Court Reporters And Captioners Are In Demand

Becoming a court reporter is a sure-fire path to a good job, experts say.

A recent National Court Reporters Association survey that looked at the trends affecting job opportunities in the profession found there will be 5,500 job openings available in the field across the country in the next five years, Smart Business Cleveland reported.

Miami court reporters
The high tech solutions adopted by CourtScribes Miami court reporters could help solve personnel shortages.

“We have a 100 percent employment rate for graduates,” Kelly Moranz, program manager and adjunct faculty in the Captioning and Court Reporting program at Cuyahoga Community College, told Smart Business. “I’m always getting calls about job openings. Court reporters and captionists are being hired locally and all over the country.”

She said part of the reason for the strong demand is that many court reporters are retiring, so jobs are opening up but there aren’t enough people to fill them.

Also, a lack of awareness about the profession means people don’t often think of it as a career choice, something that court reporting programs are working locally and nationally change.

Moranz said flexibility is one attractive feature about the job. Captioners and court reporters often can work from home with significant earning potential. She said it’s not uncommon for experienced reporters to earn more than $100,000 a year.

She said new reporters might start out doing freelance work like deposition hearings, arbitrations or CART captioning for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community In court

There are also video captioning opportunities, including post-production jobs for companies like Nextflix and Hulu.

Training programs typically teach students the skills they need to earn their National Court Reporters Association or National Verbatim Reporters Association certification. There is also an associate degree option, which typically takes two years to complete.

The emphasis in court reporting is on accuracy and performance,  so students need to practice regularly to be successful.

Moranz noted that captioning and court reporting is an in-demand field offering excellent pay and great flexibility for those willing to put in the work.