Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners
Use verbatim methods and equipment to capture, store, retrieve, and transcribe pretrial and trial proceedings or other information. Includes stenocaptioners who operate computerized stenographic captioning equipment to provide captions of live or prerecorded broadcasts for hearing-impaired viewers.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Critical Thinking
- Time Management
- Social Perceptiveness
Key knowledge
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Administrative
- Law and Government
- Customer and Personal Service
- Telecommunications
- Communications and Media
- Administration and Management
What the work involves
- Take notes in shorthand or use a stenotype or shorthand machine that prints letters on a paper tape.
- Provide transcripts of proceedings upon request of judges, lawyers, or the public.
- Record verbatim proceedings of courts, legislative assemblies, committee meetings, and other proceedings, using computerized recording equipment, electronic stenograph machines, or stenomasks.
- Transcribe recorded proceedings in accordance with established formats.
- Ask speakers to clarify inaudible statements.
- File a legible transcript of records of a court case with the court clerk's office.
- File and store shorthand notes of court session.
- Respond to requests during court sessions to read portions of the proceedings already recorded.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Artistic, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree (47.8% of expert ratings)
- Related experience
- None (39.1%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (30.4%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 76% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Contact with others about half the time” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 65% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 96% of occupations compared | 24% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 59% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 95% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 92% of occupations compared | 50% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 69% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 56% of occupations compared | 24% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 34.78%
- Contact with others most of the time: 30.43%
- Constant contact with others: 34.78%
n = 23, Occupational Expert 08/2026
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 26.09%
- Fairly important: 17.39%
- Important: 13.04%
- Very important: 13.04%
- Extremely important: 30.43%
n = 23, Occupational Expert 08/2026
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 14.29%
- Fairly important: 23.81%
- Important: 23.81%
- Very important: 14.29%
- Extremely important: 23.81%
n = 21, Occupational Expert 08/2026
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 4.35%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 13.04%
- Some freedom: 34.78%
- A lot of freedom: 47.83%
n = 23, Occupational Expert 08/2026
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 4.35%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 30.43%
- Every day: 65.22%
n = 23, Occupational Expert 08/2026
Conflict situations
- Never: 27.27%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 50%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 13.64%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 4.55%
- Every day: 4.55%
n = 22, Occupational Expert 08/2026
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 15%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 45%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 10%
- Every day: 5%
n = 20, Occupational Expert 08/2026
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 19.05%
- Fairly serious: 19.05%
- Serious: 19.05%
- Very serious: 19.05%
- Extremely serious: 23.81%
n = 21, Occupational Expert 08/2026
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O*NET-SOC 27-3092.00 · SOC 27-3092 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8