-effective, and provide quality results through the use of cutting-edge technology. This specialization has created new career paths for reporters, including broadcast captioning and realtime translation services for people who are deaf and hard of hearing.

What do court reporters do?

Court reporters, also known as guardians of the record because of their impartiality and role within the judicial process, capture the words spoken by everyone during a court or deposition proceeding. Court reporters then prepare verbatim transcripts of proceedings. The official record or transcript helps safeguard the legal process. When litigants want to exercise their right to appeal, they will use the transcript to provide an accurate record of what transpired during their case. During the discovery phase, attorneys also use deposition transcripts to prepare for trial. By combining their skills with the latest technology, some court reporters provide realtime access to what is being said during a trial or deposition for the benefit of all involved parties. A court reporter providing realtime, which is the only proven method for immediate voice-to-text translation, allows attorneys and judges to have immediate access to the transcript while also providing a way for deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans to participate in the judicial process.

I am a court reporter

"I’m fluent in a language that allows me to convert speech to text as fast as humans can speak (at least 225 words per minute with 96% accuracy). I put Siri to shame. I’m a master of technology. I’m committed to constantly learning and improving my skills. I run my own business as a freelancer, and I set my own hours – I may write deposition transcripts one day and caption a town hall meeting or church service the next. Or I work in federal, state, county, and local courts to capture the record."

I made it through court reporting school by having a great group of friends who were also students. Hard work does pay off in the end when you finally get to take your first deposition.

A career in court reporting

Court reporters earn an average of more than $60,000 a year, though many earn much more. Income varies according to the area in which a person lives, certifications earned, the kinds of reporting jobs, and experience of individual reporters.

Schools and programs

The knowledge and skills to become a court reporter or captioner are taught at more than 150 reporter training programs, including proprietary schools, community colleges, and four-year universities. Many of these programs offer distance learning options. Visit our website to learn more about the various schools and programs  offered and the resources available to prospective students on DiscoverSteno.org .   

Certification

Upon graduation, court reporters can further their marketability and earn recognition for achieving high levels of expertise in particular reporter markets by pursing certification. Learn more about NCRA's professional certifications .

What is realtime?

Realtime reporters are highly trained professionals who share a unique ability to instantly convert the spoken word into English text into a feed that can be read, streamed, broadcast, searched, and archived. This specialization includes broadcast captioning and realtime translation services for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, as well as providing near-instant translation in legal and other settings.

More about realtime

Court reporters using their highly developed skill in stenography can provide a nearly instantaneous feed through a computer translation system to provide a readable and searchable record of ongoing events. Some reporters employ someone to proofread or scope the feed as it happens to provide a live transcript with an even greater degree of readability.

Sometimes the realtime reporters will also prepare official transcripts of legal proceedings in addition to a realtime feed. While a realtime feed can serve as an on-the-fly tool for the judge or parties to a case to consult and can aid in quicker access to justice, the official record or "transcript" safeguards the legal process by providing a document to consult when litigants want to exercise their right to appeal. During the discovery phase, attorneys also use realtime transcripts to prepare for trial during depositions for many reasons, including the possibility of lowering costs by allowing some parties to be in different locations but still have access to the record through a realtime feed transmitted by the reporter. While a court reporter providing realtime, which is the only proven method for immediate voice-to-text translation, allows attorneys and judges to have immediate access to the transcript, realtime also provides a way for members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community to participate in the judicial process.

Court reporters earn an average of nearly $60,000 a year. Reporters who provide realtime, especially those who are certified by NCRA or by a state in providing realtime, often earn even more. Realtime reporters also have more options in pursuing alternative paths, such as captioning, and find themselves in demand for jobs that can allow them to work from home or travel to unusual places.

Realtime reporters can further their marketability and earn recognition for achieving high levels of expertise in particular reporter markets by pursing certification. Learn more about  NCRA's professional certifications .

NCRA members have become realtime proficient to meet the demands of the market. Providing realtime also allows court reporters to differentiate their skills from other methods of making the record. NCRA encourages state associations and individual members to carry the realtime message to reporter colleagues. Experience has shown that learning in small group settings is ideal for helping court reporters make the transition to realtime.

The resources below can aid in learning more about realtime. Please feel free to use them on your own or with other like-minded court reporters.

Fast-track realtime

Fast-track your learning to get you on your way to writing realtime.

Below are some useful links that will provide information on your realtime technical needs, writing tips, and ideas on how to face challenges. If you don’t have access to a local realtime group, you have access to some great information just for you. And if you are involved in a realtime group, here are some fresh ideas and tips to have in mind before your next meeting.

Realtime tips

Hardware tips.

• Realtime: Computer recommendations  — choosing and preparing a new computer for realtime
• Realtime: Hardware  —  realtime output hardware types
• Realtime: Hardware accessories  —  setting up your new computer
• Realtime: Basic troubleshooting  —  guides to help you become a tech-savvy reporter
• Realtime resources

Software tips

• Vendor software  
• Realtime Resource Guide

Writing tips

• Dictionary maintenance
• Improving your writing

Fighting fear tips

• Realtime fears
• Realtime horror stories
• Realtime bloopers

Court reporter career paths

More than 70 percent of the nation’s 50,000-plus court reporters work outside of the court. Because court reporting involves a highly specialized skill set, reporters have a variety of career options:

Freelance reporters are hired by attorneys, corporations, unions, associations, and other individuals and groups who need accurate, complete, and secure records of pretrial depositions, arbitrations, board of director meetings, stockholder meetings, and convention business sessions.

Hearing court reporters use verbatim methods and equipment to capture, store, retrieve, and transcribe pretrial and trial proceedings or other information. Also includes captioners who operate computerized stenographic captioning equipment to provide captions of live or prerecorded broadcasts for viewers who are hard of hearing.

Legislative

Legislative court reporters transcribe proceedings in the United States Congress and in state legislatures around the country.

Official court reporters work for the judicial system to convert the spoken word into text during courtroom proceedings. The reporter also prepares official verbatim transcripts to be used by attorneys, judges, and litigants. Official court reporters are front and center at controversial or famous cases – criminal trials, millionaire divorces, government corruption trials, and lawsuits – ensuring that an accurate, complete, and secure record of the proceedings is produced. Official court reporters may also provide realtime during a courtroom setting to allow participants to read on a display screen or computer monitor what is being said instantaneously.

Official court reporters in the United States work in the nation’s courts at all levels.

Court-related resources

• Conference of State Court Administrators
• National Center for State Courts
• Legal Information Institute
• American Judges Association
• National Association for Court Management
• Justice Management Institute

Transcripts

• Who owns the transcript
• NCRA COPE transcript formatting guidelines

Electronic filing of transcripts

• Online transcripts repositories: Overview

A scopist is a professional transcript editor for court reporters. However, unlike an editor or a proofreader, a scopist has the ability to compare a court reporter’s shorthand to the finished transcript. By “scoping” the transcript, mistranslate errors can be identified, thereby helping the court reporter preserve an accurate record. Learn more

The value of court reporting

Court reporters are cost-effective.

• Court reporters in many jurisdictions bear most, if not all, of the expenses for their equipment, making sophisticated voice-to-text technology available to the court system at no additional expense to the courts.
• Digital audio systems require yearly maintenance costs, and software and hardware upgrades do occur, which are additional costs to the court system’s budget that negate and potentially exceed any claimed cost savings.

Court reporters are highly skilled and educated professionals

• Court reporters provide the most reliable and most accurate transcript.
• They undergo several years of academic and skills training to achieve different levels of certification. This allows them to post speeds upwards of 280 words per minute, enabling them to capture every word of the proceedings.
• They are required to pursue ongoing continuing education throughout their careers to maintain their certification(s), ensuring that they are up to date on the latest technology and processes in the legal industry.
• Court reporters are able to certify and testify, if necessary, to the accuracy and integrity of the record.

Court reporters are high-tech

• Court reporters are at the forefront of technology and constantly upgrade their software and hardware to ensure that they remain the most reliable and most accurate method of capturing the record.
• They can synchronize their transcript with a digital audio or digital video recording to provide a searchable multimedia record.

