What does the court reporter do?
The court reporter listens attentively to every verbal production and even monitors physical gestures and expressions in the courtroom setting. He then uses steno-graph machines, traditional shorthand and other computerized systems which enables him to record the court proceedings.
Many court reporting companies are also involved in legal trial support services.
He is responsible for reading back transcripts to the legal team and to transcribe the speech captured in the courtroom into written records or court reporter transcriptions. The court reporter ensures that the records are free of grammatical errors and that the essence of the original speech is maintained after transcription is done. He is fully responsible for producing the final transcripts and editing the text in question.
One normally visualize the court reporter sitting somewhere on the obscured side of the courtroom typing away on a steno-type machine. In reality, he sits in close proximity to the witness stand, which is a vantage point that enables him to hear, without a lot of distraction. In that position he is able to hear speech from the judges, the attorneys and witnesses. He is often an overlooked worker in the judicial system, sitting quietly, typing at approximately two hundred words per minute, carrying a somewhat impartial look.
The court reporter’s sitting position in the courtroom should be an appropriate vantage point where the word ‘inaudible’ should never be included in a transcription. As he sits close to the witness box, he is able to interrupt and request repetitions, better articulations, alterations in pace of speech etc. The court reporter, though invisible and overlooked in some regards is indeed a cardinal presence in the courtroom.
