How To Become A Digital Court Reporter: What It Is and Career Path

What is a digital court reporter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

All information that happens during a court hearing must be recorded accurately. This helps increase transparency and may even be useful during a proceeding when playback is required to clarify what was said. A digital court reporter is someone who uses modern technology to record court hearings.

In the old days, the court was recorded by court stenographers and sketch artists. While these professions are still in use, many courts also rely on digital court reporters, who use electronic recording equipment and transcribers to record a hearing. They set up equipment, annotate recordings with any relevant information, and store recordings properly. They also field media requests and may release recordings if appropriate.

To become a digital court reporter, it is more important that someone has practical experience with court proceedings, such as working as a stenographer. That's probably more important than any formal education. In fact, most employers require only a high school degree and some familiarity with electronic recording technology.

ScoreDigital Court ReporterUS Average

Salary

3.5

Avg. Salary $44,643

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 1.40%

Black or African American 3.27%

Hispanic or Latino 5.61%

Unknown 4.44%

White 85.05%

Gender

female 72.19%

male 27.81%

Age - 55

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 55

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a digital court reporter

Explore digital court reporter education requirements

Most common digital court reporter degrees

Bachelor's

65.5 %

Associate

14.1 %

Master's

11.3 %

Start to develop specific digital court reporter skills

Skills	Percentages
News Stories	32.61%
CMS	13.36%
Facebook	10.08%
Twitter	8.21%
FTP	5.15%

Complete relevant digital court reporter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New digital court reporters learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a digital court reporter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real digital court reporter resumes.

Research digital court reporter duties and responsibilities

Proofread verbatim transcripts in English.
Gather and provide accurate information for transcription purposes.
Produce accurate notes including speaker identification and hearing information to facilitate transcription.
Record depositions covering employment, medical, pharmaceutical, environmental, and business litigation matters.

Prepare your digital court reporter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your digital court reporter resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a digital court reporter resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable digital court reporter resume templates

Build a professional digital court reporter resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your digital court reporter resume.