dianehromek@cs.com
ORGANIZATIONS:
I am a member of the following organizations:
- National Court Reporting Association since 1968, with designations of
Registered Professional Reporter
Certified Managing Shorthand Reporter
- Illinois Court Reporters' Association since its inception, with designation of Past Vice-President Illinois
- Notary in Florida
A member of the StenoCat Users' Group
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
- I am a member of the Florida Chapter of the 99's, the Women's Pilot Association, Internationally.
- Studied to become a concert pianist from the age of five to eighteen. Played the Grieg Concerto and the Warsaw Concerto as soloist with the Riverside-Brookfield High School in Riverside, Illinois.
- Attended Bryant & Stratton College. Studies began between junior and senior year of high school. I completed the course in 42 weeks and was the only student of 50 to graduate on time.
- I passed the Illinois Certified Shorthand Reporter's license exam given by the state of Illinois, the first time.
- I began my court reporting career at age 18.
- I am a pilot and have specialized in air crash cases over a number of years. As a pilot, I hold a Private, Instrument, Multi-Engine and Commercial ratings and have flown over 1500 hours.
- a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and Experimental Aircraft Association.
- I have held an Illinois Real Estate Salesman's license from 1973 through 2005.
- Attend Lake Tomahawk Bible Church in Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin, and Cape Christian Fellowship, Cape Coral, FL.
- I play the organ for the Lake Tomahawk Bible Church in Lake Tomahawk, WI from July-December, yearly.
- I married my flight instructor and friend, Calvin Sawyer, in November of 1992.
- I take great pride in being a good wife and homemaker.
- I take time regularly to be with my family, parents and sister and her family, my step children and step grandchildren.
- I also take great pride in being the best court reporter I can be as well as running my business the best I can.
- Enjoy swimming, walking, biking, flying, boating and cooking.
- I am a former member of Seven Bridges.
- Performing Classical Piano Concerts, 2004 and 2005.
- 1997-2002 performed with a musical group called "The New Fireside Hour" at retirement homes and enjoy providing old time love songs.
- I have been a leader in incorporating computerized transcripts since they were first available to court reporters in 1975 and am now on my fourth system, Gigatron's StenoCat software. I feel that the current system I now use is the best, yet.
- I have written realtime for hearing-impaired witnesses several times. One time, it was for an attorney who was deaf who was leading a round-table discussion with over 50 other people. It was exciting to see him participate in leading the discussion. He had no problem reading from my computer as others were talking. He could reply with no problem.
- I am able to provide all the testimony on a disk either edited or unedited at the end of a session and through Internet.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS ARE:
- Reported the Alonzo Spellman case.
- Reported in realtime for Intel to report the key speaker, Bill Gates, of the Comdex show from the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago, Illinois, and sent the transcript over e-mail instantly to California.
- I provided over eight days of depositions which were over 200 pages for each day and delivered on an expedited basis through e-mail. This case had to do with condominium-association bylaws.
- I reported a board of directors meeting of over 12 people, including two telephone speakers simultaneously of a plastics patent company.
- I am celebrating over 35 years of continuous reporting service to the Illinois Medical District Commission for their regularly-held board meetings (usually held monthly). These are in the Rush-Presbyterian St. Lukes area in Chicago, and they deal with real estate matters. The board is made up of both doctors and lay people.
- I have been continually hired by a petrochemical company to take very intensive technical depositions, as their needs require. One witness had an English accent and the terminology was tough. Later, the attorney from California was very complimentary of my transcript and praised my work product.
- Hired by the Downers Grove High School District to do a series of public hearings regarding a proposed tax referendum to build a new high school.
IN MY CAREER HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
- Being chosen to do all the technical depositions, nationwide, for the Sioux City air crash.
- Being hired by all sides to do the court reporting of the American 191 O'Hare crash. Worked in New York, at Harvard, at the Playboy Club in Chicago, and in Vienna Austria.
- Being hired and transported to London, England to do the reporting of a labor arbitration of a TWA employee.
- Being hired to do the reporting of a lawsuit regarding Rolls Royce aircraft engines.
- Sent First Class, two times, by two different attorneys, to work in Tokyo, Japan, at the US Embassy, regarding Toyota car crashes. In one case, Jim brought his wife and son along and I was invited to enjoy time with them.
- I have reported many punch press cases, EPA cases, medical, real estate, aviation and toxic tort cases.
- I have held a high security rating with the US government and done multiple jobs, investigations for Argonne Laboratory. I have been taken to Brookhaven Laboratory in New York, I have been hired by Fermilab and have done heavy, confidential securities and bond work for the US Department of Justice, including providing daily copy transcripts of long duration.
- I have worked on the Bruce Springsteen bus/car accident. Took the depositions of all the parents of the children who were killed in this accident as well as the bus driver.
- I did the investigator's deposition of the Thurman Munson Citation aircraft accident.
