Meet Carole!

Not many people land – and love – their careers as easily as Carole Bartkowicz. As a high school student, she discovered court reporting while sifting through career catalogs in the counselor’s office,searching for a job that could pay her college tuition. “I had to go home and watch ‘Perry Mason’ to learn what reporting even was,” laughs Bartkowicz today.

More than four decades later Bartkowicz remains an active court reporter, and she manages the PohlmanUSA office in Chicago, Ill. Why stay in the profession so long?  Bartkowicz explains, “There are very few reporters – not even 50,000 in the entire country. It’s special, like a small club!”  She also notes that her career is flexible and family-friendly, and she is constantly learning something new. “Over the years I have learned a variety of odd things, like how to wire a refrigerator and repair a roller coaster,” says the registered professional reporter (RPR), certified shorthand reporter (CSR) and certified manager of reporting services (CMRS).

Born and raised in the Windy City, Bartkowicz trained as a court reporter at MacCormac College. After reportingforMcCorkle for 26 years, she ventured out with a colleague to open Diane-Carole Reporting in downtown Chicago. “It was simply time to make a change,” Bartkowicz recalls. “And I can be an adrenaline junkie. I love solving problems on the fly, and building our own agency was a rewarding challenge.” She managed the work quality of every reporter, as well as developed personal client relationships.

Bartkowicz sold Diane-Carole to PohlmanUSA in 2009 after her partner retired. While the transition presented typical challenges, she is pleased with how well the firms have melded to ensure seamless client service.

Master of Changing Technology

Shortly after Bartkowicz embarked on her career in the late 60s, industry experts insisted that voice-to-print technology would render the profession extinct. And despite almost a half-century of technological advancements, Bartkowicz says, “Today’s voice recognition software still is nothing compared to the speed and accuracy of court reporters.”  She foresees a need for reporters for decades to come.

And she has witnessed first-hand the innovation of other industry technologies, such as video conferencing and the electronic transfer of case documents. “The whole reporting process has sped up significantly,” says Bartkowicz, who loves mastering the latest in reporting technologies. “There is a greater immediacy for information, plus, we are better equipped to handle national cases.”

At the Forefront of Professional Ethics

In addition to her role with PohlmanUSA, Bartkowicz is in the midst of serving a four-year appointed term on the Committee On Professional Ethics (COPE) within the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA). To date, there are 41 public opinions written on the ethical behavior standards for court reporters. However, the opinions are ever-changing, and Bartkowicz works alongside her COPE colleagues to review and revise each opinion, be it annually or in an emergency situation.

Bartkowicz has always been interested in ethics standards, though. Long before her appointment to COPE, she co-authored the code of ethics for reporters in Illinois in the early 90s. Her long-tenured involvement with ethical behavior has led to continual calls that still flow directly to Bartkowicz from reporters across the county seeking advice on how to handle delicate ethical situations.

Her highly-sought expertise was also just tapped by the Journal of Court Reporting, where she authored an article titled “Getting That Call from the Other Agency” that outlines a reporter’s responsibility to get a transcript out, without regard to the circumstances under which they left another reporting agency. It also covers the responsibilities of the requesting agency to inform the reporter of the backwrite order and payment.

A Leader in the Industry

Bartkowicz received the 1998 Distinguished Service Award from the Illinois Court Reporters Association (ILCRA), an organization she co-founded in 1976 as the Illinois Shorthand Reporters Association. She also sits on the Certified Shorthand Reporters licensing board and participates in creating and dictating the licensing exams. 

Outside of court reporting, Bartkowicz has a unique lifelong hobby – showing American Saddlebred horses. She owns one horse now named Champagne Caramac, and she buys and sells every two or three years. The equine enthusiast shows on the A-Circuit, primarily in Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. She’s the immediate past president of Mid-America Horse Show Association – a group of more than 400 individuals, and she helps organizes three horse shows each year as the chairman of the horse show committee.

And just in case you’re ordering her a pizza someday, remember: Bartkowicz cannot stand anchovies!