Court reporters cannot be replaced by electronic reporting

Why can't electronic reporting replace court reporters, court reporters have the capability to provide realtime ..

• Realtime is a process that instantly captures the spoken word so that judges, law clerks, court clerks, parties to a proceeding, jurors, and members of the media as well as those who are deaf or hard of hearing have immediate access to a transcript.
• Realtime feeds can be accessed remotely and by multiple devices, saving time and money. Wireless technology delivers realtime feeds simply and securely.

Court reporters help the court provide an invaluable public service.

• Through stenographic realtime, the court and legal system are made accessible to people with hearing loss.
• The reliability and accuracy of a court reporter cannot be replaced by voice recognition in the foreseeable future.
• Court reporters have the skill and training to provide the public accurate and reliable court records, ensuring a full and fair appellate review to all parties.

Court reporters can perform functions that other technologies cannot.

• Court reporters can go beyond the transcript. With transcripts of court proceedings available on demand, a reporter can provide clarification on any moment of the court record, saving time and money.
• They are able to discriminate between testimony and background noise and can clarify otherwise inaudible or heavily accented speech.
• Court reporters do not inadvertently record off-the-record attorney-client exchanges.

Court reporters provide fast turnaround of transcripts.

• Court reporters are able to produce both electronic and paper transcripts, offering virtually instantaneous resources and added flexibility to accommodate the needs of the court.
• They are able to provide certified transcripts at the close of business each day to those involved in complicated and/or high-stakes trials.

What's next?

Discover if a career in court reporting or captioning is the right career for you.

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Find out more with these resources

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• NCRA A to Z® Intro to Steno Machine Shorthand
• NCRA-Approved Court Reporting Programs
• Career Launcher
• CaptioningMatters.org
• Court Reporting & Captioning Week resources

Learn about court reporters in your area

• Contact your local court reporters association by visiting our website for a  directory of other state and affiliated associations .     
• Find a reporter: Visit  NCRA PROLink .

Learn how you can use AI to improve your HR investigations in our upcoming webinar. Register here to join us May 15th!

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How to Write an Investigation Report that Holds Up in Court

Make sure it’s complete, factual and detailed enough for someone unfamiliar with the case to understand.

You’ve conducted a flawless investigation, interviewed the suspects and every possible witness, gathered every scrap of evidence, followed up on every lead and tracked down every piece of related information. You are covered in the event that anyone, including the courts, questions the quality of your investigation, right?

Possibly not. If you haven’t documented it thoroughly in a comprehensive investigation report , all the work you’ve done could go down the drain.

Verbal Doesn’t Measure Up

“What we find in our training is that some organizations don’t actually create a report. It’s often verbal,” says Janice Rubin, partner at partner at the law firm Rubin Thomlinson , and co-author (with Christine Thomlinson) of The Human Resources Guide to Workplace Investigations. And aside from the obvious shortfalls of a report that isn’t officially recorded anywhere, verbal reports are often abbreviated and missing details, she adds.

“It’s really important to have a record of the report for posterity because… issues pop up sometimes two or three years later and you have to show that you dealt with it by way of investigation and you have to have good documentation.”

Purposes of the Report

Free investigation report template.

Prepare thorough, consistent investigation reports with our free report template.

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“First of all, we need to understand how the report is going to be used in court,” says Rubin. “It’s generally not going to be used to establish facts… The report is there first and foremost to show that the employer engaged in a process that was fair, that responded to whatever the particular allegation was. You want to make sure that the report really does speak to the process, and communicates really clearly why the investigator reached the conclusion that he or she reached.”

There are two purposes to an investigation report, explains Rubin:

• communicate the process that was undertaken to conduct the investigation
• present the evidence, the facts established and the conclusions that the investigator has made in the report

The Writing Process

When writing a report, the style is less important than the substance, says Rubin, but that’s not an excuse for bad grammar or spelling. “What you want is a document that shows that the employer took the allegations seriously and that the investigator did a thorough job,” she says.

The process of writing a report allows the investigator to ensure that he or she has collected all the necessary information, has addressed all of the allegations and has conducted all the necessary witness interviews.

What to Include

An investigation report should include:

• An outline of the process that the investigator followed
• a review of all the evidence gathered
• a list of the facts that were determined
• an analysis of why the investigator has reached any conclusions
• full names of the people involved

“In our view, anybody who is writing investigation reports should consider the fact that they may be read by people beyond the immediate people the report is being written for. So you need to include information that makes the information clear and accessible,” says Rubin.

What Not to Include

The following should not be included in the report:

• irrelevant information
• recommendations, if the investigator has not been asked to include them
• factual conclusions that are not supported by an explanation/analysis
• unclear information
• technical terms that might be unfamiliar to the reader
• acronyms that are not explained

The investigator should keep in mind that somebody unconnected to the investigation, such as the judge, an arbitrator or an adjudicator, will be reading the report. “It has to be clear to someone unfamiliar with the basic facts,” she says.

“When I read the report I want to understand why the investigator reached the conclusion that he or she has. The ducks have to be lined up.”

Top 10 Investigation Report Must Haves

How to write an investigation report that's clear and credible, what should go into an investigation report, getting the workplace investigation report right, 12 tips for writing an effective investigation report, 3 investigation report writing mistakes you're still making, keeping schools safe with case management software, related resources, how an hr analyst can help your organization reduce risk, title ix compliance: 2024 updates your institution needs to know.

• How to Prepare for Law School
• How to brief a case
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How to write a case brief for law school: Excerpt reproduced from Introduction to the Study of Law: Cases and Materials ,

Third edition (lexisnexis 2009) by michael makdisi & john makdisi.

C. HOW TO BRIEF

The previous section described the parts of a case in order to make it easier to read and identify the pertinent information that you will use to create your briefs. This section will describe the parts of a brief in order to give you an idea about what a brief is, what is helpful to include in a brief, and what purpose it serves. Case briefs are a necessary study aid in law school that helps to encapsulate and analyze the mountainous mass of material that law students must digest. The case brief represents a final product after reading a case, rereading it, taking it apart, and putting it back together again. In addition to its function as a tool for self-instruction and referencing, the case brief also provides a valuable “cheat sheet” for class participation.

Who will read your brief? Most professors will espouse the value of briefing but will never ask to see that you have, in fact, briefed. As a practicing lawyer, your client doesn’t care if you brief, so long as you win the case. The judges certainly don’t care if you brief, so long as you competently practice the law. You are the person that the brief will serve! Keep this in mind when deciding what elements to include as part of your brief and when deciding what information to include under those elements.

What are the elements of a brief? Different people will tell you to include different things in your brief. Most likely, upon entering law school, this will happen with one or more of your instructors. While opinions may vary, four elements that are essential to any useful brief are the following:

(a) Facts (name of the case and its parties, what happened factually and procedurally, and the judgment)

(b) Issues (what is in dispute)

(c) Holding (the applied rule of law)

(d) Rationale (reasons for the holding)

If you include nothing but these four elements, you should have everything you need in order to recall effectively the information from the case during class or several months later when studying for exams.

Because briefs are made for yourself, you may want to include other elements that expand the four elements listed above. Depending on the case, the inclusion of additional elements may be useful. For example, a case that has a long and important section expounding dicta might call for a separate section in your brief labeled: Dicta. Whatever elements you decide to include, however, remember that the brief is a tool intended for personal use. To the extent that more elements will help with organization and use of the brief, include them. On the other hand, if you find that having more elements makes your brief cumbersome and hard to use, cut back on the number of elements. At a minimum, however, make sure you include the four elements listed above.

Elements that you may want to consider including in addition to the four basic elements are:

(e) Dicta (commentary about the decision that was not the basis for the decision)

(f) Dissent (if a valuable dissenting opinion exits, the dissent’s opinion)

(g) Party’s Arguments (each party’s opposing argument concerning the ultimate issue)

(h) Comments (personal commentary)

Personal comments can be useful if you have a thought that does not fit elsewhere. In the personal experience of one of the authors, this element was used to label cases as specific kinds (e.g., as a case of vicarious liability) or make mental notes about what he found peculiar or puzzling about cases. This element allowed him to release his thoughts (without losing them) so that he could move on to other cases.

