Training and Equipment for Court Reporters
At Phoenix Deposition Services, we’re proud to provide realtime court reporting software to allow live access to reporting during a given deposition. This service comes after traning and equipment for court reporters is provided..
Part of our high-quality service comes from the expertise of our certified court reporters. What is the training required to get this kind of position, and what equipment is used for accurate and speedy transcription? Here are some basics.
Training
To become a licensed court reporter, one must attend a certified court reporting school accredited by the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA). The courses for this usually take around three years on average, with applicants required to have a high school diploma or GED to enroll. In some cases, these schools will have additional entry requirements like keyboarding or data entry.
Classes will run through a range of machine shorthand, keyboarding, legal terminology, court vocabulary, proofreading, reporting, ethics and more. Students will be required to take speed building classes and will practice with the stenotype – 225 words per minute is the minimum requirement in most cases.
When students graduate, they receive a Registered Professional Reporter certificate from the NCRA. They will also need a Certified Shorthand Reporter license, for which the requirements vary by state.
Stenotype
The most common piece of equipment for a court reporter is the stenotype machine, which uses a concept of keys pressed simultaneously to quickly create words and phrases. A stenotype has 22 unmarked keys that look something like a piano – the keys represent parts of the alphabet, and students learn how various combinations or “codes” will produce different sounds.
In the past, this information would roll out on steno paper. Today, it’s more common for the readout here to be digital. There can be a laptop connected to the stenotype to produce captions for any hearing-impaired people present, and if needed, digital copies of the report can be translated into another language.
For more on the training and equipment used by court reporters, or to learn about any of our Phoenix, AZ court reporters, speak to the pros at Phoenix Deposition Services today.