Court Reporting

What Court Reporting Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to court reporting and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Court Reporting Majors

Court Reporting majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Skills for Court Reporting Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to court reporting:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Time Management - Managing one’s own time and the time of others.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Abilities for Court Reporting Majors

As you progress with your court reporting degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

What Can You Do With a Court Reporting Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with court reporting:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Court Reporters	3.6%	$57,150

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Court Reporting

Some degrees associated with court reporting may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for court reporting careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	5.2%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	40.7%
Some College Courses	10.4%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	33.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	9.0%

Online Court Reporting Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	21	6
Certificate (2-4 Years)	11	2
Associate’s Degree	31	11
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Court Reporting

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to court reporting.

Major	Number of Grads
Legal Assistant/Paralegal	9,694
Legal Administrative Assistant/Secretary	256
Other Legal Support Services	223
Court Interpreter	3
Scopist	3

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.