Court transcription schools teach their students in controlled environments. While they try to simulate the job as best they can, court reporters find that the work is quite different from what they did in school. Based on our experience, we can give you a few tips to make the transition easier.
First Steps
The court transcription equipment you will use on the job will probably be different than what you got used to in school. You don’t want your first experience with a new machine to be when taking a deposition. Find time to practice at home. That means not just writing but transporting and setting up your machine.
Schools set up short court transcription exercises that last a few minutes but real legal depositions can take hours. Prepare yourself by creating long practice sessions for yourself so you can learn to stay focused as you start to fatigue. Don’t practice using school recordings of carefully paced speakers. Instead, try transcribing a television show or other source where people vary the speed and volume of their speech.
Not to sound like your mother, but eat a good breakfast any day you have an assignment. We don’t always get the luxury of regular lunch breaks and hunger pangs can make it hard to stay focused on our jobs.
Your First Court Transcription Assignment
In many careers, new workers can start with lesser duties while they learn the ropes of the professions. This is difficult to do in a court transcription role in a live courtroom environment.
And as if the stress of keeping up with a deposition or court proceeding isn’t hard enough, you may find that when the attorney is questioning the physician expert witness you can’t hear the conversation well. You may feel like you can’t interrupt these important professionals to ask them to speak up – but that is not the case.
You are an integral part of the proceedings and you have the obligation to break in and ask them to repeat what they are saying. If you don’t, you can’t keep an accurate record. Besides, if you can’t hear someone speaking others probably can’t either and what will be your response when asked to read back the passage?
The End of Your First Day
There are a few lucky court transcriptionists that remember their first day as exhilarating. There are far more that remember walking out of court thinking that a job flipping hamburgers would be better suited to their talents.
You learned a lot on your first day and your second day will be better. As you get more experience, you will find the stress eases and you can start to enjoy what you do. Don’t give up. You are part of a noble profession and a critical part of our legal system. Give it time and you will soon see the rewards of this career.
2 Comments
Can someone who is trained for medical transcription cross over to court reporting transcription? What additional training is needed in order to pass the certification test for the court reporter?
I appreciate the insights on this page and the encouragement.
Of course! You are ideally suited because of your medical terminology and typing skills. You just need to attend an accredited school by the NCRA (National Court Reporter Association)
Go to this link to get a list of schools and helpful information. Good luck!
http://www.ncraonline.org/EducCertification/Schools/