Court reporters usually create verbatim transcripts of speeches, conversations, legal proceedings, meetings, and other events. Written accounts of spoken words are sometimes necessary for correspondence, records, or legal proof, and court reporters provide those accounts.
Related job titles are: Court Reporter, Freelance Court Reporter, Court Stenographer, Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR), Realtime Court Reporter, Court Monitor, Court Recording Monitor, Deposition Reporter, Freelance Court Stenographer, or Stenographic Court Reporter.
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Important Court Reporter degree information -Top of Page-
- Job prospects are expected to be excellent, especially for those with certification.
- Demand for real-time broadcast captioning and translating will spur employment growth.
- The amount of training required to become a court reporter varies by specialization; licensure requirements vary by State.
How much does a Court Reporter make in salary? || Court Reporter pay -Top of Page-
Court reporters had median annual wages of $49,710 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned a salary of between $35,390 and $67,430. The lowest paid 10 percent earned a salary of less than $25,360, and the highest paid 10 percent earned a salary of more than $83,500. Median annual wages in May 2008 were $51,150 for court reporters working in local government and $44,670 for those working in business support services.
Official court reporters earn a salary and a per-page fee for transcripts. Many salaried court reporters supplement their income by doing freelance work. Freelance court reporters are paid per job and receive a per-page fee for transcripts.
What is a Court Reporter? || What does a Court Reporter do? || Job descriptions -Top of Page-
Court Reporters are responsible for ensuring a complete, accurate, and secure legal record. In addition to preparing and protecting the legal record, many court reporters assist judges and trial attorneys in a variety of ways, such as organizing and searching for information in the official record or making suggestions to judges and attorneys regarding courtroom administration and procedure.
Court reporters are responsible for a number of duties both before and after transcribing events. Stenographic or voice-writing reporters must create and maintain the computer dictionary that they use to translate their keystroke codes or voice files into written text. They may customize the dictionary with parts of words, entire words, or terminology specific to the proceeding, program, or event—such as a religious service—they plan to transcribe.
Although many court reporters record official proceedings in the courtroom, others work outside the courts. For example, court reporters, called webcasters or Internet information reporters, capture sales meetings, press conferences, product introductions, and technical training seminars and instantly transmit them to all parties involved via computers.
Some voice writers produce a transcript in real time, using computer speech recognition technology. Other voice writers prefer to translate their voice files after the proceeding is over, or they transcribe the files manually, without using speech recognition at all. In any event, speech recognition-enabled voice writers pursue not only court reporting careers, but also careers as closed captioners, CART reporters for hearing-impaired individuals, and Internet streaming text providers or caption providers.
Work environment for Court Reporters -Top of Page-
The majority of court reporters work in comfortable settings, such as offices of attorneys, courtrooms, legislatures, and conventions. An increasing number of court reporters are working from home-based offices as independent contractors or freelancers. Many official court reporters work a standard 40-hour week, and they often work additional hours at home preparing transcripts. Self-employed court reporters, or freelancers, usually work flexible hours, including part time, evenings, and weekends, or they may be on call.
How to become a Court Reporter || Court Reporter classes and degree programs -Top of Page-
The amount of training required to become a court reporter varies with the type of reporting chosen. It usually takes less than a year to become a novice voice writer, although it takes at least 2 years to become proficient at real-time voice writing. Training is offered by about 100 postsecondary vocational and technical schools and colleges. The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) has certified more than 60 programs, all of which offer classes in stenotype computer-aided transcription and real-time reporting. NCRA-certified programs require students to capture a minimum of 225 words per minute, a requirement for Federal Government employment as well.
Some States require court reporters to be notary publics. Others require the Certified Court Reporter (CCR) designation, for which a reporter must pass a State test administered by a board of examiners.
Certifications can help court reporters get jobs and advance in their careers. Several associations offer certifications for different types of reporters.
Where are the Court Reporter jobs? -Top of Page-
Court reporters held about 21,500 jobs in 2008. A little more than half worked for State and local governments, a reflection of the large number of court reporters working in courts, legislatures, and various agencies. Most of the remaining wage and salary workers were employed by court reporting agencies.
Court Reporter job opportunities and outlook -Top of Page-
Employment of court reporters is projected to grow 18 percent, faster than the average for all occupations between 2008 and 2018. Demand for court reporter services will be spurred by the continuing need for accurate transcription of proceedings in courts and in pretrial depositions, by the growing need to create captions for live television, and by the need to provide other real-time broadcast captioning and translating services for the deaf and the hard of hearing.