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5 Interesting Facts About Court Reporters

A court reporter, commonly known as a court stenographer or law reporter, transcribes spoken or recorded speech into written form.
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What do court reporters do?

Court reporters are highly trained professionals who provide real-time voice-to-text transcription. Because court reporters are required to be impartial, reliable, and certified to perform their job, enlisting the services of a court reporter will ensure an accurate and unbiased transcription of your case.

Real-time transcription

Court reporters are experienced within the legal profession and are professionally trained with captioning and stenographic technology. They’re also trained to transcribe real-time speech without any errors, which can occur when using transcription technology.

High accuracy

Anyone with text-to-speech technology on their smartphone knows that this option isn’t always reliable. On the other hand, court reporters are able to accurately transcribe speech as well as read the inflections, tone of voice, and body language that convey a situation, which can be extremely important.

No risks of settled statements

Without a real-time court reporter, trial courts often approve settled statements, or detailed narrative summaries of the proceeding. Settled statements are often a costly and timely process, since each side can object to each other’s version of events. When this happens, the trial court is forced to make a decision favoring one side.

Highly trained

Court reporters are highly trained in both the legal profession and with stenographic technology. They are unrivaled in speed and accuracy, and must meet certain requirements to become licensed in the field. In Texas, they must type at a rate of 225 wpm on question-and-answer style testimony with 95 percent accuracy.

Maximize your chance for a favorable ruling

If your courthouse doesn’t provide court reporters, hiring one will ensure your case is transcribed in real-time with correct details. Ask your attorney for recommendations or conduct a simple Google search specific to your area, like “Fort Lauderdale court reporter”.
It’s necessary to preserve every word as accurately as possible for the court’s record. Despite recent technological advances, it remains clear that real-time court reporters are still needed.