New Jersey Transcript Format: The 55-Character Page, Explained
One document, and it applies to whoever prepares the transcript
New Jersey's format lives in a single publication of the Administrative Office of the Courts, Transcript Format for Judicial Proceedings. There's no myth to bust here of the kind California has — the statewide document really is the rule, and it says who it binds and what happens if you ignore it:
"The format must be followed by all court transcribers, typists and others who prepare transcripts of judicial proceedings. Failure to follow this format will delay appellate review, significantly increase costs to litigants and the public, and may result in disciplinary action against the preparer." Transcript Format for Judicial Proceedings, § A
Note who is addressed: "court transcribers, typists and others who prepare transcripts." The document is written around the act of preparing a transcript rather than around one method of capturing the record — a framing that matters in a state where a great deal of the record is recorded and later transcribed.
The page: 55 characters, and that's not a floor
Most states set a minimum line length and let the reporter's template settle the rest. New Jersey states a count:
"The letter and numeral character size is to be 10 characters to the inch. Each line of the transcript must contain 55 typed characters, except in the instance when a word would extend beyond the right margin and wraps to the first word on the next line." § B.2
At 10 characters per inch that's a writing block of at least 6.5 inches, which the rules also state directly. In practice this makes the New Jersey page the narrowest in the country among the states with published specs:
| Jurisdiction | Characters per line | Nature of the rule |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | 55 | Fixed count |
| Florida · California | 56 | Minimum |
| Texas | 56–63 | Range |
| New York · Federal | ≈63 | From a fixed writing block |
| Michigan | ≈67 | From statutory margins |
The rest of the page requirements are equally concrete: 8½ × 11 paper of at least 13-pound weight, white, black ink, "of good quality and opaque." Preprinted solid left and right vertical marginal lines are required — a ruled margin, the same idea New York uses, and something almost no other state asks for. Horizontal top and bottom rules were dropped from full-page transcripts because of electronic filing, but they are still required on compressed pages. Even printers get a rule: laser or ink jet preferred, and a dot-matrix printer must have a 24-pin head, because "a nine pin printer is not acceptable for transcript production."
25 lines of text per page, with the last page allowed to run short, and headings, notations and page numbers expressly excluded from the count. Page numbers sit at the top right, above the top marginal line. The index page follows the title page and starts at page 2 — and both the title and index pages count toward the billable total. A single day's proceedings running past 200 sheets requires a second volume, whose title page is numbered 201.
The indentation stair-step
New Jersey's indentation is more intricate than most, because the label and the text it introduces get different columns, and the two of them differ between questions and answers:
| Element | Where it begins |
|---|---|
| Colloquy speaker identification | 11th space, followed by a colon |
| The colloquy statement itself | 3rd space after the colon |
| "Q" designation | 6th space |
| "Q" statement | 11th space |
| "A" designation | Left marginal line |
| "A" statement | 6th space |
| Every subsequent line of a Q, an A, or a colloquy | Left marginal line — no hanging indent |
| New paragraphs | 6th space |
| Quoted material read in court | 11th space, with an opening quotation mark |
| A deposition read at trial | Normal Q and A indentation, each question-and-answer paragraph bound by quotation marks |
Two consequences worth internalizing. First, wraps return to the margin — New Jersey does not use the hanging indent that many CAT templates apply by default, so a transcript prepared on an out-of-state template will be wrong on every wrapped line. Second, that 6th-space paragraph indent is the shallowest of any state with a written rule — Michigan, New York, Texas and Wisconsin all use the fifteenth space. If you work across state lines, that difference is easy to carry in the wrong direction. (For what triggers a new paragraph in the first place, see our guide on paragraphing long testimony — every state fixes the column, none requires the break.)
The rules also settle a question reporters ask constantly: when the judge asks something, is it a Q or a colloquy? New Jersey draws the line at scale. Extensive examination by the judge takes BY THE COURT: and the Q and A format, with the judge given the "Q." But "the colloquy format is used when the judge interjects a question during an attorney's examination." Similarly, when an examining attorney turns and addresses someone other than the witness, the attorney gets a name label rather than a "Q."
Strict verbatim, by rule
This is where New Jersey departs most sharply from federal practice. The federal transcript policy permits a reporter to leave out false starts and stutters in the interest of readability. New Jersey does the opposite:
"The transcript must provide an accurate record of words spoken in the course of the proceedings. All grammatical errors, changes of thought, answers, contractions, mis-statements and poorly constructed sentences are transcribed as spoken." § L.2, "Editing of speech"
The document's own illustration keeps both a contraction written as 'cause and the non-standard "seen where I was living." A reporter who tidies grammar in New Jersey is not polishing — they are departing from the rule. One honest limit: the section addresses errors, contractions and changes of thought, and does not separately speak to standalone hesitation sounds like "uh" and "um." That silence is the same one most states leave, and we cover what the certified record actually does in the uh and um guide.
