Court Reporter Career Details
Court reporters sit through legal proceedings with their stenotype machine, where they press multiple keys at a time to record combinations of letters that will represent words when recorded onto a CD-ROM and then displayed as text. The court reporter's job is extremely important because there is rarely more than one reporter at any given proceeding, and their work is the only record of the actions of that day.
Court reporters are also responsible for several other related activities. Because legal proceedings often use terminology specific to one case, court reporters must update the computer dictionary to ensure that the computer program can translate accurately. They also need to ensure that their work is being translated accurately by the computer, and is free of grammatical mistakes. They also file their work so that it can be used for easy reference later.
Court reporters are often hired as freelance reporters, working for lawyers taking depositions, the government conducting some sort of proceeding, or even a religious service wishing to record a ceremony. Some are employed by television stations, transcribing live events for closed-captioning.
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