New York Court Reporters Blog

I have had several emails from court reporting students looking for a fair appraisal of what the job market will be when they get out of school. They are taking student loans and obviously schools need students and probably are painting an unrealistic picture of our industry. For years, the court reporting industry’s biggest problem was not enough reporters. Now, like most segments of our world, there are not enough jobs.
What is a student to do? Be realistic about your skills. My feeling, only the top students will finish, which is usually the case. They will land the limited amount of jobs being offered to new students coming out of school.
There are many new fields opening up that do not demand the time and money, ie, investment, that becoming a court reporter does. Be honest with yourself about your prospects. Call the agencies in your area to find out if they are hiring new reporters and what you can expect to earn. Do some research. If you are reading this blog, you are a step ahead of most in your class.

Good luck. It is a wonderful profession but like everything requires hard work and dedication.

Rates are falling in the court reporting world due to the same economic factors affecting our country. There is a shortage of money due to tightening of the credit markets and a huge loss of jobs. Corporations and individuals have less money to spend on litigation. Less litigation obviously means less deposition work. There is necessarily more competition for the available work. More competition among firms to get the work and more competition among reporters to do the work. Plus there are lots of unemployed people looking for new careers and there will be a new flock of court reporters hitting the street in a couple of years.

So, guys, what to do. For me, we are trying to hold as firm as possible on our rates. The price-cutting that is going on is outrageous. There is a market for price-cutting and there is always a market for quality and good service. Those of us around for the longest of times have survived not on cutting throats and pricing but offering consistent high quality and excellent service. The reporters who will survive are those who also bring to the table these same old-fashion work ethics.

I have been writing this court reporting blog for court reporters for several months now. I find it fascinating the number of court reporters versus other readers who have responded to my court reporting blog. I would think that somebody out there in the court reporting world is reading court reporting blogs but you would never know it from my blog experience. After all my blogging, I would say I get about 1 percent of responses from court reporters reading blogs. It appears that there are a vast number of spam emails that go out to blogs. If anybody knows what purpose the spam serve, I would certainly be interested. I can’t imagine anybody who is writing a blog on court reporting for court reporters would be interested in this spam stuff. If somebody out there has some kind of explanation for all this spam clogging my blog mail, please tell me.

Thanks to all the court reporters and people associated with court reporting for reading my court reporting blog.

Court reporting and court reporters will be facing the same economic challanges that exist in many other sectors of the economy. There are becoming fewer jobs in every aspect of court reporting and that’s because the volume of court reporting has fallen in the courts as well as in the legal industry. Law firms are firing because of a lack of business and courts and other agencies are using other type of recording devices. So what then is the future of court reporters?

I think court reporters have to keep at the top of their game, always improving and increasing their skills. They must constantly show how incredible their range of skills must be to perform their job efficiently.

TFor many court reporters, there has been a tremendous change in the court reporting community, both from the perspective of a court reporting agency owner court reporters in both the official and freelance communities. These changes will be around for a while until the next big change.

It wouldn’t be normal not to be concerned about the future. It does not resemble the past as we have known it for so long. There are several trends in the court reporting world, especially in consolidations and becoming very corporate. Extremes in anything doesn’t work, and I truly hope as we enter a new decade that some of the old simple court reporting values are not lost in the new corporate environment.

CCourt reporting and the role of court reporters is undergoing a chance. In my long career in court reporting, I have seen many changes in the way court reporters produce their transcripts and the new court reporting technologies have also brought new products. The change in court reporting technology over the past decade has been enormous. However, another huge change in our industry which is in sync with the society we live in is the large number of reporters not getting the amount of work they would like. For most of my career, there has been a tremendous shortage of court reporters.

For the first time, there are more court reporters than jobs. This, of course, is tied to the general state of the economy. Court reporters need to be at the top of the game because for the first time in years they are actually competing for work. I have many reporters who have been with me for many years and are therefore very experienced. However, I don’t think they have realized that their environment has changed with the economy. There is now lots more competition for their jobs. When a court reporting firm owner has to make a decision who to give a deposition to, it is now not based on workload but on who gets to the depo on time and who gets their work in on time.

The world is changing and the rules are changing in every business it is the team players who are the most valuable. It is a change back to some old work ethics which have been lost in these boom years which no longer exist for any of us.

Many court reporters have interviewed with my court reporting agency. Many recent graduates, court reporters, have never had to interview for a position. Interviewing for a court reporter’s position involve the same principles as with any other type of position.

If I were looking to distinguish myself from the crowd, and I was fortunate enough to land an interview, there are certain basic rules for any type of interview, including a court reporter. Bring a resume. Even if you do not have any court reporting experience, you do have life experiences. Put down all the things you do and all your interests. You never know which one will relate to your interviewer.

Show genuine interest in the interviewer. In an interview, it is important to strike some sort of rapport, common ground, to make you more interesting. Sharing mutual interests is one thing. Look around the office. Most people have pictures, trophies, plants, that relate to a particular interest. Something that will give you a little more insight into the person who you are sitting across the table from. Ask what the trophy or certificate is for. Showing interest in another person really works wonders.

Show interest in the company. Check out their website and mentally or physically come with questions based on research you have done about the company. I know I would be very impressed if somebody sitting across the table knew something about our court reporting firm. It rarely, if ever, happens. But when it does, it sure does make a difference and gives me an incentive to want to look closer at the person sitting across the table from me.

Many court reporters have been interviewed by my court reporting agency over the years. My court reporting firm interviews a few aspiring court reporters a month even in these rough times. As a court reporting company owner, I try to always have at least one new reporter who I can train and get going in a career in court reporting. It personally allows me to give back to a profession, court reporting, which has given so much to me. And, of course, I end up with a great staff court reporter. Every court reporting agency has default statements and some short easy depositions to get a new court reporter going. With some hands-on help, you would be surprised how quickly you can get a reporter up and going.

When I interview a court reporter, my main interest is somebody who will work with our court reporting firm. However, if I don’t think there is a good fit, I will always give them information where to go. I hear all the time how the court reporting agencies are turning a deaf ear to new court reporters. They are the future of our profession and they need some help now. Court reporting has been very good to many of us, and now is the time to reach out, give of your time and yourself, and help a new court reporter get started.