A Storm Behind the Skyline: Why Is ILCRA Partnering with Steno in the City?

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As the Illinois Court Reporters Association (ILCRA) prepares for its much-anticipated Summer Kickoff Cocktail Party on June 20, 2025, many in the court reporting community are raising serious questions—not about the event itself, but about its co-host: Shaunise Day and her brand, Steno in the City.

At first glance, the collaboration may seem like a vibrant show of professional unity. But beneath the glittering promise of cocktails and camaraderie atop the Willis Tower lies a growing unease, fueled by a barrage of allegations and controversies tied to Day and her ventures.

Mounting Accusations: A Recap of the Concerns

A series of articles published by StenoImperium—a watchdog platform focused on ethics in court reporting—have outlined a deeply troubling pattern of alleged misconduct. These include:

  • Violations of state volunteer and solicitation laws, specifically in California and Louisiana.
  • Improper use of volunteers, allegedly circumventing labor laws for the benefit of private LLCs.
  • Ethical breaches, including operating under the guise of educational support while running a for-profit enterprise.
  • Accusations of organized retaliation against critics and whistleblowers.
  • Alleged involvement in racketeering-like behavior, including concerns about business registration, raffles, gambling, tax evasion, and misuse of funds.
  • Cease-and-desist tactics issued by unlicensed or improperly represented legal entities.
  • Claims that whistleblowers have been threatened, harassed, and stalked for raising red flags.
  • Use of influencer manipulation tactics to whitewash or deflect criticism from legitimate professional concerns.

These allegations—spanning from early 2024 to mid-2025—paint a deeply concerning portrait of an organization that appears to operate in contradiction to the ethical standards expected in the stenographic community.

The Professional Cost of Ignoring Red Flags

It’s one thing to innovate within the profession. It’s another to do so at the apparent expense of legality, transparency, and respect for both the workforce and the law. The continued silence or complicity of major organizations in the face of these red flags is causing fractures within the community.

By continuing to partner with individuals and organizations under serious ethical scrutiny, professional bodies may be damaging their own reputations, alienating long-standing members, and setting a dangerous precedent for future collaborations.

Why the Silence?

ILCRA has not publicly responded to these allegations, and the decision to partner with Day for a flagship event suggests either a lack of awareness or a conscious choice to overlook these issues. If it’s the former, transparency and due diligence must be urgently revisited. If it’s the latter, the question becomes more pressing:

Why would any self-respecting court reporter or court reporting organization partner with someone facing this level of controversy?

Court reporters uphold the integrity of the legal record. They are guardians of truth, accuracy, and ethics. If those values are not reflected in our leadership and collaborations, then what message are we sending to the next generation of reporters—or to the public at large?

It’s not about cancel culture or personal grudges. It’s about integrity, accountability, and the credibility of a profession that depends on trust.

(** “This site does not claim to be affiliated with Steno In The City. My usage is strictly nominative and journalistic. I was unaware of any active federal registration as no ® symbol or trademark notice appears on the SITC brand’s website.”)

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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