Wisconsin Transcript Rules: "The Transcript, and Not the Verbatim Record, Is the Official Record"
The sentence that explains the whole profession
People new to court reporting often assume the recording, or the stenographic notes, are the record — and that the transcript is a convenience copy. Wisconsin's supreme court rules say the opposite, in one line:
"The verbatim record is intended to assist in the preparation of a transcript. The transcript, and not the verbatim record, is the official record of the proceedings." SCR 71.03(2)
Everything else in the chapter follows from that. The raw capture is a working input; the certified transcript is the thing courts act on. Two consequences the rules spell out:
- The capture isn't the reporter's property. The original stenographic notes, voice recordings and digital audio recordings "constitute part of the records of the court in which made and are not the property of the court reporter" (71.03(1)).
- Not everything captured is part of the record. "Any words spoken in the courtroom that are off the record, privileged, or otherwise not part of a proceeding, hearing, or trial of a specific case are not part of the verbatim record of the case" (71.03(4)). A live microphone hears more than the record contains.
The chapter also defines what the verbatim record consists of, and the list is method-plural on its face: a stenographic reporter's original notes, a voice writer's original voice recording, and "an audio recording of any part of a proceeding that is on the record and made as the primary means of taking the verbatim record."
Method neutrality, stated in the rule itself
Most states leave the question of how the record gets made to practice, custom or a licensing statute. Wisconsin puts it in the supreme court rules:
"The director of state courts shall develop policies for the use of alternative means of making a verbatim record. The verbatim record may be made by stenographic reporting, voice reporting, monitored digital audio recording, or other means approved by the director of state courts." SCR 71.01(3)
Three named methods and an open door for a fourth. It's a useful contrast with Texas, where certification is stenographic and depositions are walled off to certified shorthand reporters by statute, and a close cousin of Florida's approach, which defines court reporting to include electronic devices. Wisconsin requires a verbatim record of all circuit court proceedings, with carve-outs for de-novo-reviewable commissioner proceedings, scheduling and pretrial conferences, pre-complaint criminal matters, and recordings already covered by a certified transcript or offered as exhibits.
The page: a spec written as ceilings
Here is Wisconsin's entire page format, quoted whole:
"For purposes of this rule a page other than the final page of a transcript shall consist of any 25 or more consecutive typewritten lines, double-spaced, on paper 8-1/2 inches in width by 11 inches in length, with a margin of not more than 1-1/2 inches on the left and five-eighths of an inch on the right, exclusive of lines disclosing page numbering; type shall be standard pica with 10 letters to the inch. Questions and answers shall each begin a new line. Indentations for speakers or paragraphs shall be not more than 15 spaces from the left margin." SCR 71.04(8)(a)
Read the verbs. Where New Jersey says a line "must contain 55 typed characters" and New York fixes a 6 5/16-inch writing block, Wisconsin says the margins shall be "not more than" 1½ inches and ⅝ of an inch — and the lines "25 or more." It regulates the floor on how much transcript fits on a page rather than the shape of the page itself.
Worked through, that means a Wisconsin page must carry at least 8½ − 1½ − ⅝ = 6⅜ inches of text, or about 63 characters at ten characters to the inch — and a reporter who prefers narrower margins simply gets a longer line, which remains compliant. The practical effect of a maximum-margin rule is to stop a reporter from padding the page count by squeezing the text.
Indentation is handled by one ceiling covering two different things: "indentations for speakers or paragraphs shall be not more than 15 spaces from the left margin." There are no separate columns in the rule for questions, answers, colloquy, quotations or parentheticals — only an upper bound. That makes Wisconsin the most permissive layout in this library, and it means a page built to Michigan's conventions, whose colloquy sits at exactly 15 spaces, lands right at the Wisconsin ceiling rather than over it.
Because the rule caps speaker and paragraph indentation in the same breath, Wisconsin is one of the nine states that presumes a reporter may start a new paragraph inside a turn without ever requiring one — the pattern we set out in the guide to paragraphing long testimony.
Rough drafts, named in a supreme court rule
Uncertified working drafts are a routine part of modern litigation, and most states' rules simply don't mention them. Wisconsin's do, twice — once to permit charging for them, and once to say what they aren't:
"A court reporter may make a special charge, pursuant to arrangement with the requesting party, for furnishing any of the following: (a) Typewritten transcripts of testimony and proceedings from day to day during the progress of any trial or proceeding. (b) Unedited and typewritten or electronic draft versions of testimony or proceedings." SCR 71.04(9)
"…an uncertified transcript furnished pursuant to SCR 71.04(9)(b) is not the official record." SCR 71.04(6)
Taken together with 71.03(2), Wisconsin gives the cleanest legal description available of what a draft is: a legitimate, chargeable work product that helps the parties move faster, and which becomes nothing more until a reporter certifies a transcript. That distinction is worth having straight in any state, and Wisconsin is where it's written down.
A one-paragraph page spec with a nine-item index
The format rule is terse; the index requirement is not. An index goes "immediately following the title and appearance page(s)" of any transcript containing testimony, or any transcript where an index would help locate distinct segments, and it must give page numbers for:
- Jury voir dire
- Opening statements
- Witness names in chronological order of appearance — including direct, cross, redirect, recross, rebuttal and surrebuttal examinations, witnesses subject to witness voir dire, and examination by the court
- The numbers and a description of each exhibit offered and received
- Closing arguments
- Instructions and verdict given to the jury
- Receipt of the verdict or rendering of the court's decision
- Polling of the jury
- Sentencing
It's a revealing priority. Wisconsin cares comparatively little about which column your colloquy starts in, and a great deal about whether a judge can find the closing argument.
Primary sources
- Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules, SCR Chapter 71 — Required Court Reporting. All quotations above are verbatim from SCR 71.01, 71.03 and 71.04.
- Cross-state comparisons come from each state's own authority, cited in the linked guides.
Common questions
How wide is a Wisconsin transcript page?
The rule sets maximum margins rather than a fixed block: no more than 1½ inches on the left and ⅝ inch on the right, at 10 characters to the inch. That means a page must carry at least about 63 characters per line, and narrower margins — which give a longer line — remain compliant.
How many lines per page?
"Any 25 or more consecutive typewritten lines, double-spaced," excluding lines that show the page numbering. It's a minimum, not a fixed count, and the final page is exempt.
Can a Wisconsin court reporter charge for a rough draft?
Yes. SCR 71.04(9)(b) expressly allows a special charge, by arrangement with the requesting party, for "unedited and typewritten or electronic draft versions of testimony or proceedings" — and SCR 71.04(6) makes clear that such an uncertified transcript is not the official record.
Does Wisconsin allow digital recording?
Yes. SCR 71.01(3) states that the verbatim record "may be made by stenographic reporting, voice reporting, monitored digital audio recording, or other means approved by the director of state courts."
Who owns the recording or the notes?
The court. The original notes and recordings "constitute part of the records of the court in which made and are not the property of the court reporter."
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