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Archive for October, 2019

Free Introduction to Court Reporting Classes Offered in Illinois

Posted on: October 28th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments

As we already know, court reporters, and the transcripts they produce are a support pillar of the court system, but a shortage of licensed court reporters is looming on the horizon. This is a point that CourtScribes.com has written about often.

Tammy Bumgarner, the Director of Court Reporting Services in Springfield, Illinois, says that if something is not done soon to change the course of the profession, there could be a slow down in the court system waiting for a record of proceedings in the state.

Licensed court reporters take a verbatim record in the criminal cases heard in Illinois to ensure that all citizens have equal access to justice, not just for those who can afford to hire a court reporter.

The profession of court reporting has been seeing a decline for the past few decades for many reasons.

Why the Decline

 

The profession is in high demand with many students getting recruited by agencies and the court system before they have even have completed school. Court reporters’ starting salary in Illinois can be from $41,000 to $51,000 per year with benefits and additional transcript income. You do not need to have a college degree to be a court reporter. One just needs to gain enough proficiency on a steno machine to pass the licensing exam.

“There are many trades which are now suffering from the ‘college only’ mentality that’s been preached to kids. That’s causing shortages in professions while simultaneously driving up wages,” said Bumgarner.

 

“The average age of official court reporters in Illinois is 52 years old. One-third of our court reporters are already eligible for retirement, which means we will likely have to replace more than 400 employees in the next 10-15 years, and it’s a scary prospect,” says Bumgarner.

“We need to get creative to figure out how we can get more people to consider this profession. One of those things that we’re doing is offering a free Introduction to Court Reporting class, called First Steps, which will be taught by our court reporters,” Bumgarner says.

 

Classes will be a couple of hours, one day a week, for four weeks. Participants will learn what it takes to be a court reporter, what type of work they can do, be assessed for success in a court reporting program, and be able to get their hands on a steno writer.

With over 20 locations all over the state, there’s likely to be a class offered near you. For more information, visit www.illinoisofficialcourtreporters.com/firststeps

CourtScribes.com supports all states and programs that aid in the court reporting world, and we too are ready to serve you in your court reporting, videography services, interpreters, live-streaming, and video-to-text synchronization.

Although the majority of cities that offer CourtScribes’ services are in Florida, the company home base, other cities all across these United States that CourtScribes offers services in, are the following: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Clearwater, Palm Bay, Fort Myers, Weston, Sarasota, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Stuart, Hollywood, Naples, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Jupiter, Key West, Coral Gables, Maryland, Manhattan, Buffalo, Washington DC, Baltimore, Bowie, Virginia, Frederick, Albany, New York, Brooklyn,  Westchester, Gaithersberg, and Rockville.

So You Want to Be a Stenographer

Posted on: October 21st, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments

So You Want to be a Court ReporterA stenographer, or court reporter, works in a courtroom and transcribes spoken words by typing them into a steno machine. A steno machine is a kind of shorthand typewriter. Having fast and accurate typing skills are vital for a stenographer job. Stenographers must be licensed and certified in addition to passing a special exam.

Important Information

Stenographers are responsible for court and medical transcription as well as live broadcast captioning for the hearing impaired and the elderly. They use shorthand and a steno machine to transcribe information and commit it to the public record. Individuals who work in the court system must be licensed and professionally certified in many states.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the job growth in this field will be faster than average for all occupations through 2028, with the best opportunities for stenographers trained in Communication Access Real-Time Translation (CART) or those who can go with clients to medical appointments or public meetings to provide transcription services.

 

Career Information

Stenographers are responsible for transcribing exact legal or medical proceedings for the record. Stenographers are employed primarily by courts, because lawyers and court officials need an exact transcript to use during trials. There is no room for error in the stenography profession, and most in the occupation learn to type at 225 words per minute in order to capture entire conversations quickly and accurately.

