Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners
O*NET files this work under Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners: people who use verbatim methods and equipment to capture, store, retrieve, and transcribe pretrial and trial proceedings or other information. The skills rated most useful are active listening, writing, and reading comprehension. Expect to provide transcripts of proceedings upon request of judges, lawyers, or the public. Interest ratings put Conventional on top at 5.6 out of 7 and Artistic second, so the code is CAS and the day leans toward orderly work with data, records and clear procedures. Getting in usually takes one or two years of vocational training, an apprenticeship or an associate’s degree, a level O*NET calls medium preparation. If you want orderly work with data, records and clear procedures, keep it on your list. If you need research, analysis and working through hard problems, it may feel thin.
What they do
Use verbatim methods and equipment to capture, store, retrieve, and transcribe pretrial and trial proceedings or other information. Includes stenocaptioners who operate computerized stenographic captioning equipment to provide captions of live or prerecorded broadcasts for hearing-impaired viewers.
Main tasks
- Provide transcripts of proceedings upon request of judges, lawyers, or the public.
- Record symbols on computer storage media and use computer aided transcription to translate and display them as text.
- Record verbatim proceedings of courts, legislative assemblies, committee meetings, and other proceedings, using computerized recording equipment, electronic stenograph machines, or stenomasks.
- Record depositions and other proceedings for attorneys.
- Ask speakers to clarify inaudible statements.
- Proofread transcripts for correct spelling of words.
Skills
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Time Management
Who this career fits
May suit you if
- You like clear rules and getting the details right.
- You are willing to put in a year or two of focused training.
- You are comfortable relying on active listening and writing.
May not suit you if
- You get restless with routine, records and exact procedures.
- You want to spend most of your time analyzing and researching. Investigative rates 2.1 out of 7 here.
- You need to start within a few months, with no training period.
Interest profile
O*NET rates each occupation from 1 to 7 on six interest types. The code CAS takes the three highest, and Conventional comes first here.
Preparation
Medium preparation. Expect vocational school, an apprenticeship, related experience or an associate’s degree, usually one or two years in total.
Also called
- Captioner
- Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR)
- Court Recorder
- Court Reporter
- Court Stenographer
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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.