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Court Reporting Degree

Court reporters create the first record of trials and legal proceedings, but graduates of court reporting degree programs don’t always find themselves in the court room. Any proceeding that requires an extremely accurate record, including government meetings, often involves a court reporter providing a record of what transpired.

Court Reporting Training and Courses

Most fast typers can work at about 90 words per minute. But conversations in English often occur at more than 200 words per minute. Since the principal duty of a court reporter is to provide a record of testimony and communication between officers of the court, one of their first tasks is to learn the phonetically-based keyboards of specialized recording machines. They also learn how to convert that raw data that they gain from typing into accurate reports for courts or other specialized agencies. This requires an understanding of proper grammar and editing, as well as the ability to quickly grasp and identify jargon for proper spelling.

Did you know? Despite improvements in transcription software, court reporter jobs are expected to increase 14 percent from 2010-2020 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Individuals with this skill set are also in demand for television close captioning and to assist the growing elderly population and hearing impaired with activities like doctor appointments or church services.

Coursework for court reporter degree programs may also include such concepts as creating dictionaries that will allow them to create shortcuts for commonly used phrases or words. Additional coursework may be available for those who are considering working as independent contractors and may wish to have additional training in medical transcription or reporting needs. In that case, additional vocabulary building and dictionary training courses will be added to the base program.

Career Outlook for Individuals with a Court Reporting Degree

Due to the highly specialized nature of court reporting, wages are generally good with full-time workers earning a median wage of $47,000 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Freelance workers can make a substantially higher rate, especially for those serving agencies with less frequent needs such as municipal governments.