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Thinking about career change..court reporter

Posted By: Jean on 2008-08-07
In Reply to:

Have any of you ever thought about court reporting or gone through court reporting school? From what I have read they make more money than transcriptionists and there are jobs to work from home too in captioning for television and movies. 


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Has anyone had court reporter training or looked into court reporting?
I am thinking about taking a distance learning course in court reporting and I was just wondering if anyone has tried it, done it, looked into it and what they have found out.  If you have gone to school for it or are going to school for it or know anything about court reporting could you share what you know with me?  I have been in the transcription field for 15 years and I thought that might be something that I could bridge over to pretty easily, but not sure.  Any comments on this idea?  Thanks everyone for your help!
Thinking of a career change.

I am thinking about going back to school but I want to start off small.  I looked into CNA classes at a local community college but I also found they have medication aide classes.  I was wondering if it would be appropriate to call a potential employer and ask if there is a big job market out any of these, what they pay would be and what they expect out of their workers.  I really know what a certified nurses aide entails, I was one 10 years ago but not quite sure about a medication aide. 


last time I was in court -- no court reporter
I have taken my ex back to court a few times in the past couple of years and there was no court reporter in the room... In fact it was mentioned that they make a recording of the proceedings and then it is transcribed... I just asked a simple question if anybody knew if this job could be done at home and based on my experience it would make sense that it could be. No need to get nasty.
MT to court reporter?

Does anyone have experience with CR training?  Anyone made the transition from MT to CR, or the other way around?  I am looking into this as an alternative to MT.  My chief regret is that it is rather late in life for me to invest in expensive/lengthy training.  I should have seen the writing on the wall long before this, as far as MT is concerned. 


My post on a court reporter board met with thundering disinterest...not a single reply.  Would appreciate input on this if anyone has first or even secondhand experience.


But they still always have a live court reporter -nm
.
I've done transcription for a Court Reporter using the setup described.

The pay was pitiful, $1/page, and the quality not all that great. Apparently, the good pay is going to the actual CR and not the schlub doing the "work".


Career change to E-Bay?

I have read on these boards many of the MTs leaving for different career choices.  Many for nursing or such, but are there any of us out there that has consider or is doing E-Bay sales?  I have dabbled in this.  I am wondering if anyone would like to e-mail me what they are doing and if they find it a nice change.


Thanks.


-Losing faith- 


you don't need a career change...IF ALL MTs sm
would stop taking those low-paying jobs then eventually the MTSOs would HAVE to begin paying a decent line rate. I have 25 years experience and have been offered 8 cents!!! ridiculous. can't pay the bills on that.
You have to change your way of thinking about phrases in IT. sm
Think first letter of each word instead of full words and your phrases will come up. No memorizing unless you want to put customized shorts in IT. I watch the advisory lines more than my document window so my eyes don't cross. I just wouldn't work without IT because my productivity went way up in a really short time.
Thinking of trying to make a change...

I've been working now for nearly a year.  Mostly I have done podiatry and clinic notes.  I'm thinking of making a change to radiology or neuro/phsyc.  Any tips on how to do this?  I know podiatry terms and rarely have to look anything up anymore, but there doesn't seem to be much work out there for the subspecialty.  Any advice would be great.  I've been applying to every ad I see, but no replies yet. 


I know a lot of new MTs go into acute care, but I'm finding I am far more productive working with one specialty rather than acute care or clinic notes. 


Any advice?  Thanks.


Oh, working in-office isn't an option because of where I live.


I've been thinking about a job change recently

I've only been in this biz for about 13 years, but now that my last one is off to school, I'm also thinking about a career change.  I live in a very rural area as well, so I understand completely what you mean about people thinking $8 an hour is a good wage. 


One thing I'd like to suggest is looking into a state job.  We have 2 state prisons in my area (about a 20-minute commute) and both hire medical transcriptionists as well as medical records personnel.  These jobs generally start out at about $12 to $15 an hour plus state benefits, which in my state are the best bennies anywhere.  The jobs that require coding certification pay even more.  I would highly recommend that you look on the internet for state civil service jobs in your state.  You'd be surprised at the opportunities in the medical field. 


