realtime

For years, people have been warning court reporters and students that the future of court reporting is doomed. But contrary to the warnings, the industry has not collapsed. It is alive and well, even thriving due to advancements that have strengthened the profession.

Over 30 years ago, when I became a court reporter, I heard the warnings, “Court reporters will be replaced by electronic recording….you won’t have a job once video replaces you…voice recognition is going to kill court reporting.”

Over the years, I have seen these arguments and many more fall by the wayside. One by one, they were proven wrong as our skills grew stronger, our technology blossomed, and new career paths opened up that widened our profession. A career in court reporting is as stable today as it was years ago when I first began reporting.

Projections

The United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor and Statistics publishes the Occupational Outlook Handbook. This handbook is a source for career information about many different professions. The profiles feature hundreds of occupations and describe the occupations, the work environment, how to enter the field, and more. Each profile also includes employment projections for the 2010–2020 decade. The Occupational Outlook Handbook lists court reporting and gives facts about the industry that are beneficial to anyone who is thinking of entering the field. These facts are also reassuring to court reporters who are still hearing warnings of job shrinkage.

There are currently 22,000 court reporters estimated to be employed in the United States. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects this number to grow by 14% from 2010 to 2020. This is hardly an indication of a shrinking job market. In fact, the field is expected to grow at an average pace when compared to other occupations.

New Technology

The technology of court reporting has evolved over the years, and continues to advance as computers and the internet advance in sophistication. For years, the only technology used was a stenotype machine and a typewriter.

In the early ’80s, computer-aided transcription became the norm. Court reporters were able to teach computers how to read steno notes and help turn those notes into transcripts. Over the years, the computer-aided technology has developed into realtime reporting, allowing our steno notes to be instantaneously translated at a high rate of accuracy.

Video began to be incorporated to allow for video depositions accompanied by traditional transcription. With the evolution of the Internet, we now have the capability to transmit video, audio and realtime transcription to remote locations. The realtime nature of this new technology means parties can effectively participate in proceedings that are taking place in different geographical locations without leaving their own office.

These new technologies allow court reporters to not only stay relevant to legal proceedings, but also offer wider and more convenient services to clients

New Skills

With the new technology of computer-aided transcription in real time, court reporters began to evolve the traditional shorthand theory into a new system of writing that allowed for more accurate realtime transcription. Over the last 20 years, many reporters have retrained themselves in a new way of writing. This higher level of realtime accuracy allows reporters to project realtime translation and also deliver a highly accurate rough draft immediately upon the conclusion of the proceedings. The realtime translation is helpful to the attorneys while they are asking their questions of the witness. The rough draft being supplied is popular for attorneys preparing for an upcoming trial who want the convenience of having the written testimony in front of them immediately after the proceedings have concluded.

Another skill that has developed in the last couple decades is legal video. The profession, as a whole, has pioneered legal video and streaming video so that they may deliver these services to clients who can take advantage of the technology and use it to their best benefit. The National Court Reporters Association offers certification for videographers who are interested in providing a high level of professional legal video to clients. This standardization allows the court reporting industry to continue to provide highly professional video for legal use.

The ability to commandeer these new technologies and use them to offer a wider variety of services has allowed court reporters to continue to stay relevant over the years.

New Career Paths

Once reporters adapted their writing to provide highly accurate realtime translation, reporters began offering their services to the deaf community and people who are severely hard of hearing. These realtime skills are now employed to provide broadcast captioning of live television shows, such as news broadcasts. Television captions are typically created before a show airs. In the case of live television shows, there is no opportunity to create captions before the show airs. Working with television stations, court reporters began using their skills to translate the spoken word in realtime and send it out with live television shows.

Realtime also became the method to provide Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) to individuals in schools, the work place and live theater. With the CART provider writing what is being spoken, the person receiving assistance can then read the captions from a computer screen and is able to participate in live discussions that would typically be extremely difficult without the live captions being provided.

These new fields of broadcast captioning and Communication Access Realtime Translation has broadened a court reporter’s choices of fields to work in and expanded the number of jobs available in the profession.

A Profession That is Strong and Growing

This equation of new technologies, new skills and new career paths adds up to a profession that is alive and thriving. When people tell me court reporting is dying, I know they are wrong because of the developments I have watched and participated in over the years. The truth is the field of court reporting is stronger now than ever.

Streaming Realtime transcription is the term for transcription by court reporters to deliver computer text of speech over the Internet within seconds of the words being spoken. Realtime can also mean transmitting audio and video of the proceedings. Users can see the text and video from any computer with Internet access as the witness answers questions. Streaming realtime can be viewed from any computer, whether in the same room as the proceedings or viewed remotely from another location.

Here are some of the benefits of using realtime transcription:

View text and video in real time during the proceedings.

This form of streaming transcription is accessible as it happens in real time. An attendee may not be in the same room, but through streaming realtime, they can watch from their office or remote location and see what is happening as it unfolds. No longer will you need to obtain a video to send to the party who wishes to see it.

Attend and participate in depositions from any computer remotely.

Streaming realtime can cut down on your travel time. Rather than driving for hours for a short deposition in which you are going to ask only a couple questions, you can now hire a court reporter to provide streaming realtime which you can access from your desk. Streaming realtime allows you to not only view but also participate in the deposition.

Carefully review testimony during proceedings as needed.

Unlike a regular video dep, streaming realtime allows you to see the written words on your computer screen as it happens. This can make it easier for you to follow the testimony and carefully review areas of special concern as they are being spoken.

Quickly search text during the proceedings.

As you are listening to the deposition, if you find a need to go back and review previous pieces of testimony, you can do so with streaming realtime transcription. You can then direct attention to the necessary areas of testimony, rather than wait until the transcript is prepared.

Easily search text and video, and view them simultaneously once proceedings have ended.

There may be portions of the video and transcript you want to review immediately after the deposition has concluded. You will be able to search text and video to review those portions of interest. A transcript may not be ready for several days. This feature allows you to review while the entire deposition is still fresh in your mind.

Obtain a rough draft copy of the transcript after proceedings have concluded.

If you want to send the testimony to an expert witness as soon as possible, obtaining a rough draft copy will allow you to do so. You may have a quick deadline coming up and need to be sure your witness has reviewed the testimony.

Getting Started:

When scheduling a deposition, ask your court reporting firm if they provide realtime text and video streaming. Realtime transcription is often provided at higher rates than regular transcription as it takes a more specialized and experienced court reporter, so be prepared to pay a little more for the convenience of realtime transcription.

If you would like to schedule a deposition with O’Brien and Bails Court Reporting, you can now do so online with our Deposition Scheduler. We will be happy to take care of the details for you.

The Court Reporting Profession is Alive and Well