Court Reporting Associations
Court Reporters have many different types of associations they can join to keep up-to-date on the court reporting profession. Depending on what type of court reporting a court reporter chooses to do, that would determine what type of court reporting association would best meet their needs and meet other court reporters working in similiar-type situations and have similiar interests and concerns in performing their duties as a court reporter. There are also different regional court reporting associations. On a national level, there is the National Court Reporters Association which is the organization who represents the interests of machine-writing court reporters, working in both the court and freelance system. The word machine-writing has become very important because with the advance of technology there are other methods of recording the spoken word besides taking it down on the stenographic machine. You can only be a member of the National Court Reporters Association if you are a court reporter who uses a stenographic machine to record testimony. The National Court Reporters Association has one convention yearly, usually the first week in August, and there are close to 3,000 people from all over the world that attend. All the major vendors to the court reporting profession will exhibit their latest products and even some court reporting firms will have booths to introduce themselves and meet court reporters. There are also many classes given and tests given for court reporters who are interested in reaching certain level of proficiency in their profession. The National Court Reporters Association sets nationwide standards of proficiency and gives tests to measure levels of achievement in court reporting which are measured in two areas, one written and one speed. Every court reporter should support the National Court Reporters Association in its work to support and protect the interests of the court reporting industry. Please visit our website tobyfeldman.com to learn more about the court reporting profession and being a court reporter.