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Remember when you see a man at the top of a mountain, he didn’t fall there. Anonymous
Court Reporting, Captioning, and CART Providing Jobs
Are there REALLY plenty of court reporting, captioning, and CART providing jobs available? Absolutely, there are! … At least there are for competent,proficient professionals who are realtime writers. I am contacted quite often by court reporters who say, “My work is really slowing down.” What they really mean is: I cannot write realtime, and I cannot compete with realtime writers. Therefore, I don’t receive the more lucrative assignments requiring instantaneous, realtime translation. Those reporters HAVE to upgrade their theory to allow them to be excellent realtime writers, and I have many of them training with my Realtime Writing Program for court reporters, or they may be transitioning to captioning or CART providing. YOU, my Court Reporting and Captioning at Home (CRAH) students, are learning an excellent realtime writing theory, so you will be way ahead of the game. You WILL be excellent realtime writers one day.
Many of you CRAH students have had to put your training aside for a few weeks, or a few months, or even a few years to deal with “life.” And when you return to your training with CRAH, you almost always inquire: Will there still be plenty of court reporting, captioning, and CART positions available when I complete my training? And the answer is (and always has been for the 35 years I have been in this business), yes, absolutely, for those who are the best court reporters, which in today’s market means, realtime writers. The U. S. Department of Labor states court reporting will continue to grow by 14% through 2020 and, of course, realtime writers wil have the BEST job prospects. However,the Dept. of Labor may not be taking into consideration the fact that approximately 25% of all court reporters are Baby Boomers and may choose toretire. That 14% is probably considerably higher. I am aware of some court reporters in their 70s who are still reporting. So it definitely depends on the individual and how much they want to work! (smiles)
Most people think of a court reporter as someone who sits in a courtroom writing trials and hearings all day. And while those are the duties of an “official” court reporter who earns a set salary and who may enjoy benefits such as a paid vacation, paid holidays, 401K, life and health insurance, etc., etc., actually only about 15-20% of all court reporters work as an “official” reporter. Most court reporters freelance, either establishing their own businesses or working for acourt reporting firm or agency. If you choose to establish your own business, CRAH students, we will teach you how to do so. Or perhaps your choice is working for an agency or firm that furnishes you all your assignments in exchange for taking a commission from you, ranging anywhere from 10% to 30%. Generally speaking, 25% is fairly average across the United States. However, this rate varies not only from state to state, but county to county.
Do I have to have a large clientele in order to be successful? Absolutely not! For approximately five years I worked
basically for four attorneys, both Plaintiff and Defendant, handling only medical malpractice cases. After I had
children, I decided to accept only very short, one-hour depositions, so I worked basically for a Plaintiff and Defense attorney handling worker’s compensation cases or accident cases. So again, it doesn’t require a great many lawyers to provide you enough business to keep you busy. It requires a few attorneys who appreciate your work and expediency who employ you on a regular basis.
I have captioning companies contact me often seeking students ready to work. There is online captioning, offline
captioning, internet captioning, stadium captioning, etc., etc. One Canadian company advised me they were a
new, startup company, but already had contracts for 70,000 captioning hours.
I have also been contacted by CART providing employers seeking excellent realtime writers. You may not be aware, but CART providing may be provided entirely from your home, just like captioning. It is referred to as “remote” CART providing. You may also be unaware thatyou may obtain employment for captioning and CART regardless of where you reside in the U.S. Some captioners and CART providers accept employment from more than one captioning or CART providing employer. One can reside on the East Coast and work for one or more captioning companies on the West Coast, or in Texas, or Canada. Quit wasting precious practice time on forums, and one of these wonderful careers can be yours, too.
Linda Bland, RMR, RPR,
CSR, CPE
SSD Enterprises, LLC
Court Reporting and
Captioning at Home
