Minimum time to graduate from reporting school is about two years, which includes attending year-round without a summer break. Some schools offer four-year degrees. Learning the keyboard and phonetic shorthand language takes a few months, while the rest of the time is devoted to developing reflexes quick enough to respond accurately to the average rate of speech.

Attrition rates are high, and it takes commitment and perseverance to succeed in court reporting school, but the training is well worth the challenge.

Requirements to Work

This will vary by location. Some states have licensure and others do not. You may be required to pass a mandatory examination before you can work. You will also probably need to become a notary public in order to swear in witnesses. For some states, the authority to administer oaths is included with a court reporting license, but in other places, it is obtained separately.

Whether your state requires certification or not, plan to pass your local exam, usually called a CSR (Certified Shorthand Reporter), or the entry-level national test, called the RPR (Registered Professional Reporter). This will demonstrate to prospective employers that you have achieved a minimum level of speed and accuracy. Court reporting exams typically consist of about five minutes of recorded dictation at a particular speed. Candidates take down the dictation and transcribe it within an allotted time. Some exams include multiple legs focused on different types of material such as literary, jury charge and two-voice Q&A or even four-voice Q&A. In addition to the skills portion, tests may include a written knowledge test of practices and procedures.

Career Paths

Training as a machine shorthand writer opens several different career avenues. Traditionally, reporters create a verbatim record of legal proceedings. Official reporters are employed by a specific court and work in a courtroom with a judge. Freelance reporters occasionally fill in at court, but mostly cover pretrial depositions conducted in attorneys' offices. Freelance reporters are sometimes hired to report non-legal proceedings such as meetings or seminars, but this is in addition to deposition work rather than instead of it.

Another possibility is providing closed captioning for television, mostly for live programming such as news or sporting events. Captioning demands a high degree of accuracy and perpetual knowledge of current events.