Interruptions get the same mark used across the certified record — two dashes with a space before, and a space on both sides when a speaker changes direction mid-sentence:
15 Q. Why did you -- 16 THE COURT: Pardon me, Counsel, for interrupting 17 you but I would like to ask the witness one question. 25 Q. Did you know -- where did you say you lived?
That's the same spaced double dash documented in our guide to repeated words and stutters, here stated as a rule by a state authority.
What a New Jersey transcript leaves out — and what it can never leave out
Two content rules pull in opposite directions, and both catch people out.
Nothing is ever removed for being struck. An order striking testimony does not remove it from the transcript; the stricken words and the order to strike both stay on the page. The transcript is a record of what happened, and what happened includes the objection.
But a standard trial transcript is missing material other states include as a matter of course:
"The transcript shall not, however, include opening and closing statements to the jury by counsel, voir dire examinations or legal arguments by counsel during jury voir dire. If a question with respect to these portions of a proceeding is raised on appeal, the appellant must specifically order that these portions be transcribed." § L
That is a content rule rather than a formatting one, and it's the single most practically important line in the document for anyone ordering or preparing a New Jersey appellate record. If openings, closings or voir dire matter to the appeal, they must be ordered specifically.
Verdicts follow a similar economy: when a jury's verdict is unanimous, the poll is summarized in a parenthetical rather than recorded juror by juror. When it isn't unanimous, the poll is set out.
Certification — including a form built for recordings
The certification goes on the last page of the transcript where there's room, and if it needs a page of its own, that page isn't charged for. It must be the certification of the person who actually prepared the transcript — the rules say so expressly, "and not the head of the agency which may employ the court reporter or transcriber."
New Jersey then supplies two distinct forms. The first is for a Certified Court Reporter, naming their C.S.R. licence number. The second is the one worth knowing about:
"I, ____________, the assigned transcriber, do hereby certify the foregoing transcript of proceedings on tape number ______, index number from ______ to ______, is prepared in full compliance with the current Transcript Format for Judicial Proceedings…" § P.2, "Transcriber"
A certification organised around a tape number and an index range is a form written for someone transcribing a recording, and New Jersey publishes it beside the stenographic one rather than treating it as an exception. Each form has compressed and non-compressed variants, plus versions for a transcript typed by more than one person on the same date. Who gets assigned to any particular proceeding is governed by other court rules, not by this document — but the format itself plainly contemplates both routes to a transcript.
Compressed transcripts are regulated too
Two-up condensed transcripts get their own section rather than being left to the software. Each sheet carries two standard pages, the first on top; ruled top and bottom margins come back for compressed pages; each compressed image still carries its own 25 numbered lines. And the billing rule is the one to remember: a compressed transcript is billed on the total non-compressed page count, at the standard daily, expedited or regular rate. Condensing saves paper, not money.
Primary sources
- Transcript Format for Judicial Proceedings — New Jersey Judiciary / Administrative Office of the Courts. All quotations above are taken verbatim from this document (§§ A, B, E, H, L, P and the compressed-transcript sections).
- Comparative figures for other states come from each state's own authority, cited in the linked guides: 16 CCR § 2473 (California), Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.535 (Florida), 22 NYCRR Part 108 (New York), the Uniform Format Manual (Texas), the SCAO Manual (Michigan), and the Guide to Judiciary Policy, Vol. 6 (federal).
Common questions
How wide is a New Jersey transcript page?
Exactly 55 characters at 10 characters per inch, inside a writing block of at least 6.5 inches. It's a fixed count rather than a minimum, and it's the narrowest state page we've researched.
Does a New Jersey transcript use a hanging indent?
No. Every subsequent line of a question, an answer or a colloquy returns to the left marginal line. Templates built for states that hang their wraps will be wrong on every wrapped line.
Can grammar be cleaned up?
No — errors, contractions, mis-statements and changes of thought are transcribed as spoken, by rule. New Jersey is stricter on this than federal practice.
Are opening and closing statements in the transcript?
Not unless specifically ordered. Openings, closings and voir dire examinations are excluded by default under § L.
Is there a certification form for transcribing a recording?
Yes — a separate transcriber's certification referencing the tape number and index range, published alongside the Certified Court Reporter form.
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