In addition to these elements, it may help you to organize your thoughts, as some people do, by dividing Facts into separate elements:

(1) Facts of the case (what actually happened, the controversy)

(2) Procedural History (what events within the court system led to the present case)

(3) Judgment (what the court actually decided)

Procedural History is usually minimal and most of the time irrelevant to the ultimate importance of a case; however, this is not always true. One subject in which Procedure History is virtually always relevant is Civil Procedure.

When describing the Judgment of the case, distinguish it from the Holding. The Judgment is the factual determination by the court, in favor of one party, such as “affirmed,” “reversed,” or “remanded.” In contrast, the Holding is the applied rule of law that serves as the basis for the ultimate judgment.

Remember that the purpose of a brief is to remind you of the important details that make the case significant in terms of the law. It will be a reference tool when you are drilled by a professor and will be a study aid when you prepare for exams. A brief is also like a puzzle piece.

The elements of the brief create the unique shape and colors of the piece, and, when combined with other pieces, the picture of the common law takes form. A well-constructed brief will save you lots of time by removing the need to return to the case to remember the important details and also by making it easier to put together the pieces of the common law puzzle.

D. EXTRACTING THE RELEVANT INFORMATION: ANNOTATING AND HIGHLIGHTING

So now that you know the basic elements of a brief, what information is important to include under each element? The simple answer is: whatever is relevant. But what parts of a case are relevant? When you read your first few cases, you may think that everything that the judge said was relevant to his ultimate conclusion. Even if this were true, what is relevant for the judge to make his decision is not always relevant for you to include in your brief. Remember, the reason to make a brief is not to persuade the world that the ultimate decision in the case is a sound one, but rather to aid in refreshing your memory concerning the most important parts of the case.

What facts are relevant to include in a brief? You should include the facts that are necessary to remind you of the story. If you forget the story, you will not remember how the law in the case was applied. You should also include the facts that are dispositive to the decision in the case. For instance, if the fact that a car is white is a determining factor in the case, the brief should note that the case involves a white car and not simply a car. To the extent that the procedural history either helps you to remember the case or plays an important role in the ultimate outcome, you should include these facts as well.

What issues and conclusions are relevant to include in a brief? There is usually one main issue on which the court rests its decision. This may seem simple, but the court may talk about multiple issues, and may discuss multiple arguments from both sides of the case. Be sure to distinguish the issues from the arguments made by the parties. The relevant issue or issues, and corresponding conclusions, are the ones for which the court made a final decision and which are binding. The court may discuss intermediate conclusions or issues, but stay focused on the main issue and conclusion which binds future courts.

What rationale is important to include in a brief? This is probably the most difficult aspect of the case to determine. Remember that everything that is discussed may have been relevant to the judge, but it is not necessarily relevant to the rationale of the decision. The goal is to remind yourself of the basic reasoning that the court used to come to its decision and the key factors that made the decision favor one side or the other.

A brief should be brief! Overly long or cumbersome briefs are not very helpful because you will not be able to skim them easily when you review your notes or when the professor drills you. On the other hand, a brief that is too short will be equally unhelpful because it lacks sufficient information to refresh your memory. Try to keep your briefs to one page in length. This will make it easy for you to organize and reference them.

Do not get discouraged. Learning to brief and figuring out exactly what to include will take time and practice. The more you brief, the easier it will become to extract the relevant information.

While a brief is an extremely helpful and important study aid, annotating and highlighting are other tools for breaking down the mass of material in your casebook. The remainder of this section will discuss these different techniques and show how they complement and enhance the briefing process.

Annotating Cases

Many of you probably already read with a pencil or pen, but if you do not, now is the time to get in the habit. Cases are so dense and full of information that you will find yourself spending considerable amounts of time rereading cases to find what you need. An effective way to reduce this time is to annotate the margins of the casebook. Your pencil (or pen) will be one of your best friends while reading a case. It will allow you to mark off the different sections (such as facts, procedural history, or conclusions), thus allowing you to clear your mind of thoughts and providing an invaluable resource when briefing and reviewing.

You might be wondering why annotating is important if you make an adequate, well-constructed brief. By their very nature briefs cannot cover everything in a case. Even with a thorough, well-constructed brief you may want to reference the original case in order to reread dicta that might not have seemed important at the time, to review the complete procedural history or set of facts, or to scour the rationale for a better understanding of the case; annotating makes these tasks easier. Whether you return to a case after a few hours or a few months, annotations will swiftly guide you to the pertinent parts of the case by providing a roadmap of the important sections. Your textual markings and margin notes will refresh your memory and restore specific thoughts you might have had about either the case in general or an individual passage.

Annotations will also remind you of forgotten thoughts and random ideas by providing a medium for personal comments.

In addition to making it easier to review an original case, annotating cases during the first review of a case makes the briefing process easier. With adequate annotations, the important details needed for your brief will be much easier to retrieve. Without annotations, you will likely have difficulty locating the information you seek even in the short cases. It might seem strange that it would be hard to reference a short case, but even a short case will likely take you at least fifteen to twenty-five minutes to read, while longer cases may take as much as thirty minutes to an hour to complete. No matter how long it takes, the dense material of all cases makes it difficult to remember all your thoughts, and trying to locate specific sections of the analysis may feel like you are trying to locate a needle in a haystack. An annotation in the margin, however, will not only swiftly guide you to a pertinent section, but will also refresh the thoughts that you had while reading that section.

When you read a case for the first time, read for the story and for a basic understanding of the dispute, the issues, the rationale, and the decision. As you hit these elements (or what you think are these elements) make a mark in the margins. Your markings can be as simple as “facts” (with a bracket that indicates the relevant part of the paragraph). When you spot an issue, you may simply mark “issue” or instead provide a synopsis in your own words. When a case sparks an idea — write that idea in the margin as well — you never know when a seemingly irrelevant idea might turn into something more.

Finally, when you spot a particularly important part of the text, underline it (or highlight it as described below).

With a basic understanding of the case, and with annotations in the margin, the second read-through of the case should be much easier. You can direct your reading to the most important sections and will have an easier time identifying what is and is not important. Continue rereading the case until you have identified all the relevant information that you need to make your brief, including the issue(s), the facts, the holding, and the relevant parts of the analysis.

Pencil or pen — which is better to use when annotating? Our recommendation is a mechanical pencil. Mechanical pencils make finer markings than regular pencils, and also than ballpoint pens. Although you might think a pencil might smear more than a pen, with its sharp point a mechanical pencil uses very little excess lead and will not smear as much as you might imagine. A mechanical pencil will also give you the freedom to make mistakes without consequences. When you first start annotating, you may think that some passages are more important than they really are, and therefore you may resist the urge to make a mark in order to preserve your book and prevent false guideposts. With a pencil, however, the ability to erase and rewrite removes this problem.

Highlighting

Why highlight? Like annotating, highlighting may seem unimportant if you create thorough, well-constructed briefs, but highlighting directly helps you to brief. It makes cases, especially the more complicated ones, easy to digest, review and use to extract information.

Highlighting takes advantage of colors to provide a uniquely effective method for reviewing and referencing a case. If you prefer a visual approach to learning, you may find highlighting to be a very effective tool.

If annotating and highlighting are so effective, why brief? Because the process of summarizing a case and putting it into your own words within a brief provides an understanding of the law and of the case that you cannot gain through the process of highlighting or annotating.

The process of putting the case into your own words forces you to digest the material, while annotating and highlighting can be accomplished in a much more passive manner.

What should you highlight? Similar to annotating, the best parts of the case to highlight are those that represent the needed information for your brief such as the facts, the issue, the holding and the rationale.

Unlike annotating, highlighting provides an effective way to color code, which makes referring to the case even easier. In addition, Highlighters are particularly useful in marking off entire sections by using brackets. These brackets will allow you to color-code the case without highlighting all the text, leaving the most important phrases untouched for a more detailed highlight marking or underlining.

