Maryland Transcript Format: "Not Even a Judge" Can Change the Record
The strongest statement of reporter independence in any state manual
Most format manuals are a list of columns and margins. Maryland's opens by telling you whose record it is:
"A transcript is to be a verbatim record of a proceeding. No one, not even a judge, should interfere with or cause alteration of the true record as recorded/reported by the official reporter/transcriptionist. Any deviation in a transcript or certified record hinders appellate review." Court Reporting Manual, § I, Scope of Transcript
That isn't a throwaway line. The manual returns to it later and turns it into an operating instruction, in the section on stricken testimony:
"Stricken testimony is transcribed in the same manner as other testimony. Even though a judge might direct a reporter to 'strike that last answer' and the jury 'to disregard what the witness said,' the reporter/transcriber transcribes the entire proceeding exactly as it took place. An appellate court needs to know what was said — even if stricken.
Counsel's request to 'strike that' — i.e., a mis-start — should not be accommodated. An official reporter/transcriptionist should not be editing dialogue in a proceeding, regardless of how 'innocent' the editing seems. An official reporter/transcriptionist is not, even on the order of a judge, to strike from the record that which actually took place." § VIII.G, Stricken Testimony
Two distinct things are being addressed there, and it's worth separating them. The first is the formal order to strike, where the ruling is that the stricken words and the ruling both stay on the page — New Jersey reaches the same result by a shorter route. The second is quieter and more common: an attorney who says "strike that" mid-sentence because they misspoke, expecting the reporter to tidy it away. Maryland says no, and names the temptation exactly — "regardless of how 'innocent' the editing seems."
Maryland's vocabulary assumes a recording
The manual covers "court reporting, electronic recording, and transcription work for the Maryland Judiciary," and its defined terms are unusually revealing about which of those it treats as the baseline:
| Term | Maryland's definition |
|---|---|
| Transcriber | "An individual who prepares a transcript of a proceeding from an audiotape, digital recording, videotape, or other means, and who certifies the transcript." |
| Transcript | "The verbatim record of an oral proceeding that is prepared and certified by a transcriber and serves as the official record of that proceeding." |
| Transcription Services | "A vendor, employee, or contractor who transcribes the verbatim record of court or on-the-record chambers proceedings, or portions thereof, from audio or video files." |
| Realtime Reporter | "A court reporter, using CAT (computer-aided transcription) software, who converts the spoken word into English text instantly into a feed…" |
Read the middle row again. The transcript — the thing that "serves as the official record of that proceeding" — is defined as the product of a transcriber, and a transcriber is defined as someone working from a recording. Florida's rules famously permit digital reporting and define it as one method among several. Maryland doesn't frame it as an alternative at all; the recording-to-transcript route is simply what the words mean.
One honest qualification: this is a point about vocabulary, not exclusivity. The manual also describes stenographic reporters — one duty statement has reporters "accurately take stenographic notes and/or records all proceedings" — and defines realtime CAT reporting alongside. Maryland uses both methods. What's distinctive is that its default definitions don't treat working from a recording as the exception.
The page
| Item | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Page size | 8½ × 11 inches |
| Type | 10 characters to the inch |
| Margins | 1.5 inches left, 0.5 inch right — the right margin set so "page numbers are not obscured when a two-sided copy of a transcript is bound" |
| Characters per line | ≈65 (a 6.5-inch block at 10 cpi) |
| Lines per page | "No fewer than 25" — a minimum, not a fixed count |
| Spacing | Double-spaced, with "no unnecessary blank lines on a page" |
| Line numbers | Every line numbered, and "aligned with the text so that no text appears in between line numbers" |
| Volumes | One per trial day, bound separately, numbered in Roman numerals and designated "VOLUME I of II" style; each new volume starts at page 1 |
Note the "no fewer than 25 lines" phrasing. Most states in this library fix the count — New Jersey and Michigan mean 25 exactly — where Maryland sets a floor. And the little justification attached to the right margin is a reminder that these manuals were written for paper: half an inch, so the page numbers survive binding.
Indentation
| Element | Where it begins |
|---|---|
| "Q" or "A" designation | 5 spaces from the left margin |
| The text of the Q or A | 5 spaces further — the 11th space |
| Colloquy | 10 spaces from the margin — the 11th space |
| Carry-over lines (Q, A and colloquy) | Return to the left margin |
| New paragraph of a quotation | 10 spaces; carry-over at 5 |
| New paragraph of parenthetical material | 11th space; carry-over at the 6th |
| Examination designations | Centered on the page |
| Exhibit references | "set apart from the testimony in parentheses on the right side of a page" |
That last row is unique among the states we've researched — every other manual places parentheticals somewhere on the left-hand scale. Maryland floats exhibit references to the right edge, where they read as marginalia rather than as part of the testimony.
