court reporting profession

January 14, 2014 By Dawn Houghton

4 Things a Freelance Court Reporter Should Never Say in a Deposition

What a Court Reporter Should Never Say in Deposition Part of being a professional freelance court reporter is knowing what to say and what not to say when you are working with attorneys. As the owner of a busy court reporting firm, I have the occasion to coach new reporters on situations that may arise and how to handle them. I wanted to share a few of these situations where it was not obvious to the new reporter as to what a professional response should be.

When Asked for an Expedited Transcript:

1) “Sorry, I won’t be able to get your transcript to you over the weekend because it’s my birthday and I’m going out drinking.”

Yes, this really happened.

I know attorneys sometimes will spring an order for an expedited transcript on reporters at the last minute. Sometimes the attorney knows in advance that they will require a rushed transcript, but there are times when the testimony itself actually prompts an expedite order which was not anticipated beforehand.

The proper way to handle this situation is to let the attorney know you will do your best to meet their expectations. If you have already made plans for a celebration, make use of a scopist and/or a proofreader in order to get the rush transcript done, or enlist a fellow reporter at the firm you work with to help you. There is no reason reporters need to do their transcripts all by themselves when there are professionals available to help with the process. If the expense of enlisting help is troubling you, it is unwise to have the mentality of “I’m going to keep all the money from the transcript myself” when you are not able to finish the transcript in the requested time frame. It’s okay to have a life outside of being a reporter but we have to be smart about how we structure our time.

When You Have Plans After the Deposition:

2) “Can you finish up the deposition by 4:30 because I have dinner plans?”

The proper time to bring up this issue is with your office scheduler when you are being scheduled for the job, not when you are already in the deposition. In the freelance field, depositions are not always a predictable length. The attorneys many times don’t know how long a deposition will take.

If you have prior commitments, make your office aware of them beforehand so they can most appropriately schedule reporters for the day’s proceedings to the best of their ability.

When You Are Asked Your Opinion About The Case:

3) “You have a really good case,” or conversely, “You have a really bad case.”

I know attorneys like to ask court reporters what they think about their case, but it is not a good idea to voice your opinions about the matter. I know from experience that I can hear a deposition from one side and get one impression, then hear the deposition from the other side and get a different impression. It is hard to even have an opinion when we don’t have the whole picture in the first place.

It is more appropriate to let your attorney know that you are required to stay a neutral party, therefore, you will not be offering your opinion.

If You’ve Discussed the Case with Your Office:

4) “I told our office staff about your case, and they said…”

It is not considered professional behavior to talk with office staff about the deposition or witnesses or attorneys during breaks from the deposition.

As professional reporters, we are bound by confidentiality, and this is not professional conduct. You should not discuss the case with others.

The appropriate responses to these situations may be obvious to experienced reporters, but it is not always clear to new reporters what is expected of them. Training and mentoring can help eliminate these types of unfortunate situations.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in “Court Reporting – A Profession, Not Just A Job”.

October 13, 2013 By Dawn Houghton

Court Reporting as a Career

Many court reporters working today will tell you that court reporting has been a very good field for them throughout the course of their career. If you’re thinking about becoming a court reporter, you may have questions about whether court reporting is a good career to pursue. We think it is, and want to tell you some of the reasons we think court reporting is a great profession.

Job Description

If you’ve ever seen a stenographer in court or on movies and television shows, you may have wondered what they really do. A court reporter is the person who sits in the courtroom or in a deposition who takes down every spoken word during the proceedings. They prepare official transcripts for use by attorneys, judges and litigants. These transcripts are used as the official record of the events that took place during the deposition, hearing or trial. Court reporters are responsible for certifying that the content of the transcript is accurate and true to the best of their ability.

Education

To become a court reporter, one must go through a college program that teaches the skill of steno writing at a very high level of speed and accuracy. It can take two to five years to reach the level of skill that is required to receive certification to work as a court reporter. Reporters have to demonstrate that they can write at a speed of 225 words per minute with 97 percent accuracy.

Required Skills

Court reporters need excellent communication, organizational and time management skills. Reporters need the ability to work in a high-pressure environment. They know how to work under a deadline. The documents prepared are the only official account of the court proceedings and are vital to the credibility of the judicial system. Court reporters take this responsibility very seriously.

Making the Record

Court reporters use a computer and stenotype machine to take down the spoken words they hear. The stenotype machine allows the reporter to use a form of shorthand by using sounds of words to record data. The computer uses software called computer-aided transcription to translate the information into English.

