A court reporter career can be of many kinds.
It pays well and is satisfactory.
There are many branches of being a court reporter.
You might for instance, report in the courtroom itself or do freelance work.
If you choose to do freelance work, mostly it will include working at depositions for the benefit of the closed captioning for the hearing impaired audience.
But there are a few things you need to understand if you want to succeed in the court reporter career.
In this article we shall discuss a few of these important things.
Pay Attention to Detail This is one of the foremost features that a court reporter needs to have.
It is very important to pay attention to detail.
You should always listen intently and try to present a nearly accurate rendition of the testimony.
A bad thing that can happen while reading a transcript is to find out spelling mistakes.
Worse thing that can happen is that the transcript might be full of notations that the person was barely audible.
At times, it is quite possible that the person speaking might not be clear.
It would be difficult for the court reporter then to understand him.
But the importance of accurate testimony cannot be underestimated.
In fact, if it is needed you should stop the proceedings and ask the individual again to repeat clearly.
Another thing that you should do is to keep the tape recorder running.
If it is needed you should also talk to the judge and the legal counsel that you are not being able to hear properly.
In fact, most of the times the chances are that if you can not hear the witness, neither can the jury, judge or attorneys.
Maintain a Network Networking is a very useful technique to handle excesses of work and also to earn a few extra bucks.
This is typically more useful when you are doing a freelance court reporting job.
At times, you might have an overload of work and need someone to handle the burden.
Your fellow court reporters can help you then.
Similarly, when you are not making enough money, you can look towards your fellow colleagues for extra work.
The freelance court reporter career is one where networking surely helps a lot.
If you have helped someone, he/she just might be open to helping you.
There are various local and state court reporting associations where you can become a member and get to know the people of your field better.
Stay Cool A career in court reporting might not be easy always.
Courts tend to have a lot of conflicts and individuals tend to drown in each other's volumes.
Tempers can be flaring up and all the time it might not be possible to note everything down.
At such a time, it is very essential to keep your calm.
Do not forget to keep your tape recorder running.
Do not also forget to notate anyone who speaks.
Sometimes transcripts have to be produced within deadlines which can also be stressful.
Keep your cool and everything will work out.