- I did the depositions in the Galowich case and traveled to Wichita, KS, multiple times for experts' depositions. Bill McKenna was killed in that case. I had worked with him the immediate prior two weeks at a trial at the Daley Center before his death.
- I have worked with the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration on multiple cases.
- I have flown my planes to various locations for depositions, including Mayo Clinic, Iowa City Hospital, St. Louis, and Washington DC.
DIANE HROMEK'S COURT REPORTERS, INC.
Since 1975:- I have hired and trained over 200 people. Many reporters have opened their own agencies since, and I am proud of their achievements to this day because I know we did a good job together!
- One of my past reporters now does closed captioning for the hearing impaired at many stadiums for sports and stadium-type events.
- I have successfully completed all the contracts which I have bid over the years which include, usually state-wide: (All in Illinois)
- I work with over 18 reporters who take my overage work, although I generally stick to about 5 of the same reporters who are proven and produce excellent products.
- I need more advanced notice for bookings, since I am traveling more and running my office with my cell phone.
- I am accepting jobs of longer duration, eg., depositions and hearings of several days. I am still willing to travel to jobs, when it is worth it.
- E-tran available.
- Hookups to your computer available.
- Realtime available.
Department of Children & Family Service
Civil Service Commission
Commerce Commission
State Board of Elections
Department of Employment Security
Environmental Protection Agency
Department of Human Rights
Human Rights Commission
Department of Insurance
Liquor Control Commission
Medical Center Commission (now known as Illinois Medical District.)
Pollution Control Board
Department of Public Aid
Racing Board
Department of Revenue
Department of Transportation
GUEST SPEAKER:
I was a guest speaker at multiple court reporting schools both recruiting and telling about court reporting experiences. On most of these occasions I flew my own airplane and traveled alone.
Here is a list of the schools and contact personnel:
September 1983 and May 14, 1986, Gateway Technical Institute, Kenosha, WI; Veronica Gilsdorf
September 23, 1983, Concordia College, Mequon, WI; Tom Hartnell
November 30, 1983, Midstate College, Peoria, IL; Nancy C. Dudley (Davis), and Jerry Bunt
April 1985 and March 31, 1987, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL; Pauletta Morse
May 20, 1985, Sparks College, Shelbyville, IL; Mr. & Mrs. Sparks
April 9, 1986, Rasmussen College System, St. Cloud, MN; Judy Manetas
August 10, 1986 and February 16, 1988 and November 9, 1988, American Institute of Commerce, Bettendorf, IA; Stephanie Thompson
August 28, 1986, Academy of Court Reporting, Cleveland, OH; Dennis Hagestrom
September 9, 1986, Minnesota School of Business; Shane Nelson
September 23, 1986, Clark Technical College, Springfield, OH; Kay Frazier
October 15, 1986, Cuyahoga Community College, Parma, OH; Angela Hergenroeder
December 5, 1986, Northern Technical School of Business, Minneapolis, MN; Margaret A. Cline
March 6, 1987, Capitol City Trade & Technical School, Austin, TX; Pamela Cochran
May 13, 1987, Von Steuben High School, Marianne Jagmin
August 26, 1988, The Stenotype Institute, Springfield, OH; F.L. Pete Seymour
December 27, 1988, and August 1989, Chicago College of Commerce, Chicago, IL; Marianne Jagmin and Norma Reynolds
February 27, 1989, Court Reporting Institute of Dallas, TX; Carolyn Willard and Royal D. Smith
April 23, 1990, University College, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; Sunny Rhoads
(Numerous visits to the local colleges in the Chicagoland Area: Chicago College of Commerce, MacCormac Junior College and Triton College.
GUEST SPEAKER OTHER THAN SCHOOLS:
In 1994, I was guest speaker at the law offices of Jenner & Block in Chicago, Illinois. The subject matter was the use of networking laptop computers with the court reporter, using realtime, and browsing capabilities.
In 1998 I was interviewed by Joyce Tumea of the Downers Grove Cable Company for a TV talk show. I was the guest of honor and the subject was court reporting.
In 1998, I was a guest speaker for the Lyons Club in Downers Grove, regarding my experiences as a court reporter.
In 1998, I was a guest speaker for the Fairview Baptist Retirement Home regarding my flying experiences and my life story, and specifically regarding flying and how I met my husband.
PUBLICATIONS:
In 1995, I was published by the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association Journal.
This article is about how I became interested in becoming a pilot, my court reporting aviation career, and a tribute to the aviation attorneys I have worked with.
CONTINUING EDUCATION:
I have continually kept up with Continuing Education associated with being a member in good standing by the National Court Reporters Association and the Illinois Court Reporters Association since 1968.
Court Reporters interested in working with us, kindly contact me by email or call 1-800-556-5554.
We are currently accepting Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express credit cards.
There is a four-hour minimum for work in the Chicagoland area