Each state has different requirements for stenographers, but all states require stenographers to pass examinations to gain their credentials before they are employed in courts. In most cases, individuals must pass a voice writer test with a written portion covering grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Job Duties

Stenographers must learn a special type of shorthand. It is an abbreviated language form that is designed for rapid transcription, to take notes on a steno machine in order to catch each word that is spoken. Once the notes are entered into the machine by the stenographer, they are translated by computer software into English.

The stenographer responsible for recording the proceedings takes the rough transcript and proofreads it before creating a final transcript and committing it to an official record. Stenographers must have a good grasp of legal and medical terminology as well as complete proficiency in the English language to do their jobs to employer standards.

Career Outlook

According to the BLS, the job outlook for stenographers should be slower than the average for all professions. Court reporting was projected to grow by 7% between years 2018-2028. Court reporters with certification were expected to still be in demand, especially in some federal and state courts. Because of growing costs, courts are at times using digital audio recording to replace stenographers, but other markets, such as live captioning for the deaf and elderly, are growing very quickly.

The more efficiently and accurately a stenographer can type, the higher their chances of finding work. Some schools may even offer associate degree programs for stenographers to increase their skills.

CourtScribes.com supports all states and programs that aid in the court reporting world, and we too are ready to serve you in your court reporting, videography services, interpreters, live-streaming, and video-to-text synchronization.

Although the majority of cities that offer CourtScribes’ services are in Florida, the company home base, other cities all across these United States that CourtScribes offers services in, are the following: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Clearwater, Palm Bay, Fort Myers, Weston, Sarasota, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Stuart, Hollywood, Naples, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Jupiter, Key West, Coral Gables, Maryland, Manhattan, Buffalo, Washington DC, Baltimore, Bowie, Virginia, Frederick, Albany, New York, Brooklyn,  Westchester, Gaithersberg, and Rockville.

Invisibility Leads to Court Reporter Shortages

Posted on: October 14th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments

ncra-logoIf you read the blogs at CourtScribes, then you know we have pointed out how many court reporters have recently retired and new court reporters are sorely needed. The National Court Reporters Association estimates a shortage of 5,000 court reporters throughout the United States.

“There will be a crisis point in about a decade if things don’t change,” said Tammy Bumgarner, director of court reporting services for the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. “Right now, the average age of our court reporters in Illinois is 52 years old, and 75 percent are, right now, eligible for retirement. More than 400 court reporters will have to be replaced in the next 10 years.”

A court reporter is the one responsible for making a full stenographic report of the evidence and all other proceedings presented during a trial, a hearing, a deposition or any other legal proceedings. The primary function is to make a verbatim record of all testimony. Sometimes upon request, court reporters can even produce a written transcript of the proceeding. The reporter must be excellent with grammar and spelling. Having an extensive vocabulary, particularly legal, medical and technical terminology is a major benefit as well.

 

What Do the Research & Studies Say

According to an industry outlook study, 5,000 to 5,500 court reporters nationwide will retire over the next several years, creating a huge and steady demand for new professionals entering the field.

The starting salary for a court reporter can vary depending on location, experience, education, certifications and other skills. The average annual pay in 2018 was $68,560, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

The old idea of a court reporter taking notes on a steno pad, or a machine with an endless feed of paper, is long gone. It has been replaced by the modern-day paperless real-time translation technology that displays a spoken word on a computer screen almost as soon as it is said.

A court reporter uses a steno machine (also called a writer), pressing a combination of 22 keys to take down what is being said at a speed of 225 words per minute. Each key represents a phonetic sound, which is translated by the computer program into English words.

 

Why are Electronic Recordings Better

Electronic recordings can be used as a back-up, but the court’s primary concern is to have an accurate record. Court reporters can distinguish between multiple speakers and context of what is being said. Unfortunately these can get lost in audio recordings.

A court reporter is mandated in cases involving adoption, felonies, juveniles, juvenile abuse and neglect, juvenile delinquency, mental health and non-public interviews of children.

