As the government transitions to the implementation of digital recording in the courts, stenographers who are certified to work in the Magistrates' Courts are being trained to work in the Supreme Court, according to Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson.

The stenographers were recently pulled from the lower courts as a result of a recommendation by Jennifer Leach, a Trinidadian, who is a consultant with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which is assisting the government with the implementation of digital recording.

Leach proposed the reduction of service provided to magistrates and certain civil trials to "significantly impact the availability of reporters to both reduce the backlog and maintain a satisfactory level of service in the criminal courts and the Court of Appeal".

Some members of the Criminal Bar have opposed the move, saying the removal of the stenographers represents a "retrograde step in the administration of justice".

The lawyers are also against the digitization of the courts because of problems encountered with the technology in the past.

Magistrates have reverted to the practice of taking notes by hand, which means there will no longer be a verbatim record of what transpires during court proceedings.

Maynard-Gibson said digital recording should be introduced by the third quarter of this year. Stenographers who worked in the magistrates' courts are certified to write 180 words per minute.

According to Maynard-Gibson, the government is paying for those workers to get their Supreme Court certification of 225 words per minute. She said, "We are taking this very seriously.

We recognize that they are the consummate professionals." Maynard-Gibson also addressed the status of reporters, who worked for private contractor LET Consultancy.

The government prematurely ended the three-year contract awarded to Ludell Theophilus on December 31, 2013. As a result, the contracts she had with 22 court reporters also ended.

Those workers have signed nine-month long contracts, which expire on September 30, the original expiration date of Theophilus' contract.

The contracted workers said the uncertainty of their employment makes it difficult for them to get bank loans. Maynard-Gibson, however, said the contracted workers "suffered no loss" as their contract with the government was awarded under the same terms as the one with Theophilus.

Asked what will happen to those workers upon the expiration of their contracts, Maynard-Gibson said, "They can apply to continue or they can go somewhere else.

"However, given the importance of having such a rare skill, there is a likelihood that they will be kept on." Maynard-Gibson said the government engaged those workers in "record time", which she described as a "journey of efficiency in the system".

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