Highlighting is a personal tool, and therefore should be used to the extent that highlighting helps, but should be modified in a way that makes it personally time efficient and beneficial. For instance, you might combine the use of annotations in the margins with the visual benefit of highlighting the relevant text. You may prefer to underline the relevant text with a pencil, but to use a highlighter to bracket off the different sections of a case. Whatever you choose to do, make sure that it works for you, regardless of what others recommend. The techniques in the remainder of this section will describe ways to make full use of your highlighters.

First, buy yourself a set of multi-colored highlighters, with at least four, or perhaps five or six different colors. Yellow, pink, and orange are usually the brightest. Depending on the brand, purple and green can be dark, but still work well. Although blue is a beautiful color, it tends to darken and hide the text.

Therefore we recommend that you save blue for the elements that you rarely highlight.

For each different section of the case, choose a color, and use that color only when highlighting the section of the case designated for that color. Consider using yellow for the text that you tend to highlight most frequently. Because yellow is the brightest, you may be inclined to use yellow for the Conclusions in order to make them stand out the most. If you do this, however, you will exhaust your other colors much faster than yellow and this will require that you purchase an entire set of new highlighters when a single color runs out because colors such as green are not sold separately. If instead you choose to use yellow on a more frequently highlighted section such as the Analysis, when it comes time to replace your yellow marker, you will need only to replace your yellow highlighter individually. In the personal experience on one of the authors, the sections of cases that seemed to demand the most highlighter attention were the

Facts and the Analysis, while the Issues and Holdings demanded the least. Other Considerations and

Procedural History required lots of highlighting in particular cases although not in every case.

Experiment if you must, but try to choose a color scheme early on in the semester and stick with it. That way, when you come back to the first cases of the semester, you will not be confused with multiple color schemes. The basic sections of a case for which you should consider giving a different color are:

• Procedural History

• Issue (and questions presented)

• Holding (and conclusions)

• Analysis (rationale)

• Other Considerations (such as dicta)

Not all of these sections demand a separate color. You may find that combining Facts and Procedural History or Issues and Holdings works best. Furthermore, as mentioned above, some sections may not warrant highlighting in every case (e.g., dicta probably do not need to be highlighted unless they are particularly important). If you decide that a single color is all that you need, then stick to one, but if you find yourself highlighting lots of text from many different sections, reconsider the use of at least a few different colors. Highlighters make text stand out, but only when used appropriately. The use of many colors enables you to highlight more text without reducing the highlighter’s effectiveness. Three to four colors provides decent color variation without the cumbersomeness of handling too many markers.

Once you are comfortable with your color scheme, determining exactly what to highlight still may be difficult. Similar to knowing what to annotate, experience will perfect your highlighting skills. Be careful not to highlight everything, thus ruining your highlighters’ effectiveness; at the same time, do not be afraid to make mistakes.

Now that we have covered the basics of reading, annotating, highlighting, and briefing a case, you are ready to start practicing. Keep the tips and techniques mentioned in this chapter in mind when you tackle the four topics in the remainder of this book. If you have difficultly, refer back to this chapter to help guide you as you master the case method of study and the art of using the common law.

Have questions about law school? Check out our Facebook page , follow us on Twitter or start networking with law students and lawyers on LexTalk .

More Helpful Links

• The American Legal System
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Preparing the court report - advice

The purpose of a court report is to assist the Court and other parties to obtain a clear understanding of the protective concerns held by the department and the rationale for the recommended disposition. As a government agency report, child protection practitioners have a duty to the Court to ensure the court report provides it with all the information necessary to assist the Court to make a decision, not only the information that supports the recommended disposition.

A court report provides the main opportunity to convey to the Court an understanding of child protection’s rationale for the decisions that have been made in relation to the child.

A court report forms the basis for the practitioner's evidence and an effective tool to state the risk of harm to the child and articulate the child's best interests in a formal manner. A well articulated court report allows for early resolution of cases in court and assists practitioners if evidence is required to be given at a later stage.

Refer to the  Court report writing guide   in Forms and secure documents/Court/Reports for general guidance on writing court reports and detailed information on completing court report templates.

Temporary assessment order report

The purpose of the temporary assessment order report is to inform the Court of the:

• details of the action taken by the child protection practitioner under the order
• the results of the investigation and assessment
• any other information that the child protection practitioner considers to be in the child’s best interests or the Court directs to be included in the report
• recommendation regarding child protection involvement with the child and family.

The practitioner needs to complete the temporary assessment order report in CRIS. A copy of the format can be found in Forms and secure documents/Court/Reports .

When the Court has issued a temporary assessment order, the practitioner is required to complete the protective investigation within the timeframe specified in the order.

Protection application report

The protection application report (referred to as a protection report in s. 553 of the CYFA) should be provided to the Court in the following circumstances:

• a protection application has been issued
• the magistrate in the Criminal Division of the Melbourne Children's Court requests a protection and disposition report by the Secretary.

The protection report is informed by the risk assessment or review risk assessment and must only deal with matters that are relevant to the question of whether the child is in need of protection (s. 555 of the CYFA). This includes:

• the reasons the application was issued and how these relate to the legislated ground(s) for a child being in need of protection
• why the child cannot be adequately protected without a Children’s Court protection order.
• supports and services provided to the family to address the concerns
• which of the best interests principles and rights are relevant and how they have been considered.
• the child’s current circumstances, including their care and contact arrangements, their significant needs and rights and their views and wishes
• the consequences and probability of harm to the child.

Consult your supervisor and if necessary a solicitor or divisional legal officer regarding the information that you should include in the court report.

Recommendation report

In accordance with the provisions of s. 557(1), CYFA, the child protection practitioner must prepare and submit a recommendations report (referred to in the CYFA as a disposition report) if the Court is satisfied that:

• a child is in need of protection
• there is a substantial and presently irreconcilable difference between the person who has parental responsibility for the child and the child to such an extent that the care and control of the child are likely to be seriously disrupted
• there has been a failure to comply with a family preservation order.

Section 558 requires that the following matters be included in a recommendations report:

• the case plan, if any, prepared for the child
• recommendations, where appropriate, regarding the order child protection believes the Court ought to make, including recommended conditions if any
• where a recommendation is made that the child be removed from the parent’s care, a statement outlining the steps taken by child protection to provide the services necessary to enable the child to remain in the parent’s care must be included.
• any other information as directed by the Court or that the regulations require.

Also include the child’s views and wishes in relation to the department’s recommendations.

The practitioner needs to complete the recommendations report in CRIS.  A copy of the format can be found in Forms and secure documents/Court .

Report in support of application to extend/breach/vary/revoke a protection order and recommendations

The child protection practitioner must prepare and submit a report ( referred to in the CYFA as a disposition report) to the Court if any party has made an application to extend, breach, vary or revoke a protection order.

In this type of recommendations report the practitioner should:

• outline the reasons for the application to extend/breach/vary/revoke
• provide factual evidence regarding harm to the child
• articulate the rights of the child that are affected and need to be protected
• describe the current circumstances of the child
• articulate the family’s strengths and parental capacity to protect the child from harm and promote positive development
• outline what actions need to be undertaken to ensure the child's best interests and rights are adhered to
• include the case plan and permanency objective as defined in CYFA s167(1)
• outline the steps taken by the child protection practitioner to provide the services necessary to enable the child to remain in the parent’s care, if it is recommended that the child be removed from the parent’s care
• articulate the rationale for any decision making as informed by the risk assessment
• also include advice for the magistrate, as set out in s.276A (see above).

The practitioner needs to complete the report in support of application to extend/breach/vary/revoke and recommendations in CRIS. A copy of the format can be found in Forms and secure documents/Court .

Report in support of application for a care by Secretary order/long-term care order and recommendations

This report is to be used when the current family reunification order cannot be extended and/or reunification is no longer a viable permanency objective for the child.

In this type of recommendations report the practitioner should include:

• an update on the progress towards achieving reunification by addressing the protective concerns identified in previous court reports and in the child’s case plan (this may include any new concerns that have arisen during the current order period)
• the evidence for ongoing concerns and how these concerns impact on the child
• the services and supports the parents been referred to and involved in, including what steps have been taken for the child to safely return to their parent’s care
• an update on the child’s current circumstances, including any changes to care and contact arrangements, update on the child’s significant needs and rights and their views and wishes
• articulate the rationale for decision making relating to the application in line with the current risk assessment.

