What Does a Court Reporter Do?
Court reporters play an important role inside and outside the courtroom. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the court reporter’s job as creating written accounts of every single word spoken during court cases, meetings, speeches and other events, thus creating official records. These official records can then be used, and are often needed, for proof in court.
Court reporters must be comprehensive and accurate in their word-for-word transcripts of spoken words during legal proceedings. Someone’s legal appeal could depend on it. Court reporters also have various other responsibilities, such as organizing official records or searching them for requested information. The U.S. Department of Justice defines a court reporter’s job as making a verbatim record of what is said in court and producing transcripts of the proceedings upon request. However, court reporters are also trained to assist the deaf or those with limited hearing with closed-captioning or translation, opening up other career opportunities in closed-captioning.
Necessary Skills
Most court reporters either need to possess skills in stenotyping or voice writing, the two main ways a court reporter does their job.
With a stenotype machine, a court reporter can hit multiple keys at one time, recording symbols representing sounds, words or phrases. A computer saves the symbols, which are later translated and organized as text. With voice writing, a court reporter can speak into a microphone recorder covered by a mask. Others in court cannot hear the court reporter because of a silencer covering the recorder. Here they record every detail of a proceeding, repeating testimony and even noting hand gestures and surprise reactions.
Court reporters must be organized, keeping their computer dictionary updated so translations come through correctly. And after the record is taken, there is still grammar to correct to ensure anyone reading the official record can follow it easily.
Always in a courtroom?
While many court reporters do their work in the courtroom, some make their living taking statements for lawyers, recording the goings-on at meetings or big events and conventions, so if you are considering a career in court reporting, know that you don’t have to limit yourself to the courtroom.
