Rule 18.Preserving a Recording of a Court Proceeding

Rule 18 is two subsections about who holds the recording and who turns it into a transcript.

The recording is a court record

The official verbatim recording of any court proceeding is an official record of the court. That single sentence is what makes the rest follow: it is not the reporter's property or the parties'.

The original must be kept by the person who recorded it, a court-designated custodian, or the clerk, in a place the court designates. It is retained according to the records retention and disposition schedules adopted by the Supreme Court, unless the court specifies a different retention period — so a case where the recording matters unusually much can carry its own schedule.

First refusal on transcription

If a certified reporter's verbatim recording will be transcribed, the certified reporter who made the recording must be given the first opportunity to transcribe it. The exception is narrow: unless that reporter no longer serves in the position or is unavailable for any other reason.

The reason is accuracy rather than priority of work — the person who was in the room, who heard the voices and knows the names, is best placed to render them correctly.

Rule 12(c) is the related provision on the other side: an in camera child interview must be recorded, either by a certified reporter or through a retrievable and perceivable electronic medium, and any interview conducted by a judicial officer must be recorded regardless of what the parties agree.