I appeared before a judge, not a magistrate.
it was a federal court.
I guess it was a court of justice, there was a court reporter.
I learned about hiring a court reporter when I fought for my children, and had to pay alot of cash to get them. I learned this on my own research, and hired a court reporter for every court session because if I had not, then I would have never been able to appeal to the higher courts. My dirty attorney didn't tell me that, but I had to operated around him, and I did it myself.
no, I was not in an administrative proceeding, I was in a court of law. I appealed to get out of that arm and did everything through the federal court. Now, had I not done my own research, I would have stayed within the administrative arm, but I learned that based on the nature of my case, I had the right to take it to a federal court.