Court Reporters Job Description, Duties & Salary

Employment Prospects

Employers

Approximately 17,500 court reporters are employed in the United States. Twenty-three percent are employed by state courts and 26 percent by local courts. Some court reporters are employed by federal courts. Others work for themselves as freelancers or as employees of freelance reporting agencies. These freelance reporters are hired by attorneys to record the pretrial statements, or depositions, of experts and other witnesses. When people want transcripts of other important discussions, freelance reporters may be called on to record what is said at business meetings, large conventions, or similar events.

Most court reporters work in middle- to large-size cities, although they are needed anywhere a court of law is in session. In smaller cities, a court reporter may only work part time.

A recent application of court-reporting skills and technology is in the field of television captioning. Using specialized computer-aided transcription systems, reporters (also known as broadcast captioners) can produce captions for live television events, including sporting events and national and local news, for the benefit of hearing-impaired viewers.

Starting Out

After completing the required training, court reporters usually work for a freelance reporting company that provides court reporters for business meetings and courtroom proceedings on a temporary basis. Qualified reporters can also contact these freelance reporting companies on their own. Occasionally a court reporter will be hired directly out of school as a courtroom official, but ordinarily only those with several years of experience are hired for full-time judiciary work. A would-be court reporter may start out working as a medical transcriptionist or other specific transcriptionist to get the necessary experience.

Job placement counselors at community colleges can be helpful in finding that first job. The Internet is also rich with job boards and employment information for all careers, including court reporting.

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