Technology Advancements

Over the years, technology has changed the way in which reporters do their job. Court reporters are using more advanced technology to provide instant transcription in rough draft form on computer screens while the proceeding is in session. This is called realtime translation. This technology is also used to allow the deaf and hard-of-hearing community access to what is happening in a live classroom, meeting or theater. This skill is also used to caption live television shows, such as newscasts. Court reporting technology now often involves videoconferencing, live internet streams and specialized print programs for transcript formatting, just to name a few.

Lifestyle

So is court reporting a good profession? To help answer this question, we want to give you some of the benefits of being a court reporter. Court reporters who love their job will list some or all of these benefits.

Scheduling flexibility
Salary
Rewarding work
Crucial role in the legal industry
Variety of jobs available

Scheduling Flexibility

Most court reporters work from home offices when producing legal transcripts. The reporting firm assigns the reporter on a deposition assignment. The deposition may last from one hour to eight hours. Once finished, the court reporter returns to his or her home office to create the verbatim transcript. The portions of the job performed at home create a flexibility of schedule that many reporters enjoy.

Salary

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics quotes the median income of a court reporter in the United States in 2010 as $47,700. Salary.com quotes the median figure as $52,000. These are median figures. Some reporters make more and some make less. The salary can be dependent on the geographic area you live in, the type of court reporting you do, and the amount of hours you want to work each week. As a freelance reporter, if you want to make more, you can make yourself available for more depositions and work more hours. If you want to work part time, you will bring home less income but will be able to make a good income for the part-time hours you work.

Rewarding Work

Court reporters are at the center of the activity in a courtroom and in discovery depositions. They hear witnesses testify about all sorts of topics. They listen to interesting court cases. Every day brings different subject matter to work on. For instance, one day you could hear the details of a personal injury case where a witness was injured in a car accident. The next day you may be involved in a criminal case with witnesses testifying about a robbery they witnessed. This type of variety is what many court reporters enjoy.

Throughout a long career, a court reporter has many ways to continue to be challenged and grow as a professional. In the beginning, the challenge is to pursue training and education in order to prepare for initial certification. Here are just a few challenges that can help a reporter learn and grow:

Pursuing higher skill certification
Learning realtime reporting
Becoming a broadcast captioner
Exploring CART work with the deaf and hard-of-hearing community
Continuing education
Participating in state and national associations

A court reporter can mold his or her career in many different directions. Having access to continuing challenges helps a reporter to develop as a professional, as well as grow his or her career.

Crucial Role in the Legal Industry

A court reporter is responsible for keeping the official record. As an officer of the court, a court reporter acts as a representative of the court even in a deposition setting outside of the courtroom. He or she is also the person charged with swearing witnesses and administering the oath.

Court reporters are shown much respect from the legal community, be it attorneys, paralegals, legal assistants or judges. Court reporters earn this respect by taking very seriously the responsibilities imparted to them. Many reporters enjoy this earned respect and find it a pleasant environment to work in.

Diverse Professional Paths

We talk about court reporting as one profession. Within this one profession, there are many capacities in which a court reporter can work. Some of these areas are:

Official court reporter
Freelance court reporter
State bureau court reporter
Mediation and arbitration reporter
Realtime reporter
CART provider for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community
Live television broadcast captioners

If you’re thinking of a career in court reporting, the best action to take is to talk to a court reporter and see what they have to say about the profession. It is even a good idea to talk to more than one reporter so that you gain a balanced view of what the work is really like.

If you found this article interesting, you might also like “The Top 10 Skills of the Best Legal Assistants.”

October 6, 2013 By Dawn Houghton

Do I Need An Internship Before Working As A Court Reporter?

Sitting in with a court reporter or interning with an agency is required by most court reporting programs as a requirement of graduation. Although many agencies do not offer an internship program, they do allow students to sit in with reporters and observe what a typical job may be. Sitting in with a reporter provides valuable experience. It can serve as motivation to pass out of school faster, provide extra practice time, help show what the profession entails and what a real-life job may be like. Learning procedure in class and practicing to a teacher’s dictation is not the same as experiencing it first-hand.

Benefits of an Internship

Sitting in court or depositions with a court reporter provides extra practice time and can motivate students to pass out of school faster. Working reporters may even share tips on how to write efficiently and accurately. Some fortunate students meet reporters who are willing to take them under their wing in a non-official or official mentor capacity. Oftentimes, reporters will share their own experience with school and offer helpful advice in how to succeed in school and beyond. These connections you make with reporters can serve as potential contacts in helping you find work after graduation. It always helps to be friendly and ask questions.