Report in support of application for a permanent care order and recommendations

This report (referred to as a disposition report in s. 557(1) of the CYFA) is to be used to support an application for a permanent care order (PCO).

The CYFA provides for the Children’s Court to make a PCO to a person or persons if satisfied that the person or persons is/are suitable to have parental responsibility for the child. Sections 319-327 of the CYFA, provide for when the Court may make a PCO, how an application may be made, the effect of a PCO, the restrictions on making a PCO, when a PCO may lapse, how disputes between persons jointly granted parental responsibility are to be resolved, changes to the nature of a PCO and how applications to revoke or vary a PCO may be made and by whom.

• The circumstances leading to the PCO application.
• The child’s permanent carer arrangements, focussing on the child’s experience of the current permanent care arrangements.
• Required information relating to the permanent carer assessment. The Court must be satisfied that the person or persons named in the permanent care application are suitable to have parental responsibility for the child having regard to  Children Youth and Families Regulations 2017  – Regulation 18 which outlines the prescribed matters. Each prescribed matter must be addressed.
• Under section 320 (1) of the CYFA the report must include a statement that the carers are approved as suitable to have parental responsibility for the child.
• If the child is Aboriginal, the report must also address the requirements of Section 323 of the CYFA.
• Significant needs and rights of the child and their views and wishes.
• Recommendation in relation to contact arrangements.

Update reports (referred to as additional reports in the CYFA)

Section 560, CYFA, stipulates that the Court may order the submission of an additional report by:

• the Secretary
• the Department of Justice and Community Safety, or
• another person specified by the Court

if it requires further information to determine a matter and the most appropriate recommendation.

In practice, where the Court has requested an additional report by the Department of Justice and Community Safet, it is provided by the Children's Court Clinic. The clinician will prepare a Children's Court Clinic report for the Court. See service description  Children's Court Clinic.

The Court may request an additional report to be provided by any community agency or service provider, for example, foster care agency, family support service, drug and alcohol service or mental health service.

When the Court orders that the child protection practitioner is to provide an update report, an addendum report will need to be completed. Additionally, the practitioner is required to prepare and submit an update report when:

• there has been an adjournment period of a reasonable length
• the facts or circumstances have changed and the risk assessment has changed, or there has been a significant change to the case plan
• a long period has elapsed since the last report was prepared
• the practitioner is seeking to amend the grounds of the application
• the practitioner is seeking to withdraw the application
• the recommendations are different from the previous report.

The update report provides a summary of the circumstances a nd events since the previous adjournment and the current recommendation regarding the application. It is not necessary to outline the original protective concerns or repeat any information included in previous reports. The purpose of the report is to provide an update to the Court of the current situation, reiterate the department's recommendations and explain the reasons for any changes in the practitioner's assessment, recommendation or the child’s case plan if applicable. The practitioner needs to complete the update report in CRIS.  A copy of the format can be found in Forms and secure documents/Court/Reports.

If a court report is required, the practitioner must forward a copy of the report to(s. 556, s. 559, s. 561, s. 566 and s. 570, CYFA):

• the Court (original)
• the child (aged 12 years or over)
• the child's parents
• the legal practitioners representing the child and the child's parents
• the legal practitioner representing the child protection practitioner
• a party to the proceeding
• any other person specified by the Court.

The practitioner can only provide a copy of the court report to the persons outline above.

The practitioner cannot provide a copy of the court report to any other person. It is good practice to seek permission of the child or the parents in addition to permission from the Court, to distribute the court report.

See Access to court reports for further guidance.

Service of court reports

The service of court reports to parents or any other person who is a party to the proceeding needs to occur -

• in person, or
• via registered post if the person is living some distance away or cannot meet with the practitioner in person and is willing to accept service via post.

It is not acceptable practice to leave a private document such as a court report in an open or public place such as at the door of a family home. Court reports contain personal information and all attempts should be made to avoid them being accessed by third parties.

It is usual practice that a court report is provided to a child aged 12 years or over, as this is the age that a child is legally required to be served with any application. If however, it is the practitioner's opinion (in consultation with the supervisor or more senior officer) that the whole or part of the court report should not be provided to the child, then consideration needs to be given to withholding the whole or part of the report. If this is being considered, consult with CPLO or your divisional legal representative as an application to withhold part or all of the report may need to be made to the Court.

For a child aged under 12 years, it is usual practice to provide a copy of the court report to the child's legal representative only. However, in some instances a child aged under 12 years may request a copy of the court report and the practitioner needs to consider whether this is appropriate or whether an application to withhold the whole or part of the court report is required.

At the time when a directions hearing is booked, the Court will make a procedural order to the effect that the practitioner must file and serve all reports by a particular date or otherwise no later than three days before the directions hearing. The child protection practitioner must comply with the procedural order, which is made by the Court in relation to directions hearings. If this does not occur, it is possible that costs may be awarded against the department.

A court report should only contain information relevant to the application.

In some circumstances the unauthorised release of private or contact information may have significant unintended consequences, including risk to the safety of clients, family members, carers or professionals. 

The court report templates on CRIS do not include address or contact details for a child, their family, carers or professionals.

Therefore, it is very important to generate reports from CRIS as opposed to working off-line. If a report is created off-line practitioners must ensure contact details are not included. If the Court requires a professional’s contact details, child protection must supply this information to the Court at the time of the request.

All court reports must be checked prior to submitting to court and providing a copy to the child and parents to ensure no private information has been inappropriately included in the report.

Practitioners should exercise caution about including contact details in court or case plan documents to avoid placing children, family members, carers or professionals at risk, or contravening an existing order. See Use of personal information in court reports.

When determining whether private information will be withheld from court reports, particular consideration should be given to:

• the existence of any prior alerts or decisions regarding the protection of the child, parent's, carers or professionals' address or other information, including the existence of intervention orders
• any history of violence or threats, including criminal assaults, between parents, or against other family members, carers or professionals
• the relevance of the information to the matter considered by the Court
• the appropriateness of seeking the parent's consent to the release of the information.

Where there is uncertainty, legal advice should be obtained from the divisional solicitor or CPLO, regarding the appropriateness of and legal requirements relating to withholding relevant information or inserting 'details withheld' in lieu of address details. This must be recorded accurately in CRIS.

The child protection practitioner, the author of the report, the child or the parent may make an application to the Court to withhold the whole or part of the report from:

• any other person specified by the Court
• the practitioner or the author of the report is of the opinion that information contained in the report may be prejudicial to the physical or mental health of the child or the parent of the child, or
• the child or a parent of the child or any other party to the proceeding notifies the practitioner of their objection to the forwarding of copies of the report.

Where part of a report is withheld from a person, the practitioner must provide the remainder of the report to that person.

The practitioner must make an application to the Court for an order to withhold the whole or part of the report not less than two working days before the hearing of the proceeding. This applies to all types of court reports, including the Children's Court Clinic report, where the clinician of the Children's Court Clinic may apply to withhold the whole or part of the report. The Court will then decide whether to uphold the decision to not distribute the report or to release the report. This decision must be made prior to the hearing, with the hearing being stood down for the decision to be made, if necessary.

A court report:

• must not identify the reporter or a person who provides information in confidence or contain information that may lead to the identity of the reporter or person who provided information in confidence, without that person's written permission
• contains the facts as disclosed by the child or observed by the practitioner or other professionals
• critically examines all the available information
• must clearly identify the source of all information and must clearly state information as being an allegation where there is little or no independent evidence to support it

In writing a court report:

• Consider whether the information will impact on an individual's reputation or privacy and only include that information if it is necessary and relevant to the case.
• Ensure the timely recording of notes and retain hand written notes, as required. See  Case recording for advice.
• Select what information is relevant to the report. Specifically, the evidence in the protection report must indicate what risk of harm the child has suffered or is likely to suffer, how the parents have not or are unlikely to protect the child and must relate to the question of whether the child is in need of protection.
• Present the factual information in a succinct way using dot points and sub-headings. Assist the magistrate to answer the question “is this child in need of protection?”
• List the protective concerns using dot points. These should relate to the confirmed and verified evidence based factors and essential information categories. There is no need to elaborate or describe, as further information is included in the section ‘Evidence for the concerns’.
• Use direct quotes, as appropriate.
• When quoting from other professionals or using their professional opinion to formulate a risk assessment, ensure the information is accurate.
• Use clear, simple language and be succinct.
• Avoid unnecessary repetition.
• Parents should be referred to as Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms or by their full name
• Write in the first person, that is, use “I” rather than “the worker”.
• Use short sentences. Make every sentence count.

