The World of Realtime Court Reporting

With the new school year barely underway, high school juniors are feeling the college crunch already. Most seniors have a pretty good idea of which direction they are headed at this point – but not all. Let’s face it: Today, finding the right career is no easy task. It used to be that if you had an interest in teaching, you majored in education; writing – that’s simple – either English or perhaps journalism. High school seniors and juniors unfortunately don’t have that luxury these days. The primary reason is lack of jobs. You may love a particular field, but we all know that no one wants to spend 4 or more years in college, and thousands and thousands of dollars to boot, only to graduate and be out of work.

So what if I told you there is a field that is not only exciting and recession-proof but one in which, without a college degree, you can earn well over $100,000 a year? Did I mention that this program can be done in as little as two and half years AND for a fraction of the cost of four years at college? Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, guess what? It’s not!

Can you text message? Well, if you can text, you can make big bucks as a court reporter. Although court reporters use their own lingo, typically it is the same concept. Court reporters use a computerized stenowriter (think BIG text message machine) and press multiple keys at once to record combinations of letters representing sounds, words, or phrases. These steno strokes are digitally recorded and then translated and displayed as text in a process called computer-aided transcription, or “CAT.” Realtime translation provides text or captions on a viewing screen, such as at the bottom of your TV, to assist ESL learners and, most importantly, the hearing-disabled community. As the reporter keys in the steno, the spoken word or phrase instantly appears as text on the screen, hence the term “realtime translation.”

Court reporting has been around for many, many years but was not considered a high-tech or information technology career until the court reporter linked up with the computer.

To make it as a court reporter, you’ve got to keyboard on a steno machine like the building’s on fire or, to give you a more concrete example, record every single word of a speed-talking attorney who might be constantly interrupted by an anxious witness. You also need a strong grasp of the English language and knowledge of legal and medical terminology. And you need to be comfortable around the technology that supports your skill.

Not only does this field pay well, but it can also be somewhat glamorous. If working in a courtroom on a high-profile case or giving the gift of “hearing” to a deaf student in a classroom setting doesn’t excite you, why not opt for a captioning career with a major TV station like ABC, NBC, or perhaps even ESPN? Not only do court reporters work in freelance and judicial settings, but they also cover public board meetings, conventions, and webcast for Fortune 500 companies. The possibilities are simply endless…and that’s nothing to LOL about!

Editorial is provided by Mary Ellen Arce, Admissions Coordinator – StenoTech Career Institute, Fairfield NJ.