Hands-On Experience

As any reporter or student interning can tell you, a teacher’s dictation can be one-dimensional. If there is only one person doing the voice of two or three different people, practicing colloquy can be unrealistic. This is not the teacher’s fault. They are just simply one person. Experiencing colloquy while sitting in will help acclimate a student to a professional setting where you may have multiple attorneys, sometimes speaking over one another. It’s good to see how the reporter handles those types of situations and to also imagine what you may do. In times like those, you may want to stop the attorneys and ask them to take turns speaking since you can only take down one person at a time. It’s always good to prepare yourself for unfamiliar situations that school hasn’t prepared you for.

Not only does interning prepare you with colloquy, but it also helps prepare you with filling out job sheets, reading and understanding captions, writing under pressure, and transcribing and editing transcripts. Many students struggle with these aspects of reporting since schools usually focus more on attaining speed. Transcribing can be one of the most beneficial things a student can do. Becoming familiar with how your CAT system works, such as hot keys, include files, etc., will significantly cut down on transcription time upon starting work. An internship can offer you the experience you need to become a successful reporter.

Finding Internship Opportunities

When looking for an internship opportunity, there are a few things to keep in mind. Finding a good agency to intern with is crucial. Although any experience is good experience, you should also think of interning as a form of networking and finding potential employers. Spend your time interning with reputable and established agencies for whom you would like to work. Once you have found a few that you would like to intern with and potentially work for, call the agencies, explain that you are a court reporting student, and ask if you could sit in with one of their reporters. Most agencies will say yes. Others will ask you to call back another day when they have work for you to sit in on. Either way, be persistent.

Interning is probably one of the best things a student can do for themselves while at school. It gives you hands-on, real-life experience that schools simply can’t offer. A student who pushes back interning or doesn’t intern enough is severely disadvantaging themselves when they enter into the workforce. It is better to invest the hours now to learn the foundations of working in the real world than to work in the real world and be unprepared.

If you found this article interesting, you might also like “Freelance Court Reporting versus Official Court Reporting.”

September 5, 2013 By Dawn Houghton

Court Reporting – A Profession, Not Just a Job

What is the difference between a job and a profession? A job typically requires minimal experience and education. All that is needed is a minimum amount of skills to get the job done. A profession requires a high level of knowledge and skills. Individuals in professions are not easily replaceable since their education, extensive training, and skills make them unique assets. As a result, professions generally have higher levels of compensation.

High Skill Levels

Court reporters must graduate from an accredited court reporting program at the writing speed of 225 words per minute. Court reporting students learn a writing theory called “stenographic shorthand”, which they must know how to read and write on their stenographic machines. Stenographic machines enable reporters to write at a faster rate through condensing words to phonetic syllables. This method is much faster than typing on a QWERTY keyboard. The language of court reporting is complicated, and students must become proficient at this unique skill.

Reporters typically spend several hours writing the verbatim testimony of witnesses. However, work doesn’t end when they leave the office. Reporters then return to their home or office to edit, research and proof for several more hours. A good rule of thumb is if the writing of the testimony took an hour, it will take two to three hours to edit, research, proof and produce into a transcript that hour of testimony. Because a reporter’s job is centered around writing, transcribing, and editing, excellent verbal skills are required. It is imperative that reporters are well-read and educated so that transcripts are accurate and coherent. Reporters should always be in pursuit of enhancing their verbal and word recognition skills.

Professional Association Participation

Reporters typically belong to various court reporting associations such as the National Court Reporter’s Association (NCRA) or state-specific organizations such as the Michigan Association of Professional Court Reporters (MAPCR). These organizations provide great opportunities to network with other agencies and reporters. They also hold conferences where they meet and educate reporters on current trends, issues, or new technology. For example, the NCRA holds major conferences in different states each year. Reporters can attend special speaking engagements or even be the first individuals to experience new reporting technology.

The NCRA is also responsible for national court reporting certifications. Although being a member means you must pay an annual fee, being certified puts you at an advantage. It communicates to attorneys and agencies that you are a qualified and competent reporter because you have to pass written and practical tests with each certification that proves you are at the certified level. Being certified leads to better opportunities and levels of compensation.

A Diverse and Enriching Profession

People often misconceive that reporters are merely individuals who take down the record, go home, print out the transcript, and that’s the extent of their occupation. But there is far more to the profession than what they often realize. Not only does reporting involve extensive education and training, but a reporter’s education extends beyond school. A wise reporter never stops learning and enhancing their skills, often doing research and extra reading on various topics in order to broaden their scope of understanding of the world around them. Reporters often attend conventions, conferences, and become certified for the sake of building their career. For these many reasons, court reporting is a profession and not just a job. Court reporting is far more diverse and enriching than what a typical job can offer.

