Legal functions need documentation of what was said and by whom; a transcript of everything that went on in the courtroom from opening gavel to final sentencing. The person who provides this transcript is a court reporter. Most court reporters are hired by county courts or state courts, contracted out to a court reporting agency, or are freelancers.
One of the important functions of the court reporter is to be the official memory of what's going on; from Roman times onwards, attempts at doing court reporting via shorthand have persisted throughout history, with the original Roman system (which started out as writing down words with vowels omitted, and Latin declensions intuited by word order) got modified through the middle ages, and then systematized into formal shorthand scripts in the 19th century. These shorthand scripts are now more or less replaced with audio recordings which are later transcribed into the official record.
There is still demand for real time court reporter positions; these positions require typing on a specialized transcription machine at roughly 90 words per minute with 99% accuracy. (These specialized keyboards have function keys programmed for specific phrases needed to be inserted into the record). Getting a court reporter position requires going through grueling program of training, on both legal terminology and technical skills for typing and transcription. A typical court reporter program is a three to four year training program, and is usually supplemented by courses in criminal justice and jurisprudence.
During a court session, the on site court reporter is there to transcribe as needed and to maintain the audio record; more and more this is being assisted by technology, including voice recognition software, and techniques used for closed captioning of television series. A court reporter who is on site is expected to be completely transparent – their own personal beliefs should not be entered or even hinted at into the record, and until released or used in the trial in question, their work is utterly confidential.
Court recorders are used in other legal situations as well, such as conferences in a judge's chambers, sitting at depositions, and in legal briefings. While less formal, this still requires the same degree of skill and professionalism to succeed and thrive.
When used in a courtroom, court reporters are there for the duration of the trial, though high profile trials that may take more time to complete may rotate court reporters in on a monthly time frame. All court reporters are expected to turn in their transcripts within 24 hours, and often sooner, so that both sides of the case may refer to it when making their arguments on the following day. In other cases, the turnaround time may be lengthened to five business days.
Most court reporters don't work for the county court system directly; they usually work as contractors through an agency. Typical salary ranges start at $50,000 per year and can go as high as $90,000. While this is good for a job that doesn’t require a degree, it should be noted that court reporters tend to have careers that last under fifteen years, and they typically have to pay for their own benefits. In many ways, court reporters are the professional athletes of the touch typing and transcription world; they're paid high, but have a career that puts a lot of strain on their body, especially the hands and wrists. Where a typical high output writer can expect to put out 1.2 to 2 million words per year, a court reporter can often times hit that threshold in three months.
Getting to the higher salary scales as a court reporter requires increasing levels of certification, both professionally and on the county court and circuit court levels. Most of these certifications involve passing specific technical requirements to gain them, and many may require a Bachelor of Arts degree or a certain minimum number of years of employment to even test for them.
Many former court reporters whose hands can no longer make the speed needed for real time transcription move over to legal transcription work, where their knowledge and expertise in court matters helps build their professional vocabulary, and where the pace can be reduced to more sustainable levels.
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