Unless the grounds relate solely to an absence of a carer, the practitioner needs to be able to demonstrate how the protective concerns place the child at risk of significant harm. There should be a link between the risk factors and the impact on the child's safety and development. The use of the SAFER practice activities will support analysis of the vulnerability of the child, severity of harm, likelihood of harm, and safety to determine judgements and decision making. It is not sufficient to indicate what the protective concerns are. Being able to articulate how the risk factors compromise the child's safety and development will provide for a strong court report. For example, parental mental illness or substance abuse alone may not necessarily be a significant protective concern. The practitioner will need to indicate how the mental illness or substance use impacts on the parent's ability to care for and protect the child and consequential risk of harm to the child.

The SAFER children framework provides guidance for using professional judgement to determine the probability of harm, consequence of harm and safety to inform the risk assessment and decision making. Using the information and evidence which informed the risk assessment will assist in articulating within the court report the impact of the harm on the child and why the child is in need of protection.

Harm to a child may include physical injury, harm from sexual abuse, emotional or psychological harm damaging emotional or intellectual development, or harm to physical development or health, including as a result of neglect or failure to ensure safety. Where harm has accumulated through a series of acts, omissions or circumstances

In writing the recommendation report (following a protection application):

• The recommendation report will include the child’s case plan, and explain how it addresses the protective concerns in a way that promotes the child’s best interests.
• The report will recommend the making of an order consistent with the permanency objective and other aspect of the case plan. The permanency objective will often determine the type of order to be recommended and the case plan may determine the recommended duration of the order and, if appropriate, conditions to be attached to the order. The case plan’s permanency objective should be chosen from the permanency hierarchy contained in s. 167 of the CYFA as being the earliest in the hierarchy that will promote the child’s best interests.
• Where the permanency objective is family preservation, a family preservation order should be recommended.
• Where a child is in out-of-home care, a family reunification order will usually be recommended following a protection application, noting the limitations on the maximum duration of this order. There will be a small number of cases where a care by Secretary order or other order would be appropriate following a protection application, because it has been assessed that family reunification cannot be achieved. If there have been extensive delays in decision-making and an IAO is still in force, or if siblings are already placed in out-of-home care and there has been no change in the parents’ circumstances, or where parents have abandoned or relinquished care of the child, a long-term care order may be recommended if the child is already placed with carers who are prepared to be long-term carers, or an application for a permanent care order can be made if the child is with carers who are able to be recommended, and are prepared to become permanent carers, where the child has been out of their parents’ care for six months, or for six of the previous 12 months.

The case plan

A case plan is to be prepared for each child, endorsed and provided to the parents and children within 21 days of substantiation. The most recent, endorsed case plan recorded on CRIS will automatically generate with recommendations and any update report. In the case of a protection application by emergency care, this initial case plan will often be developed with the family during an adjournment period, prior to the completion of the report.  

The author of a court report may be required to attend court to give evidence at the hearing of the proceeding to which the report is relevant. The child, a parent of the child, the Secretary or the Court, may give notice requiring the author to attend.

If the author of the report is a child protection practitioner or employed within the department, then a subpoena is not required to be issued, unless the practitioner is no longer employed by the department.

If the author of the report is from a community agency or service provider, then a subpoena should be issued to ensure the person's attendance at the proceeding.

However, all witnesses, including report authors should be given as much notice as possible of their required attendance at court.

Often the child protection practitioner may rely on reports prepared by community agencies or service providers that have not been court ordered. The practitioner may utilise the information in these reports when articulating risk of harm to the child. These reports may be from services such as drug and alcohol agencies, mental health services, a doctor, the Gatehouse Centre, Parenting Assessment and Skills Development Service (PASDS) or a foster care agency. During court proceedings, the legal representatives may request a copy of these reports, particularly if the practitioner's assessment is based on information obtained from the reports.

In relation to reports that have been commissioned by child protection, that is, requested and paid for by child protection, these become the property of the department and the practitioner can use these as deemed necessary. This includes distributing them to all parties for the purposes of a court hearing, if required.

In relation to reports from community agencies that have not been commissioned by child protection, that is the report may have been requested by child protection for the purposes of formulating a risk assessment and decision-making, however has not been paid for (for example progress report of a parent's drug and alcohol treatment, mental health treatment, forensic medical report or foster care placement report) the practitioner needs to ensure that the author of the report is advised that information contained within the report may be used for the purposes of a protection application.

In all cases involving infants under the age of two years where protective issues are present, the child protection practitioner must discuss SIDS risk factors with parents, strategies to reduce these risks and must record this information on CRIS. See advice SIDS and safe sleeping . The practitioner should note in the court report the presence of SIDS risk factors and the parents' response to these, as appropriate and relevant to the case.

Constraints

There are occasions when the child or family refuses, or is unable to be involved in the assessment, for example, when the child absconds, where a parent is unwell or where families create unreasonable barriers. Although the practitioner is responsible for attempting to engage the family, the practitioner cannot be accountable for the situations described above. In such circumstances, the practitioner will need to describe in the court report the attempts to engage the family and will need to complete the report as thoroughly as possible, outlining to the Court the constraints to the assessment. The practitioner is not compelled to make a recommendation if it is felt that the assessment has been so seriously constrained that a recommendation is not possible.

Early preparation of the report

The preparation and writing of court reports can be time-consuming. It is therefore important that the practitioner allows adequate time for the writing and re-reading of the report to ensure that all relevant information is presented in a clear, succinct and logical manner. Take time to plan the report, highlight the assessment and evidence, and present the evidence using subheadings and dot points to organise the content and make every sentence count, will benefit the child and family, as well as practitioner’s reputation.

It is good practice to allow sufficient time for a colleague to read and provide feedback on the report prior to providing it to a supervisor, for final review and sign off.

Practitioners are required to give the report to families three (3) days prior to the hearing. It is good practice to discuss the content of the report with the family prior to the court date. The value in the family reading the report prior to the court hearing is that it provides them an opportunity to correct any factual errors, ensures that they are aware of the protective concerns, assessment, case plan and recommended disposition. This allows the parents to process the information and to ask questions outside the court environment.

• Use of private information in court reports - advice
• Access to court reports - advice
• SIDS and safe sleeping - advice
• Forms and secure documents/Court
• Children's court clinic
• Case recording
• SAFER children framework guide
• Essential information categories

Here is what Stormy Daniels testified happened between her and Donald Trump

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Porn performer Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday in the hush money case against former President Trump, who looked on as she detailed their alleged sexual encounter and the payment she got to keep it quiet.

Prosecutors allege Trump paid Daniels to keep quiet about the allegations as he ran for president in 2016. Her testimony aired them very publicly as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee seeks to win the White House again.

Trump denies having sex with Daniels , and his lawyers unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial midway through her testimony.

It was a major spectacle in the first criminal trial of a former American president, now in its third week of testimony in Manhattan.

Here are some takeaways from Daniels’ testimony:

Who is Stormy Daniels?

The case centers on a $130,000 payment to Daniels from Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 campaign. Prosecutors say it was part of a scheme to illegally influence the campaign by burying negative stories about him.

Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump in occasionally graphic testimony

The porn actor’s testimony, even if sanitized and stripped of tell-all details, has been the most-awaited spectacle in Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

May 7, 2024

His lawyers have sought to show that Trump was trying to protect his reputation and family — not his campaign — by shielding them from embarrassing stories about his personal life.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, told jurors that she started exotic dancing in high school and appearing in adult films at age 23, eventually moving to direct more than 150 films and winning a roster of porn industry awards.

