Official court reporters have days with quite a bit of variety.
One day they record the story of a new restaurant owner who is in court to countersue his landlord that goes something like this:
With the loan to drop a new chicken restaurant, the plaintiff claimed that the landlord knew that the restaurant would never work. In fact, looking back at old research as many as five different restaurants had opened and failed in that same space in the last 12 years. The problem was not the location, the problem was the neighboring tenant. Business at the new restaurant was doing well every day right up until 5:00 pm. Some days, they even did $1000 worth of business by 4:00 pm. As soon as 5:00 rolled around, however, the neighboring tenant’s business really started to pick up. Turns out the tattoo parlor crowd is a little intimidating to the customers of a family chicken restaurant. The loud music, the sporadic parking, and he unusual cliental were all factors that lead to the failure of the chicken restaurant, and, quite frankly, the previous five restaurants as well. The tenant was not looking for any compensation from the landlord, he simply wanted out of the lease.
Another day official court reporters find themselves recording the story of a traffic stop that was anything but usual:
The police officer initially just stopped to see if he could help what appeared to be a stranded motorist with a flat tire. Within a few seconds, however, the officer realized that this stop was not gong to be anything average. He immediately called for back up and when he realized that the next cruiser was just a couple of minutes away, he approached the vehicle. The driver and his companion certainly seemed skittish when the officer asked to look inside the trunk for any spare tire accessories. The driver attempted to assure the officer that they had already thoroughly looked through the trunk. Just as the second cruiser pulled up the officer demanded that the trunk be opened. It was not immediately apparent that there was no spare tire, however, because the trunk was filled with what appeared to be stolen items. Various boxes of smart phones, tablet, laptops, and other electronics filled the trunk. It had taken a few days to file all of the charges, but it appeared that the officer had located the two people who had been stealing Christmas package deliveries to homes in the area.
Not every story that a court reporter for hire hears is quite this exciting, but the unusual cases really stand out. From making a written transcript from audio recordings and legal video depositions to taking actually being in the courtroom, official court reporters can have many days that are routine, as well as some very unusual situations. Court reporting companies across the country are often looking to hire official court reporters year round.
Are You Ready for a New Career That Makes Use of Your Good Listening and Fast Keyboarding Skills?
The general public probably does not know that as many as 70% of the nation?s 50,000 court reporters work outside of the court. The reality of court reporting services, however, is that only a small portion of these jobs actually take place in the courtroom. for while some court reporters have the kinds of jobs that the general public sees on television and in the movies, many in this profession are recording depositions off site that will be later used in the courtroom.
Deposition video recording, for instance, also requires a written transcript that can be entered into court documents. For all of these court reporting careers, however, one thing is common. All applicants must have gone through a training and certification process that typically takes anywhere from three years to four years. In most cases, the average length is actually 33.3 months. The ultimate goal is to be able to spend as much as Students should be prepared to spend as 15 hours each week transcribing the spoken word in order to develop skills that include being able to record 225 words a minute. Given that this career is expected to continue to grow through the year 2022, now is a great time to start.