The following information is from the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics

Employment

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 Outlook

Job opportunities for court reporters are expected to be excellent as job openings continue to outnumber jobseekers. Court reporters with certification should have the best job opportunities. The favorable job market reflects the fact that fewer people are entering this profession, particularly as stenographic typists.

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. Voice writers have become more widely accepted because of the difficulty in attracting workers and as the accuracy of speech recognition technology improves. Still, many courts allow only stenotypists to perform court reporting duties; as a result, demand for these highly skilled reporters will remain high.

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. Although these services forgo transcripts and differ from traditional court reporting, which uses computer-aided transcription to turn spoken words into permanent text, they require the same skills that court reporters learn in their training.

Despite increasing numbers of civil and criminal cases, budget constraints are expected to limit the ability of Federal, State, and local courts to expand, thereby also limiting the demand for traditional court reporting services in courtrooms and other legal venues. Further, because of the difficulty in attracting workers and in efforts to control costs, many courtrooms have installed tape recorders that are maintained by electronic court reporters and transcribers to record court proceedings. However, courts use electronic reporters and transcribers only in a limited capacity, and court reporters will continue to be used in felony trials and other proceedings. Despite the use of audiotape and videotape technology, court reporters can quickly turn spoken words into readable, searchable, permanent text, and they will continue to be needed to produce written legal transcripts and proceedings for publication.

Earnings

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.

Both compensation and compensation methods for court reporters vary with the type of reporting job, the experience of the individual reporter, the level of certification achieved, and the region of the country. 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. CART providers are paid by the hour. Stenocaptioners receive a salary and benefits if they work as employees of a captioning company; stenocaptioners working as independent contractors are paid by the hour.

What is a court reporter?

A court reporter, stenotype reporter or stenographer is a person whose occupation is to transcribe spoken or recorded speech into written form, typically using stenography equipment to produce official transcripts of court hearings, depositions and other official proceedings. Court reporters use either a stenomask or a shorthand system such as stenotype in order to keep up with the flow of speech so that they do not miss any words. The court reporter is often also a notary public who is authorized to administer oaths to witnesses, and who certifies that her or his transcript of the proceedings is a verbatim account of what was said.

What training is required for court reporters?

It typically takes 36 months or longer to learn the basic skills to become a court reporter. Most students do not achieve the required speed, and therefore, do not graduate. Candidates usually attend specialist on-ground training schools.

Distance learning and online training courses are also available. These courses have dismal success rates.

On completion of formal training, court reporters engage in continuous practice in order to improve their skills.

Required qualities of a court reporter are excellent command of the language being spoken, attention to detail and the ability to focus for long periods at a time. The most highly skilled court reporters can provide transcription in real time and have significant earning potential.

Work as a court reporter.

Court reporters may be employed by court agencies to provide transcription in court, but may also work on their own account or for court reporting agencies, either as employees or as freelancers. In a courtroom environment they may make suggestions regarding proper procedure, do research for items in the official record and assist in other ways. Many court reporters work outside the courtroom in depositions and other situations that require an official legal transcript, such as arbitration hearings or other formal proceedings. Court reporters also often provide realtime transcription for public events, religious services, webcasts, and educational services.

Former court reporters and graduates of court reporting schools are employed by television producers and stations in order to provide realtime closed captioning of live programs for the hearing-impaired. Court reporters can command earnings which rival those of the attorneys whose speech they transcribe. They also receive personal gratification for the work they do with the hearing-impaired.