For most of my career I litigated in courtrooms populated by a judge, two litigants, two lawyers and a person dubbed the “court reporter” or “stenographer.” That person’s job was to record on paper the circus that hearings can become and to do it accurately so that an appellate court could effectively “review” whether the proceeding was complete and fair.
Circa 2000, Delaware County (outside Philadelphia) elected to record trials electronically using microphones and a …