Court Reporter Intern

Court Reporter Intern

Introduction

In general, courts may search for court reporter interns, determining the most suitable placement based on current area of study, skill set, career goals, maturity level and the student’s schedule.

Court Reporter Intern: Transcripts of Official Activities

Court reporters produce word-for-word transcripts of speeches, testimonies, meetings, legal proceedings and other official activities. They even record actions and gestures. Court reporters typically graduate from two-year degree programs and begin their careers as interns or volunteers in the judicial system.

Professional Duties

Court reporter interns might be assigned to civil or criminal court, or to domestic or community-based proceedings. But their general role is to observe hearings, trials and other courtroom activities and assist court officials and staff as needed. Interns learn about the kinds of cases judges handle and meet attorneys specializing in various practices.

They review the pleadings attorneys file on judgments and sometimes write summaries of these cases based on facts from transcripts. They help prosecutors, public defenders, and probation and corrections officers in criminal cases. They might conduct intake interviews with families and assist social workers in domestic cases. They’re occasionally assigned to help with special projects, such as measuring regional recidivism rates among released convicts or preparing proposals for community-outreach programs.

Characteristics of the Profession

Interns must be focused and attentive while working because much of their court-reporting training occurs on the job. They need basic writing and speaking skills to communicate effectively with a diverse audience of judges, lawyers, court staff and the public. They need to maintain flexible schedules to accommodate long days and late nights, which occur regularly in some court systems. Interns also must be willing to follow formal court protocols and procedures. And since the information interns handle is often sensitive and confidential, they must be trustworthy and behave ethically at all times.

Court Reporter Intern Training

Interns learn computer-aided transcription, shorthand, court proceedings, and legal and medical terminology in an associate’s degree program. Pittsburgh’s Community College of Allegheny County, for example, offers courses in basic court reporting, machine shorthand, court transcription, speedbuilding skills, business mathematics, English composition and business law. Students must earn at least 85 credits in the four-semester program, which is preparation for an internship. Speed and accuracy are critical skills for court reporters. CCAC requires graduates to transcribe with 95 percent accuracy and record judges’ instructions to juries at 200 words a minute.

Career Development

Some interns become salaried courtroom employees, known as official reporters, in state and federal judicial systems. Others freelance and use their flexible schedules to work on pretrial depositions. Another career option is to become a real-time reporter who instantly converts audible words to text for live activities and court proceedings. Court reporters who provide what’s called communication access real-time translation, or CART, transcribe speech for the deaf and hearing-impaired on college campuses.

Broadcast captioners work for television stations and provide closed-caption material for live productions. Court reporters also work for deposition companies, legislatures and companies offering webinars and seminars. The median wage for court reporters is $47,700 a year, although some earn six-figure salaries depending on their expertise and years of experience. The U.S. Bureau of Statistics projects an average career growth for court reporters of 14 percent through 2020.

Main Source: https://work.chron.com

See Also

Court Reporters
Court reporter
National Reporter System
U.S. States Court Reports
Court Reports
Legal opinions
List of U.S. Federal Court Reports
List of United Kingdom Court Reports


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