I'm considering this option myself but want to wait until next fall, after I have the summer to spend with my kids (and so I don't start out "in the hole" because of babysitting expenses) and to have time to look into getting my coding cert.  I graduated from a business school with an Associate's in medical secretarial and did a lot of coding prior to working from home.  I used to do billing for a very large rehab facility, so I don't think it will be too hard to brush up on my skills.


Anyway, good luck and let me know if this (a state job) pans out for you.  Most people have no idea these kinds of jobs are even out there (I didn't).


CAREER versus JOB--lovin' my CAREER
Career definition:

1. an occupation or profession, esp. one requiring special training, followed as one's lifework:

2. a person's progress or general course of action through life or through a phase of life, as in some profession or undertaking.

3. success in a profession, occupation, etc.

Job definition:

1. A specific task done as part of one's occupation or for an agreed price
2. post of employment; full-time or part-time position: She was seeking a job as an editor.
3. anything a person is expected or obliged to do; duty; responsibility.

Hence, medical transcription requires special training. This is a CAREER.

The report we transcribe is a job with a job number.

I love this CAREER and am proud to be in my 12th year as a medical transcriptionist. I'm not rich, but my consistent $18 to $20 per hour equivalent is pretty darn good in this small town where the cost of living is pretty low.

LOVING MY CAREER!!!! :)
Career? this thing is not a career anymore...sm
this is a sweat shop job right up there with all the illegal sweat shops out there.

Right now, i have no other choice but to do this "job" because with my disabilities, no other place will hire me and I especially cannot work out of the home anymore. Until I can get disability, I guess I will continue to do this job, until we are all phased out by Indian MTs and VR.
Well she started out as a reporter 26 years ago.
She's not poor by any means!
I heard it wasn't a reporter's job to be accurate;
it was a reporter's job to sell newspapers, LOL.


Even 4.5 is too low. doctors do not change - they still hem and haw, change, change stuff along wit
It is just not enough for the work. Speech is great on the wrists but you are not just reading what is typed, you are making a lot of changes. I have a hard time doubling a lot of days with all the changes I have to make. Just my opinion.
Or even notifying an investigative reporter/call for action type of thing on tv - nm
x
Speaking of Kenny Chesney, is anyone thinking what I am thinking? see message
When I hear the words, "annulment" and "fraud" in the same sentence, I can only think of one thing.  Anybody else thinking the same thing?
Don't change. I had to change back to cable. SuddenLink DSL stinks! nm

nm


Change provider vs change to business plan

In your place, I would seriously consider changing providers if there were others available in your area, but I'd ask around about their service quality first.  It may not be any better.  If there are no other providers, then consider changing your service package to a business account rather than residential.  They're usually more expensive, but they also tend to get faster service if there's a problem.


Last summer, I had no electricity for 3 days due to severe storms, but there were some 600,000 in the same boat with me.  We just had to wait it out.  It's a downside of working at home.


change attitude, change life
The first thing you need to change is that defeatist attitude! I know that's hard at times like this, but that's when you need to most.
I won't go into detail, but my financial situation is also at an all-time low, we couldn't even exchange gifts., daughter in hospital twice, & no med insurance)..but then I heard about how much worse things were for others around me this season. Now I'm thankful instead!
Court?

Thought I had a great, lengthy report the other day, for it to be over 7 minutes of one physician talking with another about getting sued by a patient due to overmedicating - the patient overmedicated, but the doctor prescribed the meds.  Anyway - have any of you ever had to go to court and testify?  This, along with Dr.Infection (almost every report I get is someone who has had surgery and now is infected - and this is not an infectious disease physician but the surgeon), I am wondering if I will ever get called in.  I can't believe that none of these patient's are suing.  Just wanted to vent and get someone's take on this.