If you found this article interesting, you might also be interested in “The Top 10 Skills of the Best Legal Assistants.”

August 30, 2013 By Dawn Houghton

Court Reporting Certifications and Standards

The skills required to be a court reporter are numerous. You have to be able to write accurately at high rates of speed. You need specialized knowledge in many areas, such as legal procedures, grammar, punctuation, technology and professional practices.

The National Court Reporters Association offers many certifications at different skill and experience levels in the court reporting industry. These certifications are designed to present high standards by which court reporters practice their profession. These standards allow for more uniform practices by court reporters all over the country. The standards are high and many reporters have attained several of these certifications.

If you are not familiar with the various types of certifications NCRA offers, here is a listing with NCRA’s descriptions of what is required to receive the certificate.

RPR (Registered Professional Reporter)

The RPR is a prerequisite for the RMR and CRR. It is divided into two portions: written knowledge test (WKT) and skills knowledge test (SKT). The WKT is a 115 multiple-choice test measuring your knowledge in technology, reporting and professional practices. You must pass with a scaled grade of 70 or higher. The SKT consists of 180 words per minute literary, a 200 words per minute jury charge, and 225 words per minute Q&A. You must pass with a 95% accuracy.

RMR (Registered Merit Reporter)

To qualify, you need to be RPR certified and an NCRA member. The SKT is 200 words per minute literary, 240 words per minute jury charge, 260 words per minute Q&A. Passing grade is 95% accuracy.

RDR (Registered Reporter)

You must be an RMR and hold a continuous NCRA membership status. The exam is a 115 multiple-choice test on technology, reporting and professional practices. To pass, you must attain a scaled score of 70 or higher.

CRR (Certified Realtime Reporter)

To qualify, you must be an NCRA member and an RPR. The SKT is a 200 words per minute two-voice Q&A. You must achieve 96% accuracy.

CBC (Certified Broadcast Captioner)

You must be an NCRA member. The exam is divided into two parts: written and skills. The WKT is a 100 multiple-choice test that measures your knowledge on writing realtime, language skills, realtime writing, and research. You must pass with a scaled score of 70 or higher. The SKT is a five-minute, 180 words per minute literary test. You must pass with 96% accuracy.

CCP (Certified CART Provider)

You must be an NCRA member. There are two portions of the exam: written and skills. The WKT is a 100-question, multiple-choice test on your knowledge on writing realtime, research, language skills, and Communication Access Realtime Translation. The SKT is a five-minute, 180 words per minute literary test. You must pass with a 96% accuracy rating.

CVLS (Certified Video Legal Specialist)

This certification qualifies you as a legal videographer. First, you must attend a two-day seminar called, “Video in the Legal Environment”. Second, you must pass a 100-item multiple-choice test (passing score only stays on your record for three years). Third, you must pass a hands-on production examination. This is where you are graded on your video abilities in mock depositions. Again, your passing score only stays on your record for three years.

CRI (Certified Reporting Instructor)

This professionally certifies and qualifies court reporting teachers. You must either be an educator, administrator or reporter. You must also be an NCRA member beforehand. To become certified, you must attend a 13-hour NCRA Council on Approved Student Education Sponsored Orientation Session for CRI. This certification is valid for three years upon completion of seminar.

MCRI (Master Certified Reporting Instructor)

This is the highest merit for a reporting instructor. It is divided into four parts:

Part 1: You must have a Bachelor’s degree, be CRI certified, currently teach in a court reporting program, have five years teaching experience in a court reporting program, provide evidence of professional and community involvement, and write an essay on your philosophy of education.
Part 2: You must compile a portfolio within one year of admission. Your portfolio will provide evidence of your professional development in the last five years. It will include evidence of superior teaching, court reporting knowledge, teaching pedagogy, and professional community service.
Part 3: You must complete at least 70% of the RPR and MCRI written tests.
Part 4: You must maintain your certification by submitting your curriculum vitae by June 1st of the year the MCRI is going to expire.

CPE (Certified Program Evaluator)

This certifies the individual in evaluating and certifying undergraduate court reporting programs. You must take two e-seminars (“Interpersonal skills” and “Introduction to the CPE certification”).

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in “The Transition from Court Reporting Student to Working Court Reporter”.