What Do Legal Transcriptionists Earn?

Legal transcriptionists create a record of what happens in court.

Legal transcriptionists, often known as court reporters, are responsible for creating verbatim records of speeches, arguments, meetings and other legal proceedings. While some legal transcriptionists work within the courts, others capture the proceedings of a wide variety of meetings.

Qualifications

The amount of training required to become a legal transcriptionist varies with the type of job being performed. Legal transcriptionists in some fields are able to learn their skills on the job, although the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average transcriptionist takes 33 months to become certified. The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) has certified more than 60 programs offering courses in legal transcription.

Salary

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, court reporters had a median income of $49,000 in May of 2008. Court reporters working in local government earned slightly more per year than reporters working in business support services. Some transcriptionists choose to earn extra income by freelancing and charging per page for transcriptions.

Job Growth

Due to increased demand for real-time transcription and captioning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment is expected to grow by about 18 percent. There will be an increasing number of jobs available outside of the courtroom as more industries see a need for transcription and captioning.

References

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: Court Reporters

Resources

• O-Net: Court Reporters