Dear Nancy:  I am a 180 student ready to start my court reporting internship. I've been reading about the replacement of court reporters by digital recorders and other methods.  I know this subject has been debated and discussed for many years.  What are the skills and work habits that today's court reporting students need to strive for to keep pace with these trends, and to become and stay gainfully employed?
Signed, Living on Uneasy Street

Dear Living on Uneasy Street:  If you're ready to start your internship, my guess is you've got some pretty good work habits and skills already. Keep your focus, review theory principles regularly, and keep up with your speed and accuracy practice, especially once you start interning. Take full advantage of your internship opportunity. Try out all kinds of court reporting assignments. Sit out in court and depositions. Ask a captioner and a CART provider if you can shadow them. (Contact me if you need help connecting with any of these professionals.) Importantly, take some time to introduce yourself to agency owners, especially those who arrange for you to sit with their clients. Dress well; be punctual; conduct yourself like a professional; say thank you. A good first impression leads to a job interview. A poor first impression leads nowhere.

Here's advice you've heard before, but I want to underline it and put it in bold, all caps: Stay in school until you attain graduation speeds and get your diploma! Don't succumb to the temptation to go to work for an agency before you're done with school. You won't be adequately prepared to meet the challenges you'll face; they will overwhelm you.

Only by completing your speed tests will you be prepared to pass the RPR. Choosing to work for that credential is the smart career decision. The RPR will open doors for you, whether or not your state has a licensure or CSR requirement. Down the road when you may be job-hunting, your RPR certification will keep your career options open. But don't stop with the RPR. In today's marketplace, realtime skill and RMR certification are the hallmarks of a true professional.

There's competition out there, from digital recording, voicewriters, tape recording systems. Don't fret unnecessarily about it. There are many positions that require the skills of a realtime-capable, steno reporter. I can't say it too often: The better writer you are, the more options you will have. Your realtime skills are your calling card. Make sure yours are good.

Good luck with your internship. And, please, finish school! We need you in this profession.

Click here if you'd like to add your comments.

Dear Nancy:   I am looking to change careers after working as a freelance photographer for the past 30 years.  I have always been interested in the law and am considering a career in court reporting but am confused about the different aspects of this career and what training would be best for me. I live in Massachusetts .  Thank you for any information and advice you can give me.
Signed, Ready for a Change in Ware

Dear Ready for a Change in Ware:   Court reporting is a wonderful career.  I've been in it for 30 years myself.  Hard to believe I'm old enough to be doing anything for 30 years!  You said you were confused by different aspects of the career, and I'm not quite sure what you mean, but I will try.

There are basically four areas in which court reporters work:  Freelance, Official, CART, Captioning.  I'll describe each in very general terms.  Emphasis on general.  You can get more information from the National Court Reporters Association website:  ncraonline.org.         

Freelance reporters typically work for a court reporting agency and report depositions or other hearings outside of the courtroom.  An attorney would call the agency and schedule a deposition, and the agency would sign one of the reporters in their “pool” of reporters.  Freelance reporters are most often independent contractors, so they receive no benefits such as paid vacation, insurance, retirement, and do not have taxes withheld from their pay.

Officials are typically state or federal employees, and work in the courts reporting trials, motions, and other hearings in court.  They are employees and receive all the benefits you might expect from a job:  paid vacation, sick leave, insurance, retirement.  They receive a salary, and can also earn income from producing transcripts.  Often that transcript work is done outside of court hours.

CART is an acronym for Communication Access Realtime Translation.  CART Providers typically work “shoulder-to-shoulder” with deaf or hard-of-hearing consumers who most likely do not know sign language.  Often they are “late-deafened”, meaning they were not born late, so English is their first language.  The CART Provider connects a notebook computer to his/her steno machine, and feeds the steno into the computer where a software program translates it into English.  The consumer simply reads along.  Sometimes the translated file is fed into the consumer's computer and can be saved for later reference.

Captioners are court reporters who use the same setup as CART Providers, but instead of to a computer in front of the consumer, it is sent to broadcast studios or big screens in arenas or in other places where the reporter and consumer are not sitting side by side.  The technology is a bit more complex, but the result is the same.  A speaker's words appear in text form, most often linked to a video.  Captioning can be done live, as for the news and sports, or can be done in a studio with pretaped video.

If you're from Massachusetts, and you decide to prepare to be a court reporter, you'll probably have to look into an online program.  There are no local court reporting programs.  Some skills that we have found over the years help students:  excellent vocabulary and grammar skills; a reader; a musician; up to date on current events.  One word of warning:  the older one is, the more difficult it is to learn court reporting.  It's kind of like learning an instrument or a new language at an older age.  It's just plain hard.  Good luck and keep me posted on your progress.

Click here if you'd like to add your comments.

Dear Nancy:  My wife and I are both court reporters.  For most of our marriage she has made more money than me.  Unlike most men, this did not bother me; in fact I was and am very proud of her. Unfortunately, this year I happened to have a great year and made more than she did.  I think she is upset about this and it seems to be a sticking point. What should I do?
Signed, There, I SHOWED you the Money

Dear There, I SHOWED you the Money:  Wow! A great year when the economy is in a slump. Congratulations. I have the perfect answer. Get a divorce and marry my daughter. Okay, next question? Oh, I shouldn't be so insensitive. Just looking out for my best interests. Oops, I mean my daughter's best interests.

Okay, really, have you two been watching the news? The world's financial system is teetering, and you two are in some sort of power struggle because you're making more money than last year? I think you need to spend some of that income on a trip to Massachusetts and help boost our economy here. I'll take your wife shopping; you can golf with my husband who doesn't play golf but wants to learn but won't take time off...ever...even to do something he wants to do like play golf or take me shopping...ever...and then -- oops again. This isn't about me, is it?

I'm betting this power struggle plays out in more than one area of your marriage. Who does the dishes? Who pays the bills? Who gets more massages? Who picks which expensive vacation you go on this year? I think you two need to learn to be each other's cheerleaders. Applaud each other's successes. That support will carry you both a long way should the tables turn and you face what so many other Americans face in this harrowing economy. If you can't figure out how to cheerlead for each other, get some professional help. You sound like an awesome person. Your wife should appreciate you. If, however, this doesn't work out, have you met my daughter?

Click here if you'd like to add your comments.