We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years!
As court reporters, we’ve handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps. This has done a lot of damage to our industry. It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued. We’ve become a replaceable commodity.
Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives. Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that! We are the Responsible Charge. “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.
This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more. In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.”
If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: “A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.”
Shared purpose
The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator.
In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.” That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone. Who we are is the Responsible Charge. How we do that is by Protecting the Record.
Published by stenoimperium
We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years!
As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps. This has done a lot of damage to our industry. It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued. We've become a replaceable commodity.
Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives. Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that! We are the Responsible Charge. “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.
This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more. In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.”
If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.”
Shared purpose
The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator.
In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.” That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone. Who we are is the Responsible Charge. How we do that is by Protecting the Record.
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STENOIMPERIUM 
I worked for Veritext for ten years. They recruited me because I had big clients that they could not get in to see. No one would give them the time of day. I am a freelance court reporter. I joined Veritext in 2011 to bring one huge firm over and one firm they never heard of.
I am supposed to get 10% commission on all of the firm they never heard of and by 2012 the big firm but “only the attorneys that personally contacted me.”
I get my commissions. Ironically, I do not get the same work, I found out, as my peers with no million dollar clients let alone now TWO. That no name firm became huge. In 2017, a VP at Veritext Jeff Tobias decided he wanted that client now. And unbeknownst to me he took it. No one said anything to me. I start asking for my commissions and they just say that I get them tired of me always bothering them.
By the way, I went thru a very bad divorce and I told Veritext NY that I am 65 I cannot retire because I lost a lot of money in my divorce. They gave me less work. You know why? Because Tom Esposito from Merrill got fired there and came to work at Veritext as the regional Vice President. I worked at Merrill for a short period of time. My clients came over with me when I left Veritext. Frank Viola of Veritext called me and asked me to come back because my clients stopped calling them. That is when I go back in 2013 for good. I have my agreement in writing of the terms. The VP in 2015 got fired (the one who wrote out my terms) because he got caught trying to steal my clients.
Tom was paying off the people that I worked with to sneak him into my big clients’ offices in New York. So in 2020 during COVID Tiffany Stroman with no title sent Tom Esposito as technical support to my clients’ offices. Tom is not technical support. Tom Esposito is head of Sales. Tiffany in 2021 who I know for ten years became the Director of the department. When I am working with my clients that”personally contact me” that is who Tom had to call on because he does not know anyone from my firm. I have that in an email when I worked at Merrill he and his boss say they do not know my clients and have never done work with them before and so now I can get commission there. Btw, Veritext bought Merrill around that time. Around 2015-ish. I cannot keep up because they are always buying and selling the same companies all the time.
I digress. So in 2020 the sales rep is sitting in on all of my cases now. I am thinking he is tech support all this time, Raj.
Then when they get to know Raj really well, Raj tells my clients to contact him next time to set up remote, blah, blah, blah. So I stop hearing from my clients of 25 years. I do not realize this because I am more concerned with my daily jobs. Now Veritext wants me gone. Tom wants all the credit and all the commission from my client. The people that helped him have all new titles with raises now. I am getting terrible work on purpose and if I complain I am docked two weeks at a time with no pay and no work. AnnMarie Fiore in 2021 is in charge of the calendar. She is now Partner. I know her almost 30 years. She gave me jobs that were at $4.25 a page and my peers that had no million dollar clients let alone now TWO jobs at $15.00 a page. I did not know any of this when I worked there. Then in October of 2022 my boss that tried to hire me three different times and did hire me in 2012 became the Manager in Charge of Sales working directly for – you got it – Tom Esposito, the RVP. I got booted out in November 1, 2022. My portal was disabled immediately. Btw, Veritext moved right next door to my clients in the most expensive real estate in NYC. They have a 10,000 square foot space at $80.00 a square foot paying $800,000 a month rent! Me? I am Blacklisted all over NYS and out of NYS. I hire an attorney. She sends a demand letter to Richard Antonick, the CFO/President of Veritext. A lawyer by the name of Judith Kunreuther of Veritext contacts my attorney and wants to meet. She asks if she can bring her “RVP” and my counsel said yes. They meet up. Ms. Kunreuther informs my counsel that Veritext already paid me all of my commissions. I am not owed anything else.
What has been going on since, I do not have counsel representing me. I am destitute. I cannot pay my mortgage. I was able to pay my mortgage up to September because I sold all of my jewelry. I cannot come up with any more money now. I am Blacklisted everywhere. I do get some inquiries but then I do not hear from them again. I have written to Judith Kunreuther several times to tell her that I am destitute, I am traumatized, I send her all my emails showing that these were my clients and no one else’s. And I say to her, “If you acknowledge that you paid me my commissions, which you have not, then you acknowledge that they were my clients. So how come they are Tom’s clients now and I am out of a job?” On this email I believe I had all the cast of characters listed on this email. Ms. Kunreuther directed everyone to block me. And they did. I still write to her to give her an update of my pitiful life thanks to Veritext but I am permanently blocked so I have to disguise my emails address in order for her to see it.
They thought that I would bullied and I would run away. I am not a coward like all of them who only have power like a rat pack. My clients do not speak to me anymore after 27 years. I had a great reputation, I was in demand, and I had great clients. Now I am counting quarters to go to the grocery store to buy food. Veritext knows it. I tell them. But I am not going ANYWHERE. I cannot seem to get a lawyer either. Once they look up my case I never hear from them again. I do not know what that means but I know it is not good.
I have been going on Indeed. All I see is digital reporters. That is ALL Veritext is asking for.
I cannot get work anywhere and court reporters are in huge demand except for me. I have no idea what is being said there either but we know it is not good.
I am calling my mortgage company to tell them I cannot pay my mortgage for the first time in 19 years, I have to call all the monthly companies to tell them that I cannot pay anything. I have a negative balance in my business checking account and I my personal checking account. I am 66 years old and I have no medical because I cannot afford to pay my quarterly amount for Medicare so if anything happens to me, we’ll…
I tell Ms. Kunreuther all about my exciting life but she has no problem still blocking me. I wrote to Mr. Antoneck but I am permanently blocked from him. I have written to Tom Esposito and Jeff Tobias all in one email but I am dead to them. I think they are hoping that I kill myself or move away or disappear. But they pissed me off so much that I am not going anywhere. I want the universe to know what scum they are and will even go to the extent to put a life in danger for greed. Now that is a new level for any corporation. This is what happens when a court reporter enters into any agreement with Veritext. They are the lowest of the lowest. I thought I would shed some more light on this awful company. They all might dress well, not all, and wear very expensive designer clothing but they are the scum of the earth. Oh, gotta go. The banks are starting to call me. One more thing: Tom Esposito paid everybody and their mother to not have to pay me and acknowledge they were my clients, maybe Veritext is paying off attorneys to not contact me, who knows. But something is going on and so I thought I would spread the gospel around about what a lovely company Veritext is.
Also- I am asking for them to pay for all of my monthly payments to date, my mortgage payments, the loans I had to take out, my commission of course that I was asking for until 2021, and the pain and suffering that I have had to endure because I believed Veritext would take care of me and keep their word. BTW, I did get retaliated against by USLegal and LEXITAS where Tom’s old boss works now.
I hope this helps you see who you are dealing with and the extent to which they will go to steal and take what they know is not theirs and kill off anyone who gets in their way.
My best regards,
Amy Klein Campion
Amy Klein, Inc.
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