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Donna Collins, President/Shareholder
CSR, FAPR, RPR, CRR, CCP, CART IV
Donna is from the Fort Worth area and began her reporter training at Chapman Court Reporting College in its evening program while working full time for State Farm Insurance in auto and property damage claims. She completed her reporter training at Dallas Court Reporting College in 1973 and began reporting depositions, examining trials, court hearings, and conferences. She has gained extensive experience in all areas of reporting in her 35-year career, including patent, medical, and technical cases. Several assignments have taken her to Amsterdam, Mexico City, San Juan, Osaka, and Tokyo. In 1991, Donna became one of the first court reporters in the North Texas area to offer realtime text display directly to attorneys' computers in depositions. Since 1992, she has offered Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) or realtime captioning services for the deaf and hard of hearing in many environments, including conferences, and for students in local colleges and universities.
Donna has served as President of both the Dallas Court Reporters Association and the Texas Court Reporters Association. While President of the Texas Court Reporters Association (TCRA) in 1999, she co-founded the TCRA CART Foundation to provide sensitivity training and realtime accuracy testing of court reporters as “interpreters” for individuals with hearing loss and served as the foundation’s first President. Donna has served on the board of the Society of the Technological Advancement of Reporting (STAR). She serves on the Advisory Board of the Court Reporting Institute of Dallas.
Donna has presented numerous continuing education seminars for court reporters through local, state, and national reporting organizations and has assisted in technology and realtime presentations for the Texas Center for the Judiciary and several CLE seminars for attorneys. She is a recipient of the Dallas Court Reporters Association’s Distinguished Service Award, the Texas Court Reporters Association’s Distinguished Service Award, and a member of the Texas Court Reporters Association’s Hall of Fame. In 2004, Donna was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Professional Reporters (FAPR) by the board of directors of the National Court Reporters Association.
