Quote:
“Music is the shorthand of emotion” –Leo Tolstoy
Definition of Profession:
Certified shorthand reporting professionals – called certified shorthand reporters or CSRs – transcribe passages from notes taken of dictated records or legal proceedings. Certified shorthand reporters, who are professionals certified by the New York State Board of Regents, perform a range of services – court reporting, freelance reporting, and real-time reporting such as closed captioning of live events.
About the Field:
Court reporters held about 18,000 jobs in 2004. About 60 percent 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 worked for court reporting agencies. Around 13 percent of court reporters were self-employed.
Job prospects are expected to be excellent as job openings continue to outnumber jobseekers. Demand for real-time and broadcast captioning and translating will spur employment growth. The amount of training required to become a court reporter varies with the type of reporting chosen. Job opportunities should be best for those with certification.
How To Get There:
New York CSRs have a high school diploma or its equivalent as well as a minimum of three years’ experience as full-time verbatim shorthand reporters. They may also have had 1,300 hours of instruction in manual or machine shorthand reporting from a postsecondary school or private instruction. These studies typically focus on shorthand skills on three- or four-voice dictation of material; grammar, vocabulary and punctuation; medical and legal terminology; and court or hearing procedures.
On The Job:
Certified shorthand reporters maintain a complete record of judicial proceedings. This includes reporting by machine shorthand all spoken communication during the proceedings and maintenance of exhibits and witness lists. It requires the ability to provide a verbatim transcript of the proceedings, which is accomplished by typing, dictation, or the most modern method of using computer-aided transcription (CAT) wherein the original computer writing of the court reporter is translated into English by use of computers and dedicated software. This method requires advanced skills by the court reporter and provides instant written translation of spoken words for hearing-impaired citizens. Reporters may work as freelancers in pretrial discovery work, or as official reporters hired by the State and other entities.
Salary Range:
Court reporters had median annual earnings of $42,920 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $30,680 and $60,760. The lowest paid 10 percent earned less than $23,690, and the highest paid 10 percent earned more than $80,300. Median annual earnings in May 2004 were $41,070 for court reporters working in local government.
Tools of the Trade /Lifestyle:
Certified Shorthand Reporters usually work with a stenography machine that allows them to efficiently transcribe spoken dialogue or dictation into text-based formats. In many courts, the shorthand reporter’s transcript is visible in real time as an aid for hearing-impaired persons.
State of the Art:
Employment of court reporters is projected to grow about as fast as average for all occupations through 2014. Demand for court reporter services will be spurred by the continuing need for accurate transcription of proceedings in courts and in pretrial depositions, and by the growing need to create captions for live or prerecorded television and to provide other real-time translating services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
Federal legislation mandates that, by 2006, all new television programming must be captioned for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. In addition, the Americans with Disabilities Act gives deaf and hard-of-hearing students in colleges and universities the right to request access to real-time translation in their classes. Both of these factors are expected to increase demand for court reporters to provide real-time captioning and CART services.
You are:
In addition to possessing speed and accuracy, court reporters must have excellent listening skills, as well as good English grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation skills. Voice writers must learn to listen and speak simultaneously and very quickly, while also identifying speakers and describing peripheral activities in the courtroom or deposition room. They must be aware of business practices and current events as well as the correct spelling of names of people, places, and events that may be mentioned in a broadcast or in court proceedings. For those who work in courtrooms, an expert knowledge of legal terminology and criminal and appellate procedure is essential. Because capturing proceedings requires the use of computerized stenography or speech recognition equipment, court reporters must be knowledgeable about computer hardware and software applications.
Related Professions:
Workers in several other occupations type, record information, and process paperwork. Among these are secretaries and administrative assistants; medical transcriptionists; data entry and information processing workers; receptionists and information clerks; and human resources assistants, except payroll and timekeeping. Other workers who provide legal support include paralegals and legal assistants.