What Do You Need to Be a Court Reporter

Forbes has named court reporting as one of the best career options that does not require a traditional four-year degree. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the court reporting field is expected to grow by 14 percent through the year 2020. The National Court Reporters Association offers a program called “A to Z,” which provides free, six-week trial classes to test a student’s interest.

Few enrollees finish the class and acquire their certificates. Out of a class of 40, one or two will get theirs.

The length of time for certification depends on how driven the person is.

CourtScribes.com supports all states and programs that aid in the court reporting world, and we too are ready to serve you in your court reporting, videography services, interpreters, live-streaming, and video-to-text synchronization.

Although the majority of cities that offer CourtScribes’ services are in Florida, the company home base, other cities all across these United States that CourtScribes offers services in, are the following: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Clearwater, Palm Bay, Fort Myers, Weston, Sarasota, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Stuart, Hollywood, Naples, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Jupiter, Key West, Coral Gables, Maryland, Manhattan, Buffalo, Washington DC, Baltimore, Bowie, Virginia, Frederick, Albany, New York, Brooklyn,  Westchester, Gaithersberg, and Rockville.

Georgia’s Only Certified Court Reporting College Closing Doors

Posted on: October 7th, 2019 by Dependable Website Management No Comments

brown-college-court-reportingFor nearly 50 years students at Brown College of Court Reporting (open since 1972) in Atlanta have learned to be the quickest, the best and the most accurate court reporters in the whole country. Grads logged live legal proceedings and even did closed captioning for television.

This week as new students prepared to start their courses, they learned the school was canceling courses for incoming students.

“The director put out an email on Friday that the school would not be accepting any new students and that more information would be forthcoming,” said student Phyillis Watson. Watson is set to graduate soon with stenography and voice writing skills certifications.

Phyillis learned the bad news from friends who had just applied for classes this fall that the school would actually be closing soon.

“Friends started calling current students saying what did you refer me to this school for when they’re going to close,” Phyllis recalled.

 

Why is the School Closing

School leaders said they found out within the last week from the owners in Chicago.

“It literally was short notice,” said Carlette Jennings, the director of admissions at Brown College. “When I learned was literally when our ownership told us about it so they’re not wrong. It was short notice and it’s disappointing. It’s disappointing to all of us.”

They blame the move on low-enrollment, a growing problem with court reporting schools across the country. We have discussed this several times on CourtScribes. Brown currently has about 160 students and it’s the only accredited court reporting school in the whole state.

“I think people have mistakenly decided for themselves that this is no longer a viable career, but you still need someone in charge of the record,” Jennings said. “ We cannot give that over to cameras and microphones. The legal record, the judicial record is too important. You need some human being who is taking care of the equipment, who is proof-reading the record who is making sure everything is correct, verbatim,” she went on.

The National Court Reporter’s Association noted that just five years ago there were 60 approved schools in the United States and Canada. With Brown College’s closing, that number will dwindle down to just 24.

Current students tell us they are concerned, but the school says their classes will continue as planned this year.

New students will get assistance with other schools in other states. School officials say any admission related fees are being refunded. The next closest NCRA-approved schools are in Florida and Alabama.

CourtScribes.com supports all states and programs that aid in the court reporting world, and we too are ready to serve you in your court reporting, videography services, interpreters, live-streaming, and video-to-text synchronization.

Although the majority of cities that offer CourtScribes’ services are in Florida, the company home base, other cities all across these United States that CourtScribes offers services in, are the following: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Clearwater, Palm Bay, Fort Myers, Weston, Sarasota, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Stuart, Hollywood, Naples, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, Jupiter, Key West, Coral Gables, Maryland, Manhattan, Buffalo, Washington DC, Baltimore, Bowie, Virginia, Frederick, Albany, New York, Brooklyn,  Westchester, Gaithersberg, and Rockville.