Average Salary Court Reporter- Is It A Well Paying Job?

Court reporting is a very well rewarding job and it has seen a steady growth as stated by US Bureau of Labor Statistics. One can outsource to careers like hotel industry, medicine, commerce, computers etc. but one cannot outsource the position of a court reporter. One can freelance in this job if they desire flexible working hours. They can also be in a full time job and maintain a strong and firm position. This career is well paying, has flexible timings and provides the professionals to have a good family life.   

The chief job of a court reporter is making word to word transcriptions of legal conventions, meetings and events. A court reporter has added responsibilities like preserving and securing the records, assisting judges and attorneys in search of the official files. They are also responsible for instant translation and close captioning for the deaf.  

The court reporters can also be called archivists. They are required to have strong documentation and accuracy skills. This is because their work is to record all the official communication carried out throughout the nation and their work is therefore under continuous inspection by the judicial and political system of the country. This is the reason why it is such a well paying job.

This is the reason why all kinds of documentation must therefore be known to the court reporters. Normally, court reporters are required to use the stenotype machine for recording the speeches of the legal conferences. The court reporter can press lots of buttons at the same time in the stenotype machine. They can also later translate it to the computer aided transcriptions.  

The court reporters must have the ability to type 225 words/a minute on the stenotype in the legal conferences. The training for using the stenotype can take from a year to 33 months. The stenotype is used for recording other meetings too such as the arbitration, pretrial hearing, and judicial conferences. The court reporters are also trained to catch the phrases and words in the court. Therefore, the job of a court reporter is a well respected job. 

The average salary court reporter according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics in May 2008 was $49,710 annually. The court reporters in the median 50% got $35,390 and $67,430. The lowest average salary court reporter that the 10% officials earned was below $25,360 and the highest salary that was paid to the 10% was above $83,500. Court reporters working for local government got an annual salary of $51,150 in the average and $44,670 for professionals working for the business support agencies.     

The average salary court reporter varies for the court reporters, because of the varying kind of reporting job, qualification, experience, working region and the level of certification. The official court reporters get their salary on the basis of each page of the transcripts.  It is an indeed well paying and a respectable job and court reporting gives a complete understanding of our judicial and political system. Therefore, people planning for a respectable and flexible career can also plan up for court reporting.