 


 


Get out while you can. Things will *never* change unless you change them. (nt)

DMV/Traffic Court

Out here in CA, if you have unpaid tickets, a warrant is issued.  So when you show up at DMV or the court house, you most probably will have to pay right away or explain to a justice why you need an extension to pay.  They probably wont want to hear the argument that it was your sister cause you dont have proof.  You will be responsible and then you can kick your sisters butt or sue her. I have a friend who had outstanding speeding ticket and the cops came to her house, arrested her and she had to spend the weekend in jail till Monday when her boyfriend was able to bring the money to the court house. 


Out here, we have cameras at stop lights and on different roads..So when someone is exceeding the speed limit or goes through a red light, the camera takes a picture.  You never see an officer, you receive the ticket in the mail and they have the picture for proof.  Good luck to you. 


 


Court Hearings
I have been offered a job to supplement my medical transcription job. The job is transcribing court hearings.
court reporting
I have a friend who did court reporting for many years. She made excellent money, but had back trouble and neck, arm and carpal tunnel problems. The machine she had to tote around is quite heavy, even in a roller suitcase, was not easy, especially if elevators were out and she had to be on the third floor. Of course, no one ever offered to help her with the suitcase. She did her own editing and printing out of all her depositions and made probably $70,000 to $85,000 per year attending all the courts and taking depositions. She gave it up because of her hands and back and is now a paralegal. after going to college for that. She loved it though and used to call me for medical words she was stuck on....
Court Reporting
I actually graduated from CR school in Iowa and use my machine to transcribe.  I would never discourage anyone from trying, but be aware that is very difficult to learn and achieving speeds takes dedication and a lot of time and practice.  It sure isn't as easy as it looks, but the payoff is great in the end.  I couldn't transcribe w/out my machine!
COURT REPORTING???
Has anyone out there ever thought of going from being an MT to court reporting?  I have been transcribing for almost 15 years now.  I know that the pay scale is better for court reporters, and there are schools that offer on-line classes now.  I just wonder what the job prospects were.  I have only known 2 court reports and both of them were working as MTs.  Any info, anybody?  Thanks
court reporting
I often think about court reporting too. I was told just recently by a court reporter if I was going to do it to go into real time reporting, don't know much about it, other than it is doing caption work for live tv.
court reporting
She's right, there are no jobs...they're all held by people who have no intention of giving them up and the rest of the court reporters are doomed to working for services. How do I know? My daughter attended a local college for this, finished the course with excellent grades and looked for a job but could not find an opening within reasonable distance. Tuition is horribly expensive also, so she's now in debt to the tune of approximatey 14,000 dollars, luckily it's Sallie Mae and is at 2.12%. Don't do it! This job is just too hard on your body and mind (if you do get a job, all you'll be hearing is about murders, drug deals, divorces and child abuse), and who needs that? In West Virginia, a court reporter starts out at 13,000 a year -you could make that McDonald's, easy, without having to repay an education loan. The local college's ads say Make $60,000 a year your first year...that is also bs. It's more like $28,000.
why would YOU get called into court?
All you know is what is in the medical record. You have nothing else to do with it...
Court Reporting vs MT

Hello all !   Years ago I considered getting into court reporting, but back then I remember being told you only get paid PER PAGE/LINE, and not for your time in the court room when you're recording the cases. Recently I was told a court reporter gets anywhere from $3 to $5 per page.


Does anyone have any info on how payment for court reporters works? Is the above true?  I thought MT was a better-paying position, as the whole go-to-work-and-jot-down-the-text part was eliminated - and we (used to) make good money doing MT. 


Any info would be interesting! Thanks  !


Court reporting (see m)
Hi - if you work for a court, you are paid an annual salary plus benefits, starting around 50k per year, just for sitting in court and taking down the proceedings and even if no one orders a transcript. On top of that, you also get transcript fees (if anyone orders a transcript) of $3 to $5 per page and more if you provide RealTime. Most court days come out to about 250 pages of transcript, so if someone orders even the cheapest transcript that's $750 right there.

Court reporting is much more lucrative than MT if you can get a full-time job with a court.