Inaudible is not unintelligible
Every transcript eventually needs a marker for something the reporter could not render. Maryland is the only manual in this library that insists the marker distinguish why:
"A transcript is to signal omission of parts of a proceeding and give a brief explanation of the omission. The explanation should distinguish between no sound ('inaudible') and sound that cannot be understood ('unintelligible')." § VIII.D, Omissions
The distinction is real and it matters on review. "Inaudible" says the microphone caught nothing — there may have been words, and they are gone. "Unintelligible" says there was sound, the reporter heard it, and it could not be resolved into words. An appellate court reading the first knows the record has a hole; reading the second, it knows someone spoke and what was lost was clarity, not the event.
Where testimony is left out by agreement rather than by accident, that gets its own notation too: (Testimony of (Witness(es)' Names) omitted from transcript by agreement of Counsel.)
Parentheticals as appellate evidence
Maryland explains why parentheticals exist better than any other manual we've read, and the explanation shapes how they should be written:
"A parenthetical expression is a verbal cue to place the transcribed words in a proper context. As such, a parenthetical expression often provides information critical for appellate review. Thus, the issue on appeal may be whether a defendant is present at the bench during voir dire of prospective jurors and, if not, whether the defendant personally waived the right to be present. Similarly, notation that a jury has entered or exited from a courtroom would allow an appellate court to determine whether the jury was present when an outburst from a spectator occurred in the courtroom…" § VIII.A, General
Hence the constraint that follows: the description must be "a brief, factual notation and not an interpretation." Event parentheticals start with the time. Jurors who are impaneled are identified by juror number only. And non-verbal answers get a small standard vocabulary — (No audible response.), (No response.), (Witness shaking head [side to side].), (Witness nodding head [up and down].) — with the manual noting realistically that although counsel should follow up a nod with a question, "more often than not… counsel accepts a nod for a 'yes' and proceeds."
What counts as colloquy
Maryland's definitions here settle two questions reporters ask often. Colloquy is "conversation between anyone other than a witness and examining attorney," the judge is always THE COURT, and attorneys go by name. Then two rules that surprise people:
- "Whenever jurors are speaking or being spoken to, the format is colloquy." Voir dire answers are not Q and A.
- "If a witness answers a question during colloquy, the response is colloquy." The witness doesn't drag the format back to Q and A by speaking.
Q and A is reserved for a sworn witness with an examining attorney — "Whenever a witness is sworn, the questioning is set up as Q and A. Q and A must be a sequence."
Title page, confidentiality, and a certificate in blue
Party names are capitalized in full on the title page. Two categories of case restrict what may be named at all: juvenile matters, under CJ 3-827 and CJ 3-8A-27, and grand-jury investigations, where the record is not to disclose the name of the person under investigation in any document about the appeal generally available to the public. The manual's own examples are stark — write "John S." not "John Smith," and "In re investigation no. ___" not "In re investigation of John Smith."
Every transcript, and every volume that begins a new day, carries a table of contents page "even if there are no exhibits or witnesses." And the last page of every transcript is a separate certificate page signifying that the transcript is complete and accurate — with one instruction that dates the document in the best way: "If paper transcript, sign the certificate page in blue ink."
Primary sources
- Maryland Judiciary — Court Reporting Manual (revision dated 01/25/2023 in the document footer). All quotations above are verbatim from this manual: the defined-terms table and §§ I–X of the transcript-format sections.
- Maryland Courts & Judicial Proceedings §§ 3-827 and 3-8A-27 are cited by the manual itself for juvenile confidentiality restrictions.
- Cross-state comparisons come from each state's own authority, cited in the linked guides.
Common questions
What are the margins for a Maryland transcript?
1.5 inches on the left and 0.5 inch on the right, at 10 characters per inch — a 6.5-inch writing block, roughly 65 characters per line, with no fewer than 25 double-spaced numbered lines per page.
Can a judge order testimony struck from a Maryland transcript?
A judge can strike testimony as a matter of evidence, and that ruling is transcribed — but the words stay on the page. The manual is explicit that the reporter is "not, even on the order of a judge, to strike from the record that which actually took place," because an appellate court needs to know what was said.
What's the difference between "inaudible" and "unintelligible"?
Maryland asks reporters to distinguish no sound at all ("inaudible") from sound that was heard but could not be understood ("unintelligible"). It's the only manual in our library that requires the distinction.
Are voir dire answers Q and A or colloquy?
Colloquy. "Whenever jurors are speaking or being spoken to, the format is colloquy" — and a witness who answers a question during colloquy stays in colloquy format too.
Does Maryland recognize transcripts prepared from a recording?
Yes — its defined terms are built around it. A "transcript" is "prepared and certified by a transcriber," and a "transcriber" is "an individual who prepares a transcript of a proceeding from an audiotape, digital recording, videotape, or other means." The manual covers stenographic and realtime reporting as well.
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