Defending the Profession
How to reason with those who are against you.
As a student and as a court reporter, you’ll eventually have someone ask you why you wanted to become a court reporter when technology could replace your job. In these moments, it’s important to remain calm and be ready to defend your decision.
There have always been companies trying to push their way into the legal system claiming that their software is capable of replacing court reporters. None of them have been successful. There are several reasons for this; learning these reasons and being ready to articulate them respectfully will undoubtedly help sway their opinions and display why you are a critical component of the legal system.
Court reporters are the unbiased monitors of the proceedings. Court reporters are responsible for writing every spoken word, and therefore foster better communication. This leads to less instances of people talking over each other, everyone maintaining proper voice tones and volume, and also gives the opportunity for someone to have something repeated upon request.
Court reporters do so much more than just write what is being said. Court reporters keep track of exhibits and are responsible for their proper handling. Leaving this up to attorneys and/or other officers of the court would undoubtedly lead to exhibits being lost or mis-marked.
Court reporters are held responsible for their record. If anything happens, the court and attorneys have a clear responsible party to get answers. With any technological solution, there’s no method of recourse.
There are many more reasons, but this list will equip you with the knowledge and hopefully encourage you to research your own reasons why court reporters are essential.
At the end of the day, it’s incumbent upon us all to do our very best on every job with every client. When we all do our best, we establish court reporters as the gold standard in the industry.
