Frequently Asked Questions on Court Reporting

The concurrent recording of words and events in a courtroom, either by stenographic or by any other method, is referred to as recording. The written text derived subsequently form the recording is referred to as transcription. The complete process involving, the creation and preservation of statements recorded in court, and providing their timely and accurate transcription, when required, is known as court reporting.

To be eligible as a legal, certified court reporter, your typing speed must match up to 200 words per minute with a total accuracy rate of 97.5%.

Prior to becoming a legally certified court reporter, you must obtain a certification of completion from a state-recognized court reporting school, which will further prepare you for the state exam. After passing the state examination for court reporters, you will receive your Certified Shorthand Reporter License. It is mandatory for you, as a court reporter, to have your respective state license. Currently, many court reporting firms and independent court reporters are seeking to boost their education and obtaining additional certification from the National Court Reporting Association (NCRA).

It can take between 18 to 24 months to complete a court reporter degree depending on your course load. An accelerated program can be completed in 18 months. And, if you are working part-time on your degree, it may take you about two years to get your degree.

Yes. A national typing test is conducted two times a year in May and November. Additionally, quite a few states require stenographers to earn licenses or certificates. Upon passing the national test, most of the states will award you a state certification automatically. To learn more about your state’s requirements, it is best to contact your local organization.

The expenses involved in going to a court reporting school depends on which school you have chosen and the program you are enrolling for. Additionally, you may receive financial aid through Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Scholarships are also offered by some court reporting schools. For more accurate information, it’s always better to talk to an admissions representative from a particular school.

A court reporter’s earnings depend upon the setting and their experience. Freelance court reporters are able to control their income based on the amount of work they are willing and able to do. The median earnings per annum for court reporters was $55,120 in May 2017, as per the BLS data. Court reporters working for state governments earn a higher wage compared to their counterparts in business support services and local governments.

Steno machines or steno-graphs are compact laptops like devices that are used by court reporters to record everything, that is mentioned in the deposition or courtroom, with utmost accuracy. The keyboard of these steno machines are quite similar to a laptop, but to someone acquainted with a regular QWERTY keyboard design, a steno machine’s keyboard would appear as a Klingon (collection of useful phrases). These machines are customized to type phonetic sounds instead of letters for maximizing typing rate and recorded modulation. To achieve this, the court reporter hits multiple keys simultaneously, in order to ensure that appropriate sound and inflection is recorded for future use.

According to the general prediction, technology will not be able to replace court reporters in the near future. Since the late 1800s, recording devices have been in existence but they have yet to beat humans when it comes to recording what is said, with the exact nuances of speech, delivery, and accent, and subsequently formatting the proceedings in both a text and digital format. Moreover, since the modern day recording devices require as much manual operation as a stenograph does, it becomes a rather redundant thing to have.