If you freelance and take depositions, then you can charge the parties an appearance fee for showing up, plus the transcript per-page fee, but it's usually a bit less lucrative than a courthouse position.
court reporting
thanks for the info! It's a better position than I was aware !
Court action

I am not sure what your limit is for small claims court, it used to be $3500 here but know it has changed.   If it is more than one doctor in practice, you need to find out how they are listed through their business license, etc. through the state.  They helped me at the courthouse how to do this as it had to be listed exactly.  If you want to make a last ditch effort and make sure it isn't just the office manager that is not paying you, send a certified letter to each doctor that has to be signed by them and them only outlining what you will be doing and why.  You can act as your own collection agency instead of paying someone a commission to collect the money from you.   That is why I always keep on file a copy of their checking account number that they pay me on as I did sue once and we used it to collect the funds.  Also if the 7K is over the amount of small claims, then perhaps breaking out each individual doctor is under the amount.  But that is a pretty big amount and cannot believe that you let it go that high unless it is a large account and that is only one to two month's worth.  But again, try to get the correspondence directly to the docs as sometimes they do not know that the bill is going unpaid.   Good luck, let us know what happens.   Hopefully you are no longer providing service to this clinic.  Do some digging and get home address phone numbers if you are that gutsy and for that amount I would probably do it. 


Again, good luck.


 


 


Court transcription
Most of court recordinds are now done on CD's during the hearings.  If someone wants a transcript you can buy the CD.  I have done some when they were on tapes and they are not wasy to transcribe with voices coming over voices, not being able to hear clearly, etc.  A friend of mine works for an atty and she sometimes has to transcribe the CD's and she has torecord them over to tapes to transcribe -- now not sure if they would work with a .WAV pedal or not.  But again, it is worse than insurance depositions or interviews as someone is always talking over someone else and it is hard to place the microphone where everyone that says something says it.  And you never know when someone will want one transcribed.   I acatually got a CD from my divorce hearing. 
Court recordings

Well over half and probably 75% of court recordings are now on CD's as well as dispositions and are being transcribed only if necessary or requested and many times at home by some of us. 


Court Reporting
The poster is right in that it's a hard field to get into, at least in our area at the Courthouse, but there is always freelancing. You can make really good money if you're good. I do know that when I took ShortHand a long time ago (I was a legal secretary), there were court reporter students in the class and the machine looked really hard. You have to have tremendous speed. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
court reporting
I used to transcribe for a friend who was a court reporter and she did voice recording. This was 15 years ago though. She had a 2-track tape recorder. She would repeat everything being said in the courtroom into a small microphone, that I believe was almost like a mask. One track of the tape would record the court proceedings, and the other track would record her. I would transcribe the court proceedings, and if I could not understand something, I would switch to the other track, and it would be her repeating the testimony, etc. Not sure if they even do this anymore, but she made a lot of money at the time.
court reporting

 


Recently there had been an ad in our local paper for a full-time court reporter for the superior court in our local area.  It was advertised at $78,000 per year with full federal benefits, and bonus days off like President's day (when was the last time a MT got paid for being off on President's Day?)   Again, I too pick the wrong career and should have went into court reporting but at that time (in 1976) there was not a lot of interest in that field so I just went into transcription training and here I am 30 years later.  Can you still teach an old dog new tricks?


 


 


IT COULD LAND IN COURT SM
Sorry for the shouting, I also did legal and one of my reports from a service with my initials on it was evidence and they questioned the doc on the stand. They say the report belongs to the doc but who knows when this will change. Thank goodness I had nothing to do with it, but they did ask him where it was typed, by whom, the time and date. Some docs do doctor the date to cover their kiesta and that's a hard decision to make. If the case were serious enough, I would question it or send it back with a note and document that note and make a copy. Sorry to be so serious but I've been in this a long time and I've hear it all. Lots of CYA stuff goes on (cover your -ss)
Court reporting
Yes, I've been through CR school. If you want to do it, go for it, but fair warning...you have to be married to that machine and have no life outside of it until your graduate. I agree with the other poster...it is extremely difficult, and unless you can dedicate 100% of your time to it, it's near impossible to make it through the course.
court reporting
I spent almost 3 years in CR school, was about to graduate and began to hate every minute I was chained to that machine. The school also had a MT program, so most of my credits transferred. Of the people that I knew who did go on to that career were disappointed with the money. Be careful researching this career and make sure you really want to do it. You really are a slave to that machine in court.
Took MTSO to court. sm
She only owed me a little, but refused to pay. Left post if I should sue or not, and I did!!!

