A few times in my practice, I have had a client claim that a hearing was improperly transcribed. In all but one of those cases, the client was right. But it took a Herculean effort to find out, because court reporters are generally very protective of the audiorecordings. Only on one occasion have I had a court reporter send me the audio from a hearing; in every other case I have had to obtain a court order for access, and I have had to travel to the county and listen to the audiorecording under supervision. I have also been wholly denied access to the audiorecording.

So I am happy to see that the Supreme Court of Indiana has amended the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure to require court reporters to release copies of the audiorecordings of hearings when requested. This will be beneficial for two reasons. First, there are times when an attorney does not need a transcript; she only needs to listen quickly to see what happened at a hearing. This rule change will save both time and money in those situations. Second, with a clear directive to release the audiorecording, parties should not need to get a court order to gain access.

The amended rule can be found here.