World & Nation

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April 21, 2024

Meeting Trump

Daniels testified she first met and chatted with Trump at a 2006 Lake Tahoe celebrity golf outing where her studio was a sponsor.

He referred to her as “the smart one” and asked her if she wanted to go to dinner, she said. Daniels testified that she accepted Trump’s invitation because she wanted to avoid dinner with her co-workers and thought it might help her career. Trump had his bodyguard get her number, she said.

When they met up later in his penthouse, she appreciated that he seemed interested in the business aspects of the industry rather than the “sexy stuff.” He also suggested putting her on his TV show, “The Apprentice,” a possibility she hoped could help establish her as a writer and director.

She left to use the bathroom and was startled to find Trump in his underwear when she returned, she said. She didn’t feel physically or verbally threatened but realized that he was “bigger and blocking the way,” she testified.

“The next thing I know was: I was on the bed,” and they were having sex, Daniels recalled. The encounter was brief but left her “shaking,” she said. “I just wanted to leave,” she testified.

Stormy Daniels alleges in new documentary that Donald Trump cornered her the night they met

‘I have not forgiven myself because I didn’t shut his a— down in that moment’ in 2006, the adult filmmaker says in ‘Stormy,’ premiering March 18 on Peacock.

March 7, 2024

Payments for silence

Daniels was asked if Trump ever told her to keep things between them confidential, and said, “Absolutely not.” She said she learned in 2011 that a magazine had learned the story of their encounter, and she agreed to do an interview for $15,000 to make money and “control the narrative.” The story never ran.

In 2016, when Trump was running for president, Daniels said she authorized her manager to shop the story around but did not initially receive interest from news outlets. She said that changed in October with the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump bragged about grabbing women sexually without asking permission . She said she learned that Cohen wanted to buy her silence.

Former tabloid publisher testifies about scheme to shield Trump from damaging stories

Trump is back in a New York courtroom as his hush money trial resumes. In D.C., the Supreme Court considers if he should be immune for actions while president.

April 25, 2024

Mistrial push

Midway through her testimony, Trump’s lawyers moved for a mistrial.

Defense lawyer Todd Blanche argued that Daniels’ testimony about the alleged encounter and other meetings with him had “nothing to do with this case,” and would unfairly prejudice the jury.

The judge rejected it, and he faulted defense attorneys for not raising more of their objections while she was testifying.

Before Daniels took the stand, Trump’s lawyers had tried to stop her from testifying about the encounter’s details, saying it was irrelevant in “a case about books and records.”

Prosecutors countered that Daniels’ testimony gets at what Trump was trying to hide and they were “very mindful” not to draw too much graphic detail. Before Daniels took the stand, they told the judge the testimony would be “really basic,” and would not “involve any details of genitalia.”

While the judge didn’t side with Trump’s lawyers, he acknowledged that some details were excessive. The objections could potentially be used by Trump’s lawyers if he is convicted and they file an appeal.

News analysis: Why Putin is raising the specter of nuclear weapons again

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May 6, 2024

Cross-examination

Trump’s lawyers tried to attack Daniels’ credibility, suggesting she was motivated by money and that her account has shifted over the years.

“Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” defense lawyer Susan Necheles asked Daniels at one point. Daniels acknowledged she did.

“And you want him to go to jail?” the lawyer asked.

“I want him to be held accountable,” Daniels said. Pressed again whether that meant going to jail, she said: “If he’s convicted.”

The defense pressed Daniels on the fact that she owes Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees stemming from an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit, and on a 2022 tweet in which she said she “will go to jail before I pay a penny.” Daniels dug in at times in the face of pointed questions, forcefully denying the idea that she had tried to extort money from Trump.

Trump whispered frequently to his attorney during Daniels’ testimony, and his expression seemed to be pained at one point as she recounted details about the dinner she says they shared. He shook his head and appeared to say something under his breath as Daniels testified that Trump told her he didn’t sleep in the same room as his wife.

On the way out of the courthouse, Trump called it “a very revealing day.” He didn’t address Daniels’ testimony explicitly but claimed the prosecutors’ case was “totally falling apart.”

With oil funds and Formula One, Saudi Arabia steamrolls its way onto sports’ hallowed grounds

Saudi Arabia’s oil riches have rocked soccer, golf, even esports, and the autocratic kingdom is expanding in Formula One car racing. What’s behind the push?

May 2, 2024

Jarring split screen

Trump’s appearance in court Tuesday, like all other days he’s stuck in the courtroom, means he can’t be out on the campaign trail as he runs for president a third time. It’s a frequent source of his complaints, but Daniels’ testimony in particular might underscore how much of a distraction the trial is from the business of running for president.

While Trump was stuck in a Manhattan courthouse away from voters and unable to speak for much of the day, President Biden was attending a Holocaust remembrance ceremony and condemning antisemitism .

It’s an issue Trump has sought to use against Biden in the campaign by seizing on the protests at college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war .

Associated Press writer Price reported from New York, Whitehurst from Washington. AP writers Michael Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Jake Offenhartz and Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this story.

More to Read

Abcarian: The porn star with a well-deserved place in American history

May 12, 2024

Trump trial turns to sex, bank accounts and power: Highlights from the third week of testimony

May 11, 2024

Commentary: Being a porn star doesn’t make Stormy Daniels a liar. Trump’s lawyer should have known that

May 10, 2024

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SEC Faces Bipartisan Plea to Revamp Tossed Stock Buyback Rule

By Andrew Ramonas

A bipartisan pair of senators on Wednesday urged the SEC to write a new rule requiring companies to report on their stock buybacks after a court killed the regulation last year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s vacated rule had directed companies to report why they bought back stock and to provide other share repurchase disclosures. Investors would benefit from SEC requirements for companies to share more information about their stock buybacks, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said in a letter to agency Chair Gary Gensler.

“For this reason, we urge you to promptly re-propose the rule,” Rubio ...

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Florida’s 6-week abortion ban could set up clash with shield law states

With Florida’s six-week abortion ban now in place, telehealth appointments with out-of-state physicians and mail-order abortion pills could play increasingly important roles in allowing women there to safely end their pregnancies . Advocates on both sides of the abortion debate agree that the practice is likely to be challenged in court, as red states assert their right to curtail abortion and blue states attempt to protect abortion providers.

Although Florida law prohibits telehealth appointments for abortion at any stage of pregnancy, women can still make virtual visits for medication abortions with physicians in other states where the procedure remains legal, said Rachel Rebouché, dean of the Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia.

Seven states — California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and Washington — have passed so-called shield laws to protect physicians who provide reproductive health care, regardless of where the patient is located, Rebouché said. Providers in some of those states serve patients across the country, including in states where abortion is restricted or outlawed.

A group called Aid Access already uses out-of-state physicians to provide abortion pills via telehealth to 9,500 women in the U.S. each month, including up to 800 per month in Florida, founder and executive director Dr. Rebecca Gomperts said.

Medication abortion — which involves a combination of the pills mifepristone and misoprostol — accounted for 63% of all pregnancy terminations in the U.S. in 2023, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion access.

And although the Food and Drug Administration has only allowed abortion pills to be prescribed through telehealth since 2020, 16% of all medication abortions now involve virtual visits or online appointments , says the Society of Family Planning, a research group that supports reproductive rights and abortion.  Its data is based on numbers submitted by abortion providers.

The convenience of telehealth abortions has likely fueled the recent increase in abortion , in spite of pregnancy termination being banned in 14 states and tightly restricted in five others, Rebouché said. There were more than 1 million abortions in 2023, the first full year after the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the constitutional right to abortion, a 10% increase since 2020 and a 12% increase since 2019, according to Guttmacher.

Opponents of abortion say out-of-state doctors have no right to undermine a state’s laws.

“States have a duty to protect their most vulnerable citizens and their families from harm,” said Erin Hawley, vice president of the Center for Life and Regulatory Practice with the Alliance Defending Freedom. “One state cannot intrude on another state’s efforts to protect the lives and health of its citizens, including the lives and health of unborn children and their families. Pro-abortion states that don’t recognize the basic principle that life is a human right cannot undermine the laws of other states simply because they don’t agree with them.”

