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HOME STUDY IN
COURT REPORTING HAS BEEN OFFERED SINCE 1967, WHY COURT REPORTING AS A CAREER?INCOME POTENTIALA survey of members of the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) in 1999 indicated that the average annual income for respondents was $61,380; NCRA studies indicate that 25 percent of reporters earn more than $100,000 per year. Income depends on location, level of training, the type of certification achieved, areas of specialization, and other factors. Earning potential often is limited only by the amount of time a reporter is willing to devote to the profession. The following article from a December 2003 CNN/Money Web site posting gives further examples of income potential: Court reporters: Ever been a juror in deliberations or been present at a deposition and heard testimony read back? Well, those words came to you courtesy of a court reporter, whose job is to capture live speech and then transcribe it to the written word. About a third of court reporters work full-time for a court (receiving a salary and benefits), and two-thirds are freelancers who are hired by lawyers to take pre-trial depositions. In both cases, the court reporters are paid for the time they spend taking down testimony and then for the transcripts they create, which may be purchased by each party in a case. Rates for freelancers vary widely, but the pay for official court reporters is a matter of public record. On the high end, experienced court reporters can earn up to $88,171 working for the New York State Supreme Court, according to one survey. On top of that, they can earn more for the transcripts they create, which can bring their earnings above $100,000. The transcript rate in New York ranges between $2.50 and $4.30 a page for ordinary turnaround and $3.75 and $6.50 per page for daily delivery. Six hours of testimony works out to about 250 pages, said Laurel Eiler, the immediate past president of the National Court Reporters Association. In terms of training, you’ll need between two and four years of education at a court reporter school. And the more certifications you can earn thereafter (there are 10 listed on NCRA’s Web site), the more desirable you’ll be for hire, said Eiler, who has worked as a freelance court reporter for 18 years and now runs an agency for court reporters in Nashville, Tenn. Court reporters have to be very proficient with the computer technologies of their trade, have strong English skills, and a strong vocabulary in the areas they’re working in. They must be able to concentrate for long periods of time and meet very tight deadlines. In addition to the hours spent taking down testimony and creating a written transcript, court reporters must spend prep time programming their software and equipment so that they’re prepared to handle the terminology specific to an upcoming case, which in many instances can be highly technical. Broadcast captioners: Those real-time captions you see on the screen of live television programs, such as a news show, are provided by broadcast captioners. Most typically, they might earn $50-to-$100 for every programming hour they caption and they work for companies hired by networks to provide the captioning, said Kathy DiLorenzo, director of reporter and captioner relations at VITAC, a caption company. Top captioners at VITAC earn between $60,000 and $120,000 a year with benefits, DiLorenzo said. But to make that $120,000 a year, an employee might caption 30-to-40 hours of programs a week, which does not include the preparation time they need to make sure their software and equipment are ready to handle the content of a broadcast. As with court reporters, the ability to concentrate and the need for physical stamina is key to provide real-time captions for that many hours of live television. Unlike court reporters, though, captioners don’t need to be on-site if they have the proper equipment at home, which is necessary if you’re an independent contractor. If you do work independently, you’ll probably need to invest about $18,000 to get the right computers and software, DiLorenzo said. Typically, people wishing to become broadcast captioners will need at least three years of full-time education, unless they’re already court reporters, in which case they might need a year of retraining, DiLorenzo said. For the full article, see http://money.cnn.com/2003/12/09/pf/more_sixfigjobs. DEMAND The 100 Best Jobs for the 1990’s and Beyond, a book by Carol Kleiman, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune syndicated in over 300 newspapers, highlights Court Reporting among the fastest growing segments of the service-providing sector for well into the 21st century. The Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, projects that “employment of court reporters is projected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2010.” This means a 10 to 20 percent growth rate during the coming decade. Because of rising crime rates, bigger government, more regulations, and the increasingly litigious nature of our society, court reporting is a career field with continuing strong demand. Adding substantially to this demand are television and classroom closed captioning and the rapidly growing number of professionals and businesses receiving text via the Internet (see Opportunities). The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and the 1996 Telecommunications Bill passed by Congress mandates that closed captioning be available for all local television coverage. This, combined with pending legislation that all K-12 schoolrooms provide CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) for hearing-challenged students, will create significant opportunities for new reporters. FLEXIBILITY A great benefit to being a court reporter is the freedom, independence, and flexibility that the career offers. You can almost select the lifestyle you want (see Opportunities). Once you’ve been nationally certified, you can work anywhere in the U.S.; some states require specific exams, but they use essentially the same standards set by the NCRA (National Court Reporters Association). PRESTIGE As a Court Reporter, you are a professional. You will earn respect and be admired by others. Your peers will be lawyers, judges, doctors, and business executives. WHY HOME STUDY?
WHY STENOMAX? StenoMax is the only home study program in court reporting that:
Additionally, StenoMax offers these benefits:
LOCATIONThe StenoMax Institute is located in Jacksonville, Florida 3563 Philips Highway FACILITIES The StenoMax Institute leases a dedicated space of 170 square feet from the Stenotype Institute of Jacksonville, and shares additional space for copying and document preparation, along with an extensive library containing standard reference books and two work stations with subscription software (e.g., Jones e-global library) for research. The library resources, however, are impractical in most cases for use by home study students. Therefore, StenoMax requires that the student take advantage of their own local libraries. Specifically, one of the requirements for the Court and Convention Procedures course is the submission of a research paper with bibliography that requires students to become familiar with and learn how to use their local facilities. Stenomax instructors also have access to other work stations loaded with major CAT (computer-aided transcription) software programs (CaseCatalyst, Eclipse, ProCat, and Stenovations). These resources facilitate providing technical support for students while they are working on their realtime writing skills. The space dedicated solely for administration of the home study program of StenoMax contains a student database, an inventory of students’ lessons, books, and materials, course syllabi, lesson plans, practice and test materials on CDs, audiotapes, and video tapes, two internet-linked computers, and a laser printer. A third computer, laser printer, and fax/copy/scanning machine are located at 7885 Valleyview Trail, Macclenny, FL 32063. This off-site location has hard-copy student files, a back-up of the student database, and the financial database.
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