How To Become An Official Court Reporter: What It Is and Career Path

What is an official court reporter and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Rachel Estabrook

Court reporters attend court sessions and create documentation of court proceedings, recording jury arguments related to evidence, rulings, and every other aspect of court cases. They also document files with court exhibits as well.

You will be responsible for holding on to the notes you take for the prescribed amount of time. You will create transcripts of recorded material to be used in future legal procedures.

You will function as a mediator between lawyers, judges, and other court officials and provide them with necessary information related to cases. You might be asked to take care of witness depositions, commissions, issue certificates, and many more.

What general advice would you give to an official court reporter?

Rachel Estabrook

News Director, Colorado Public Radio

For a graduate beginning their career, I'd recommend a few things. Most importantly, be hungry. Go doggedly after whatever stories most interest you. Take time to build sources, by taking people out to coffee (when that's safe to do) and checking in with them regularly to ask what's up in their world. Follow your interests, even if they lead somewhere that traditional journalism outlets haven't always gone; given the summer of protests and focus on racial equity, traditional outlets are hungrier than ever for stories they haven't historically told. Be humble while also being confident; know that you have a lot to offer and your approach is valuable, but that you also have a lot to learn.

ScoreOfficial Court ReporterUS Average

Salary

5.3

Avg. Salary $68,354

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 82.46%

male 17.54%

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 an official court reporter

Explore official court reporter education requirements

Most common official court reporter degrees

Associate

47.8 %

Bachelor's

30.4 %

High School Diploma

7.0 %

Start to develop specific official court reporter skills

Skills	Percentages
District Court	31.51%
Court Reporters	12.43%
Transcription	11.85%
Court Orders	8.62%
Legal Terminology	6.28%

Complete relevant official court reporter training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New official 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 an official court reporter based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real official court reporter resumes.

Research official court reporter duties and responsibilities

Respond to inquiries by phone or person from attorneys/parties to litigation.
Obtain proficiency in computer software relating to transcription and word processing.
Create verbatim, stenographic record, and produce timely computer-aid transcription of various criminal/civil court proceedings
Record depositions covering employment, medical, pharmaceutical, environmental, and business litigation matters.

Prepare your official court reporter resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your official 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 an official 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 official court reporter resume templates

Build a professional official 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 official court reporter resume.

Apply for official court reporter jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an official court reporter job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first official court reporter job

Kimberly Peterson

Official Court Reporter, Los Angeles Superior Court

I'd be happy to share my story. I am not sure how detailed you want me to get but you can cut out what you do not need.

After high school, I was still unsure of the direction I wanted to take in life. I was going to community college hoping something would spark my interest. I started working full-time and school became less of a priority as bills started to come in.

A family friend was a retired court reporter and suggested the career. It is a fairly unknown profession and most haven't heard of it.

I started going to South Coast College in Orange, CA for night school, while still working full-time. There are a few community colleges, a couple other private trade schools, and online programs for court reporting. You can graduate with your AS or just qualify to take the exam. There are other ways to qualify now, I believe, that I'm not familiar with.

It depends on your personality and discipline as to which opttion you should choose. I knew I needed the structure and accountability of an in person school.

To become a court reporter you need to pass some academic classes that are strictly related to the profession, such as, English, basic law, medical, etc. The most critical part is speed building.

Each school has their own "theory", which is the way they teach you to use the steno machine and what each key stroke or combination of key strokes mean. Once you learn and go through your theory classes, you start your speed building classes.

The most common misconception about court reporting school is that it is a two year program. It can be, and the academic part can certainly be done in two years. However, you have to be able to write at 200 wpm for 10 mins with four speakers at minimum for the state test.

Speed building is, for the most part, at your own pace. You start at 40wpm and have to pass each speed test in 10wpm increments before moving on to the next level until you reach 200wpm. Then you enter "qualifiers." This last test qualifies you to take the state exam.

The California Certified Reporter exam is a three prong test. The first two prongs are a multiple choice English and Law test. The third is the practical exam.

The practical exam is held three times a year, I believe. (When I was in school, it was only twice.) The practical exam is held at a location in Los Angeles or Sacramento and you are divided into groups and take a four voice (The Court, two attorneys, a

How do official court reporters rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Official court reporter reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2020

Pros

Being a professional that exemplifies excellent professional etiquette.

Cons

When someone disrespects my profession.