Frequently Asked Questions

Court reporters become legally certified by first receiving a certification of completion from a state-recognized court reporting program. They must also pass the state exam to earn their license. Reporters can receive additional certifications through the National Court Reporting Association, such as Realtime reporting.

To become certified, court reporters must have a typing speed of over 200 words per minute and an accuracy of 97.5%.

They can! Court reporters can utilize their transcription skills for CART, Communication Access Realtime Translation, which provides Realtime transcription feeds for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in classroom settings. Reporters also provide closed captions that you see on live television programs.

Steno-machines, also called stenographs, are small machines that court reporters use to take down the record. They resemble a laptop, but unlike letters on a typical keyboard, the keys on these devices are assembled with phonetic sounds to help maximize typing speeds. Multiple keys are pressed at a time to type out pronunciations of words.

Though technology is advancing, court reporters will always be needed to take down an accurate record. Recording devices are unable to distinguish between people talking over one another, coughs, and other various noises. Human reporters can ask parties to repeat what they said and tell parties to speak one at a time to create a more accurate record. Reporters can also produce Realtime feeds that allow parties to view the transcript as it’s being written. Recording devices do not have this ability. Recording devices can also run into technology failures which can jeopardize the record and cause delays. Reporters provide much more reliable transcription services.