How to Become a Court Reporter in New York
Court reporting is a career that is both financially and personally rewarding. Recently, the demand for court reporters in New York has been steadily growing. Court reporters play an essential role in legal proceedings and other venues requiring a written transcript that is considered a legally binding record. The job of court reporters is to ensure an accurate verbatim record of verbal testimony in legal proceedings. Court reporters can be found working in any area that requires a legal record such as criminal proceedings, civil proceedings, meetings, and in other fields such as translating services that includes closed-captioning for the hard-of-hearing and the deaf.
When considering a career as a court reporter in New York, it is important to be aware of the different requirements for each court reporting position. Most court reporters complete a court reporting program from an accredited school and then start out as a freelance court reporter. As they acquire experience, they move up the career ladder. Generally, a court reporter must have a high school diploma and three years of word for word reporting experience or a course in court reporting and two years word for word reporting experience. Currently, a license is not required for court reporting in New York State, however, there are a number of court reporting positions that have their own distinct requirements. As well, a career as a freelance court reporter requires completing a court reporting course that verifies you have a typing speed of 225 words per minute on the steno machine. When attending a court reporting school in New York, you will take classes in English and Grammar, learn to split the English language phonetically and apply it to the steno machine, learn courtroom procedures as well as medical and legal terminology, and increase speed on the steno machine to 225 words per minute.
A career as a Verbatim Hearing Reporter in New York requires that you have a high school diploma, complete a program in court reporting or have 2 years work experience in word for word reporting. A career as a Senior Court Reporter requires one year work experience as a court reporter, four years word for word reporting experience, or a completed program in word for word reporting and three years word for word reporting experience. Certification as a CSR is compulsory for the Federal Official Court Reporter position; however most reporters get certified as a CSR. You can get certification by taking the Certified Shorthand Reporter (CSR) examination. The Federal Official Court Reporter position also requires listing on the National Court Reporters Association or Registry of Professional Reporters. Court reporters can also take a broad selection of exams that are given by the National Court Reporters Association to make them more competitive. Real-time certification is favored for the Federal Official Court Reporter position but not mandatory.
The salaries for Court Reporters in New York are the highest in the country making it a very popular career choice. Because there are different requirements for each court reporter position, it is essential that you explore the positions to find out which career is right for you. A career as a court reporter in New York is definitely worth considering.
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Category: Legal
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