Many assume that electronic recording equipment would replace the human court reporter. The fact is, technology has increased the demand, and the field is alive and well. The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) reports a nationwide shortage of workers.

“We have nearly 100 percent job placement of our graduates, and they’re receiving multiple job offers even before they graduate,” said Marlene Cohen, employment specialist at Orleans Technical Institute, which has a new campus in Philadelphia that’s only minutes from the area bridges and offers the only court reporting training program in the tri-state region certified by the NCRA. 

Career Outlook & Opportunities
The U.S. Department of Labor projects that jobs in this field will grow 25 percent through 2016—faster than the average—and says that “job openings continue to outnumber jobseekers.” Full-time salaries are solidly above the U.S. median, according to the NCRA. Forbes.com included court reporting among its report of “Surprising Six-Figure Jobs,” noting a national median salary of $62,000 annually, “though it tops $100,000 in many cities.”

Many new court reporters are attracted to the job security and the money, but Cohen notes that the majority of Orleans graduates especially enjoy the flexibility and independence of working as freelancers. As independent contractors for court reporting firms, reporters are hired by attorneys to create a record of pretrial depositions.

Court reporters’ unique, high-tech skills can also be seen increasingly at conventions, special events, even churches, that feature “realtime” captioning, where a speakers’ words are instantly displayed on a large projection screen and then available in print format.
“Realtime technology is evolving into areas that I never dreamed of,” said Terry Tumolillo, a court reporting graduate of Orleans who founded VoicePrint Inc. in Mt. Laurel. Her company offers technology called CART, which stands for Communication Access Realtime Translation.

“CART services are invaluable to the corporate world, but also on a more personal level,” she said. “A court reporter can be paid very well to accompany a student who is hard-of-hearing and provide an instant conversion of the teacher’s lecture, notes and class discussions into text that is readable on the student’s laptop.”

“With this technology, a person who doesn’t use sign language or has a limited ability to read lips can sit alongside a court reporter who provides instant word-for-word, speech-to-text,” she said. “Having this live, in-person technology allows a student to participate more fully in the classroom.”

Career Highlights
Variety of Career Paths – The role of court reporters continues to evolve from serving as information managers in trials, to capturing depositions and business proceedings in digital format, to assisting hard-of-hearing persons through advanced captioning technology. Trained reporters typically work in one of four career avenues: courtroom/judicial reporting; freelance reporting; realtime reporting (CART); and broadcast/closed captioning. However, reporters can switch within the field and apply their skills to other applications such as webcasting.

Job Security – Court reporting is a highly specialized profession. It is a career that can last a lifetime because the technology is expanding the applications for this unique skill set. Court reporters offer technological advantages of their own, namely the ability to produce accurate, readable text in realtime.

Flexibility & Independence – Freelancing gives court reporters the freedom to set their own hours, determine their own availability, and be their own bosses. Freelancers are paid per job and receive a per-page fee for transcripts. They may work for attorneys to take depositions prior to trial or may be hired to create verbatim, computer-based transcripts of proceedings beyond the walls of the courtroom, from business meetings, roundtable discussions and stockholder sessions to public hearings and arbitrations.

Accessibility – The technology works relatively the same whether a court reporter is working physically in a courtroom, transcribing a meeting or college lecture live, or creating a transcript of a previously recorded interview or speech. Some jobs can be done from home or anywhere you have access to an Internet connection.

Career Training
Discover why a career in court reporting offers security, flexibility and exciting work environments. Call The Court Reporting Program at Orleans Technical Institute at 215-728-4426 or visit www.orleanstech.edu to learn more about the school’s Associate in Specialized Business (ASB) degree program, including a comprehensive internship, career preparation and job search assistance.