A rise in medication abortion

Recognizing the growing popularity of medication abortion, opponents of abortion have been working to curb the use of abortion pills, including their distribution through the mail.

Anti-abortion rights doctors and groups sued the FDA in 2022 in the hope of restricting access to mifepristone. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case in March — Hawley argued on behalf of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the anti-abortion doctors and groups — and the justices are expected to issue a decision this summer. 

As more states restrict abortion, telehealth appointments with out-of-state doctors are likely to become more popular, said Dr. Abigail Aiken, an associate professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. In the first week after Texas passed its six-week abortion ban in 2021, the average number of requests for medication abortion to Aid Access increased from 11 per day to 138 per day .

For many women seeking an abortion, telehealth appointments are more convenient and less expensive than traveling to another state. Abortion is severely limited across the South, and the closest state to Florida with abortion access beyond six weeks is North Carolina, where it is allowed through 12 weeks and six days of pregnancy.

Until last week, Florida had one of the most permissive abortion laws in the South, allowing abortion through 15 weeks of pregnancy. Women throughout the Southeast have traveled to Florida for abortion care. In the first six months of last year, 13% of people undergoing abortions in Florida were from other states , according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Now, the closest abortion providers for women in many Southern states will be in Illinois, said Michelle Colón, executive director of SHERo Mississippi, which helps women access reproductive health care. Women with low incomes may not be able to afford the trip, she said.

Florida women who travel out of state for abortion can expect to pay more than $2,000 in medical costs, as well as travel and child care expenses, said Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, an OB-GYN and founder of Three for Freedom , an online hub that helps people learn how to access mail-order birth control, morning-after pills and abortion pills.

About 84,000 women had abortions in Florida last year, accounting for about 1 in every 12 abortions in the country. Even with telehealth, out-of-state abortion providers will be hard-pressed to serve that many additional patients, she said.

“We can’t just pretend that 84,000 patients are going to be able to be easily absorbed into other clinics across the country,” Lincoln said. “Those who can’t travel or who can’t access pills will be forced to give birth or may resort to unsafe methods of pregnancy termination.”

A legal clash

Florida physicians who violate the state’s abortion law — which includes exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking up to 15 weeks of pregnancy, as well as later in the pregnancy to save the life of the mother — can be jailed for up to five years.

If an out-of-state doctor were to prescribe abortion pills for a Florida patient, Florida’s attorney general could ask law enforcement in the state where the doctor practices to extradite the provider for prosecution or for help with a civil or criminal investigation, Rebouché said.

Prosecuting doctors in states with shield laws could prove more difficult. Although its attorney general could still charge an out-of-state doctor with breaking the law, Florida would not be able to bring the doctor to trial if it does not have jurisdiction over that provider, Rebouché said. States with shield laws have vowed not to extradite doctors who perform abortions, as long as they are not fleeing from a state where the practice is banned. A doctor who resides in a state with a shield law would not be considered a fugitive, even if prosecutors in another state try to charge him or her with breaking their state’s abortion law, she said.

That’s a huge change from the way states normally operate, she said. State law enforcement agencies typically cooperate with one another, agreeing to extradite accused criminals to other states for trial. A state like Florida could end up suing a shield state for interfering with its laws, she said, though courts have not yet considered a challenge to any state’s abortion shield law.

The Florida attorney general’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Doctors who provide telehealth services are usually only allowed to treat patients in the same state, said Harry Nelson, a Los Angeles attorney who specializes in health law.

In March, attorneys general from 16 conservative states, including Florida, wrote to Maine officials to protest against that state’s shield law, which was passed in April and which protects both providers of abortion, as well gender-affirming care . The letter, which focused on gender-affirming care and doesn’t mention abortion, claims that Maine’s shield law violates the Constitution’s full faith and credit clause, which requires that state courts respect the laws and judgments of courts from other states.

“The federal Constitution, in short, precludes Maine’s novel effort at state-sanctioned culture war litigation tourism,” they wrote.

Because abortion shield laws are new and have never been tested in court, no one can say how judges will rule, Rebouché said. A conflict between states could wind up, like so many abortion disputes, back in front of the Supreme Court.

“We are opening up a can of worms if states are going to pick and choose which of their neighbors’ laws to respect,” said Kristi Hamrick, vice president of Students for Life Action, a major anti-abortion group. “The attempt by some states to create a little safe haven for abortion will not be successful. I think we will end up in court.”

Florida voters will have a chance to weigh in this November, when a constitutional amendment to protect abortion access will be on the ballot.

Liz Szabo is an independent health and science journalist. Her work has won multiple national awards. One of her investigations led to a new state law in Virginia.

Virginia Assistant Commissioner, Records Relating to Court Cases, Narrative Reports of Criminal Cases, Jan. 1868–Jan. 1869, Part 3

About the project.

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, often referred to as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was established on March 3, 1865. The duties of the Freedmen’s Bureau included supervision of all affairs relating to refugees, freedmen, and the custody of abandoned lands and property. These documents come from the Records of the Assistant Commissioner for the State of Virginia, Series 10: Records Relating to Court Cases Involving Freedmen.

Additional resources are available on the  Freedmen's Bureau Instructions Page . Please help us transcribe these records to learn more about the lives of formerly enslaved men and women during the Reconstruction Era.

The records of the Assistant Commissioner contain three series of records relating to court cases involving freedmen: (1) narrative reports of criminal cases involving freedmen, March 31, 1866–January 31, 1869, arranged chronologically, dealing with cases in which State authorities assumed jurisdiction (some records display the number "10" indicating that they were made in response to instructions in circular 10, March 12, 1866, issued by the Assistant Commissioner's Office to monitor the quality of justice given to freedmen by civil authorities); (2) narrative monthly and weekly reports of proceedings in the freedmen's courts, December 2, 1865–July 30, 1867, arranged chronologically, summarizing cases and legal business conducted in the freedmen's courts in various counties in Virginia; and (3) monthly reports submitted by the assistant superintendents of the districts listing civilians chosen by the citizens of various counties to serve in the freedmen's courts, December 1865–February 1866, and arranged chronologically.

About Project Difficulty

Level 1 - beginner.

Content: all typed Language: English Format: letters, diaries, flyers, pamphlets, and one-page documents Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: none required

Content: mostly typed, handwritten in print, or otherwise very clearly written/readable Language: English Format: memorabilia, advertisements, image captions, telegrams, diaries, letters, notes Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: none required

Level 3 - INTERMEDIATE

Content: typed and handwritten materials in cursive or print Language: English Format: newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, letters/diaries/notes that may include annotations or margin notes Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: experience reading cursive writing may be useful

Content: handwritten materials, primarily in cursive or somewhat difficult to read (predominantly from the 19th and 20th centuries) , audio recordings that are relatively easy to hear/decipher, and scientific materials Language: English and/or other languages that use Roman script but may require the use of diacritics (French, Spanish, German, Italian, etc.) Format: audio recordings, letters, diaries, notes and other written materials, projects with templated fields and special instructions Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: some knowledge of non-English Roman-character/script languages and diacritics may be useful, as well as experience reading cursive handwriting. A general knowledge or familiarity with scientific terminology.

Level 5 - ADVANCED

Content: handwritten materials in cursive (from the 19th century or earlier) or in a non-Roman script language, audio recordings that are difficult to hear or are not in English, specialty materials/projects such as numismatics projects and the Project Phaedra notebooks Language: foreign languages that use non-Roman characters (Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Greek/Cyrillic, Native American and Indigenous languages, etc.) and English Format: audio recordings, columned data/tables, manuscripts, letters, diaries, notes, currency sheets, coins Subject Area Expertise/Special Skills: knowledge of a specific language and access to a keyboard with the characters in that language may be required for certain projects. Experience reading cursive handwriting and familiarity with 19th century (or prior) handwriting and conventions/abbreviations may be useful, as well as knowledge of scientific terminology, astrophysics data, or linguistics.

Contributing members

Total pages