Cutting Court Reporters

[Danielle Abreu]

Hi, I'm planning to start school for court reporting this summer. I recently heard from a current court reporter student that there is talk of cutting court reporters. I am a resident of California. Does anyone know if this true? Also, can you tell me what to look for in a school?


Thanks for your time,
Danielle

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

They have been claiming that reporters will be cut for years.  I heard that when I was in school 26 years ago.  I do know, however, that reporters have been cut in courts all over the country.   Just never know.   Technology has not come along far enough yet to cut all reporters from the field.  I just don't see it happening, at least not for a while.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

I heard that when I was in school too, in late 70's.    So they're cutting court reporters in the courts.   In one way, that's a good thing.  

 

 All that means is that the Government is not financing plaintiffs and defendants' lawsuits, especially the tidbit county court cases, that are so easy to file.   A lot of county and juvenile courts are using electronic, which makes sense because no transcript is likely to be made.

 

 In the circuit civil matters, the attorney has to pay the court reporter.  Court reporters are still being used.

[Glen Warner]

Hi, Danielle.

Yes, it is true that some short-sighted court admin-folk believe the ER company's rap about how going to their system will save them money.

Eventually, they discover the truth -- that the demo is always better than reality, and the courts hire back the reporters they fired to make room for the court admin's error (who, hopefully, will be fired for wasting state time and money).

But whether that happens or not, court reporters can still use their skills to do captioning and CART.  Hard to replace a reporter in those jobs with a gal with a tape recorder and a laptop ....

As for schools and what to look for, I'll save you a lot of trouble:  Go here:

http://www.ccr.edu

I have been to two schools thus far.  The first one closed (corrupt school owner, basically).  The second one was great -- until I switched to their online program ... and using the experience gained from both versions of that school, I find this one beats them all.

Good luck ......

[Judy]

Danielle,

 

There's always depositions, CART & captioning.

[Glen Warner]

Jeez ..! Forgot to mention deps! Thanks, Judy!

[Cathryn Bauer]

You will hear this constantly throughout your career.  My standard response is, "When a tape reporter can stand up and say, 'Could I have one at a time for the record?' I will worry."  If this is what you want to do, I would not let it stop you.  We are intensely useful to society.

 

I did not find court reporting school helpful and ultimately taught myself.  Please, no email on this.  If online programs had been available at that time, I would have checked them out.  I found that the time and energy spent commuting to school was better spent at the machine.  However, whatever educational program you choose, it is essential to forge a connection with the real world of CR and to keep that going.  Join everything, attend conventions, read everything there is to read about court reporting, captioning, and CART online.nn

[Mary Jo Cochran]

Cathryn is correct about court reporting school.  I went right after high school and passed the RPR before I completed school - back in 1981.  Two years ago I got out my writer (short version of that Saturday, which I won't forget.)  Because of my many years of litigation experience, I rebuilt my skills myself. 

 

Short version again:  

Get involved with everything you can to gain more knowledge.  Don't rely just on school. 

[Keith Rowan II]

There will always be jobs for court reporters, especially in California.  I am in California too.  There are budget problems with the courts and some layoffs here and there but like others said, there are depos and captioning and CART as well.  There are quite a few good schools here in CA, including the one I attended.  Then there are some not so good ones.  What area are you in?  Feel free to private message me if you want to.

[Mary Ann Payonk]

Hi, Danielle.  I would say "due diligence" is a term you're going to hear a lot throughout your court reporting career, especially with experts.  I would suggest to any young professional wishing to make the leap into their chosen career path that they do their own due diligence, weigh the pros and cons, as there are good and bad forecasts for every career (except perhaps undertaker), and make your decisions fully informed on the best experts' opinions on what the future holds.  As many have already mentioned, foretelling the future is hard to do!

 

M.A.