Weekly Edition

Western District adopts policy for redaction of transcripts

Attorneys practicing in the federal courts of the Western District of Virginia are being told that they have the responsibility to make sure their clients’ private information does not appear in publicly available transcripts from trials and hearings.

Keeping private data from public eyes can be done through transcript redactions, but the easiest method may be just to make sure the private data isn’t in the record in the first place.

The Western District will be making transcripts available through the clerk’s office and through the on-line PACER system 90 days after transcripts are filed. After filing, attorneys have 21 days to request any redactions. Redactions are automatically granted for the usual private information: Social Security numbers, birth dates, and financial accounts. Also routinely redacted are names of minor children and home addresses.

Attorneys who request redaction of other information have to file a motion to be heard by the court.

Transcripts made by court reporters are proprietary. The court reporter must be paid before the transcript is available. As explained by chief deputy clerk Patti Nelms, the 90-day delay protects the court reporter’s right to the fee because no one who hasn’t paid gets access to the transcript for that 90-day period.

The court’s new transcript policy is available online at the Western District’s homepage: www.vawd.uscourts.gov.

Transcripts are routinely requested by counsel for assistance at trial, for preparation of motions, and for purposes of appeal.
Clerks are not bracing for a flood of redaction requests. Nelms says she has been told by clerks in other districts using this system that, once lawyers understand that transcripts may eventually be electronically available, they take care to avoid testimony about private information unless it has a direct bearing on the case.

© Copyright 2008, by Virginia Lawyers Media, all rights reserved