Does anyone know anything about Court Reporting/Stenography?

[dvcfamily41801]

Just a couple of questions...
How is the availability for employment?
Schedule?
How long did the education take?
What exactly do you do?
Do you enjoy it?

Thanks!!!

 

[dvcfamily41801]

Anyone..anyone???

 

[AshleyW]

I'm a little curious about this too.. I was a text relay operator for awhile (before I got promoted) and figure if I can do that, I could probably do court reporting or possibly captioning. Looking forward to some answers if anyone has any.

 

[KandD]

Where I live there is actually a difference between a court reporter and a stenographer. From what I understand stenographers make a LOT of money but you do have to go to school (I don't know how long...maybe a year or two??) and then you have to pass a test. In my state court reporters record the court proceedings and then type manuscripts when they are ordered. I am not sure how much they make but it is a state job so benefits are good and the starting pay is decent.
As far as availability like all state jobs (here anyway), it is much easier to get in if you know someone or if you are already employed by the state.
But it might be different in different states so I am curious to see if anyone else has any info.

ETA: I forgot to mention the hours, court reporters work 9-5 and get paid extra for any manuscripts so they can be done at work or at home. Obviously the more you do the more you make. Some places I believe evenly distribute the transcipts (sorry I have been calling them manuscipts...I mean transcipts!!) while other places may do like a first come first serve type of thing so you can do as many as you want...but I am not 100% on that.

 

[LoveDopey]

I am a court reporter but a Canadian reporter so I think we work a little different. We have reporters and recorders and provincial and Queen's Bench Court. Reporters are the ones who sit in court with a machine and record the trial verbatim. For provincial court trials, where a reporter is not required, the court clerk switches on a tape recorder which is then transcribed by a recorder.

It is interesting but would I do it again -- no, it can be monotonous at times. The pay is very good. You get a base salary plus if a transcript is required you get paid per page fo that.

My training was 9 months at a local community college.

What else do you need to know?

 

[cabanafrau]

In the courtroom jobs are becoming fewer and fewer, with many courts switching to video and voice recognition software starting to move into the arena. Most of those trained in the field actually do deposition work for attorneys, but who's to say how stable that will remain either?

 

[dhcoffey]

I'm a freelance deposition court reporter and an official court reporter meaning that I report for our local circuit and on the days I'm not in court, I can do depositions if I choose to. I love it, been doing it for 20 years now. Can it be repititious and boring? Sure, but so can most jobs. I like it because it's been very flexible for me with my children. I work from home if I'm not in court, so on those days, I can set my own hours. On the days I'm in court, I'm there as long as the judge says which means sometimes starting at 8:00, 8:30, or 9:00 and staying until we're finished, the latest being around 11:00 at night. Not regular on that, most days finished by 6:00 at the latest. Some Saturday work if trials run longer than expected. Pay is good for where I live. You can make more if you're in a bigger city.

I went to school for 22 months but it can take longer than that or shorter than that depending on how well you take to it. We also had to pass a state test to become certified and a national test is now required to be certified.

Hope that helps. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask.

Heather

ETA: Also, the start-up costs can be a little intimidating. You have to buy a stenographic machine, around $5,000; software, around $5,000; and have a good laptop for working and doing realtime reporting, couple thousand. It can be worth it, though, and it's not something you have to put out every year or anything. I've had my current setup for about 6 years now.

 

[Jynohn]

I took court reporting classes for over two years, but have not finished yet. I loved taking the classes, and think it will be a wonderful career eventually, but I was working full time while going to school and I found I just didn't have enough time to dedicate to it. I will tell you that the school work is MUCH harder than I anticipated. I've always been a really good student, and classes come easily to me, but this was much different. It's like learning a new language and learning to play the piano at the same time. I found that it took a lot more practice time than I was able to handle while still working.

That said, everyone I've ever talked to says the end result is well worth it. Freelance reporters can basically set their own hours, and the money is VERY good. I still hope to finish soon, but have decided to put it on hold until I can cut down my work hours.

Good luck!