A Review Of The Court Reporting Profession

You may not realize it, but court reporting has been around for quite a long time. It may not be as old as the profession of judging innocence and guilt based on evidence, but it has clearly been a major part of the transformation of the justice system. With the introduction of reliable court reportage, the law profession and the justice system made the crucial step towards modernizing its procedures.

The Past

These court professionals started out by taking down important records of judiciary proceedings using shorthand writing. The use of shorthand allowed for faster writing while maintaining a near-verbatim record of verbal exchanges that took place in court. Shorthand was also used by journalists and those taking secretarial training.

After the stenotype machine was introduced and patented in the United States in 1879, courts started using these machines until every court of law in the country was not complete without one. For decades, the stenotype machine (also called shorthand machine) ruled the then-growing profession of court reporting.

The Present

Come computer age, different methods of court reporting were developed. Today, stenotype machines are being hooked up into computers while other court reporting methods such as voice writing and electronic court reportage emerged and became widely used.

While the number of court professionals has increased in the past decades, the profession remains a relatively small one. Not many people are aware of the profession of court reportage as well as its earning capacity for those who decide to train to become one. At one point, there were more vacancies for court reporters than there are qualified applicants, and some courts of law and businesses that hire stenographers had to hire from outside state in order to get their vacancies filled.

These court professionals currently earn an average of $53,000 per year. Most of them find employment in state and local courthouses. They get trained in stenographic reporting, voice writing, or electronic reporting through any of the dozens of private business schools, online training programs, and community colleges that offer court reportage diplomas or degrees.

The Future

Court reporters will remain in demand in the future, especially in the face of an increasing trend in indictments, court cases, etc. in the United States. Other applications will continue to open for these individuals that have proper training, experience, and expertise.

With the degree that technology is advancing at present, it's very probable that new technological advances in audio recording will create better methods of court reporting. Court reporters have no reason to fear these advancements since better technology usually mean better and larger applications. Even now, court professionals with training in transcription and using shorthand machines are employed to close-caption television shows and events of public interest (such as political speeches, televised trials, etc.). This way, they can expand their career path and financial rewards in the profession.

This career can be truly a rewarding one, both from a financial perspective as well as from a challenging point of view. If you are considering re-training, 2012, is the right time to do it. There has never been a better time to re-train and the legal professional has been many career paths to choose from - this is just one of them.