Court Reporter Jobs Expected to Grow Says Boss Realtime Court Reporting

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, January 31, 2011 (Press-News.org) Job placement is 100 percent for graduates of the country's top court reporting schools, according to the National Court Reporting Association (NCRA). The U.S. Department of Labor predicts that court reporting jobs, which range from the courtroom to TV stations, will grow from 9 to 25 percent by 2016. Locally, instructor Debby Ross, CRI, FPI, of Sheridan Technical Center says training for court reporting careers at her school has become even more accessible to students due to their online curriculum.

"The court reporting curriculum is rigorous, but the career path offers many benefits and a great chance of landing a job," she said. "Our online school offers the ultimate flexibility to anyone nationwide who wants to get the training."

Sheridan, which is one of three technical centers in Broward County, is the only NCRA approved online school in Florida. Their sister school, Atlantic Technical Center, offers traditional classes. Ross says that enrollment in her program is growing and she expects that trend to continue as more people discover the benefits of this career path.

The positive job growth news counters the common myth that court reporting is being overshadowed by new technology. Just the opposite is true, according to Donna Kadosh, who owns Boss Certified Realtime Reporting and employs more than 40 stenographic court reporters.

"A trained stenographic court reporter remains the most reliable and accurate way to capture a proceeding," she said. "As more lawyers discover the fallacies of recording devices and TV stations scramble to meet new closed captioning regulations, the demand for stenographers will only continue to grow."

Kadosh explains that seemingly high-tech recording devices are much less reliable than traditional stenographic reporters. Some firms simply send someone to record the legal proceedings, and then send the digital files elsewhere, sometimes a foreign country, to have the transcripts prepared. If any parts of those recordings are unclear, important words could be omitted. Whereas, a stenographer can request clarification on the spot, and read back portions of the discussion upon request, either from a paper copy or real time translations from stenography.

In addition to the growing demand and reliability of professional court reporters, Kadosh points to the flexibility and solid income of the career. Most court reporters work as independent contractors, and can, therefore, work as little or as much as they want.

"I have reporters who make anywhere from $50,000 a year to well over six figures," said Kadosh. "I stress professionalism, good customer service, accuracy and responsiveness with my court reporters and it has paid off."

The NCRA lists six certified court reporting schools in Florida, including Sheridan in Hollywood and Atlantic Technical Center in Coconut Creek. For more information, visit http://www.ncraonline.com.

About Boss
Boss Certified Realtime Reporting, Inc. is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and provides nationwide court reporting services for trials, depositions, mediations, arbitrations, conferences and meetings, as well as closed captioning. Conference room facilities are available throughout Florida. The firm was founded in 1995 and has more than 40 formally-trained stenographic reporters on its team. For more information about Boss, visit http://www.bossreporting.com or call 954-467-6867.