Lawyer is waiting for check from MTSO, so I should get it shortly thereafter. Who knew???
Court Reporting

I definitely would go to school for court reporting, but unfortunately I am too old (64). I know this would be very interesting. Where I live near Chicago, they have an excellent court reporting program that a person can take.


Also, you can work at home eventually. Like I said if I were younger, I would go for court reporting.


court reporting
Go for it! You can do it. If I lived near a school, I would try it myself. I am 69 and will be 70 in the fall plus I am a disabled person (terrible back after surgery). Do not let your age stop you for doing anything. At the rate it is going now days, you might live to be 90 or 100. Just think all the productive years you have ahead of you!
Have any of you ever thought of court reporting? sm

It seems like there is more job security in court reporting -- and much better money.  I'm really thinking of getting out of medical transcription... just so tired of getting paid less and less to do the same job.  I was just laid off a great in-house job and I am really wondering if transcription is right for me anymore.  


Court Reporting Employment
How do you get into this field of work?
And then went to court with the editor and said her famous sm

*people who do bad things get breast cancer*, talking about the editor.  Rose is not a nice person.   In fact, she said *the (expletive omitted) ain't so nice anymore* or something to that effect.  Yep, what a role model.


No, it is EDITING court transcripts

After the court reporter translates his/her steno there are usually mistranslates and untranslates.  Reporters are so swamped, they don't have the time to do it themselves, so they use scopists.  There are good reporters and there are really bad reporters.  I know there are schools out there, but reporters and their scopists are usually pretty 'tight' and a reporter will want an experienced scopist, because the reporter has to certify the finished transcript.  So you HAVE to know what you're doing. Most scopists are ex-reporters and scopists work as ICs.  This work is not as easy as it sounds.  There are times I've had to stay up all night scoping a 200 page transcript that was needed by 8am next day - and I didn't get it until nearly 9pm.  A transcript is a verbatim re-creation of human speech.  Think about the way people talk and try putting that on paper.  Most transcripts have audio attached or sometimes video.  You have to get every stutter, stammer, bad grammer and bad word. There is usually a lot "butting-in" and people talking over each other - you have to get that correct.  The editing software is expensive and can be tough for some people to learn. The reporter you work with may have a different software than you have so you have to know how to convert the files.  You have to know how to help the reporter build her dictionary, plus different reporters may have different formating preferences.  But the normal TAT is days instead of hours, double to triple pay if it's an expedite (next day), the lines are double spaced and no more 65-character lines - a line is a line even if the only word is 'Yes' (you get paid by the page).  And this work will NEVER be offshored. You can work your rear off for two or three weeks and have very little to nothing for the next week or two. Due to a shortage of reporters, some shorter hearings are digitally taped then put to CD and given to a reporter who gives it to the scopist to transcribe (if the reporter had time to do it she'd be in the court room in the first place, right?).  So it HAS to be correct (did he say I-I-I three times or four?) but you get paid triple.  And you think medical reports can be graphic?  You ain't heard nothing, yet.  Try listening to a murder or rape case - especially when a child is involved. 


 


Fortunately, I had a mentor scopist (35 years experience) that taught me well.  I worked with her for a long time before she felt I was good enough to go out on my own.  Word of mouth has given me more business and I only do MT 1 or 2 days a week now, but that will be ending completely soon. Less stress, more money and more time to myself. The online schools make it sound easy, but it isn't.  Scoping is not for everyone and it can be tough to get your foot in the door.   If you are comfortable with MT, stay with it.  


I actually like a lot of the court show judges.
Judge Judy is hysterical. Judge Milian on People's court is great! I also like Judge Joe Brown and Judge Hatchett. I'm not crazy about that new guy that looks like Herman Munster though, Alex something? lol