Court reporting is an occupation that requires a person to record the spoken words into written documents in legal settings. Those who work as court reporters are often responsible for transcribing court hearings, depositions, and other legal documents. Reporters of this manner sometimes are referred to as stenographers if they use the stenotype. They can also be called voice writers and steno mask writers if they use other methods of transcription.
Digital recorders and machine short hands are often used in court reporting in order to get every word down in an accurate manner. The shorthand allows the court reporter to sit close to the people talking and use shorthand cues in order to write out full words. Voice writers, on the other hand, repeat what everyone says word for word and allow their voice to be transcribed into the written document. The abilities court reporters have to pay attention to even small details are very important. They also have to concentrate hard for long periods of time and they need to fully understand the language with which they are working in order to ensure the accuracy of the document they are preparing.
Court reporting careers take some training and academic work prior to their inception. Those who want to get a degree in court reporting can take classes that help them understand legal languages as well as the English language overall. The degrees can usually be achieves within two years, but stenotype court reporting might take longer to complete. Students can often take classes by mail, online, or on-site at a number of different technical and community colleges across the country.
Court reporting also requires on-going training and students that finish their initial training should be prepared to continue their training on a regular basis. Court reporting takes regular practice for both speed and accuracy and reporters have to continue their educations to maintain their license. Some states require that court reporters also become notary publish so they can swear witnesses into the court proceedings and even certify that what they heard at the proceeding is both true and complete.
Often, court reporters will join professional organizations in order to keep up with their training. They might find that freelance opportunities allow them more options and increased earning potential along with more flexibility, but most court reporting is done on a full time basis. Court reporters might find that they work well as an independent contractor who can even move into closed captioning for TV, websites and many other areas. Those who work full time for specific courtrooms basically take part in the same proceedings on a daily basis and can become quite good at their specialties. Court reporting is in high demand and it is a good career path to examine.
Houston Court Reporting – Court reporting is a specialized field that requires accuracy and a heightened level of professionalism, as is shown on the website Acuscribe.com where you can find court reporters in Houston.