Are Court Reporter Jobs Disappearing?

Court reporters are familiar to everyone, often pictured with their distinct steno machines. Recently, there have been issues that these court reporters begin to disappear from courtrooms. The judicial government's condition that these court reporter jobs should have digital tracks may indicate increased costs on the part of taxpayers. Moreover, it also implies that there will be court transcripts without the highest possible accuracy.

But before you start believing all information shared by other people and sources about this, it will be helpful if you read some of the details provided below.

A senior resident judge of the Supreme Court stated that he did not oppose altering any of the live court reporters having digital recorders. Instead, he pointed out that the choice, so far, has primarily to do with the technology required to bring about this change.

There was also research released by the Office of Courts manager that the records must be in serious court proceedings. For instance, they can be court or civil arrest proceedings within the Superior Court. On the other hand, digital records must be available in various areas for more proceedings in the District Court. If a digital record turns out to be the new standard, then it's possible that over a hundred court report jobs will be replaced.

What About The Manager Office of Courts?

The Manager Office of Courts, a system in the legal court, has just transported out its study about the curiosity and salary of court reporters about a request and it has been showed up with a General Setup in the previous years. It was believed that around $2 Million might be saved just in case these private reporters have been hired according to a demand basis while recording equipment has been ready in the docket rooms of court.

According to a long-time instructor in the industry, this profession has experienced several changes over the years. He delivered this statement to the prospective students of court reporting during their orientation. A certified court reporting job now demands to obtain the proper license. Furthermore, aspiring court reporters must learn that they should be capable of typing in shorthand. It can be about 200 words in one minute with about 97 percent rate of accuracy. Some stenotype jobs for court reporting do not require certification and a lot of requirements.

Other instructors of court reporting share the same sentiment. They explain that over the period of several decades, technology has made a great transformation in the field but the economy has eventually shaken this industry. Also, they say that court reporters were greatly needed until recently as a result of insufficiency of funds in numerous courts.

Previously, the Superior Court of Los Angeles was able to save around $10.2 Million after shedding from the payroll of over sixty official court reporting jobs. This way, the orders for budget reduction will be successfully met. From then on, the court has stopped giving court reporting jobs in various civil trials.

The Pay Rates

A few months ago, the Superior Court of San Diego had laid off its thirty court reporters. Then, they will just be giving some criminal proceedings as well as civil hearings since it has been required by the law. There are still confusions regarding the pay rates. It is due to the reason that the state law provides that certified records come with specific rates. The issue falls on the affordability of such requirement. There may be some litigants that cannot pay for that official record. The appeals must be legitimately acceptable transcripts or records of the court proceeding.

It's worthy to note, however, that court reporting jobs will continue to be in demand because the need for accurate records is always there.