Courts launch new court reporter position as staffing numbers remain low
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The New York State Court system announced a new court reporter trainee program at Queens’ Plaza College on Wednesday to help fill staffing gaps. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
In order to make up for low court reporter staffing numbers in courthouses across New York State, the Office of Court Administration launched a new court reporter trainee position this week, which is celebrated as National Court Reporters Week.
The new trainee role, for which the court system is currently accepting applications on a rolling basis for, allows would-be court reporters to gain a year of experience in the court system before taking a full-time job.
Previously, court reporters were required to gain a year of experience outside the court system before applying.
“This title will allow students with a certification to come out of school, right into the court system for employment and begin their career,” said Christy Bass, the human resources director for the New York State Court System. “It's a one-year trainee-ship, and then you become a court reporter, with the same promotional opportunities to become senior and principal court reporter.”
Bass was joined by stenographers and other court officials at Plaza College – home to one of the nation’s most well-known court reporting and captioning schools – as part of the annual Court Reporters and Captioners Week on Wednesday to make the announcement.
“Court reporters serve a crucial role in the New York State courts,” said Bass. “They're responsible for meticulously taking down the record with unwavering precision. In every courtroom, their presence is indispensable, guaranteeing that every statement is accurately reported.”
The trainee program, which has already begun onboarding a few new court reporters statewide, allows court reporters who have completed a stenography program to enter the courts and work under direct supervision of a supervisory court reporter and other court managers.
Trainees will be responsible for verbatim recording and transcribing testimony in both formal and informal court settings, according to the job posting for the job shared at the Plaza College press conference.
The starting salary for a trainee is just around $75,500, with more in location pay if the job is located in New York City, Nassau or Suffolk Counties, or the 9th Judicial District which includes Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester Counties.
Reed Goldsmith, a court reporter who retired out of Queens County and now serves as the President of the New York State Court Reporters Association, applauded the new role.
“This allows them to fast track their careers,” he told the Eagle.
The introduction of the trainee position comes as the state courts face a continued shortage in court reporters and non-judicial employees system-wide, contributing to heavier workloads for existing employees, and packed calendars.
During his budget testimony in late January, Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas said that by the end of 2021, non-judicial staffing dropped by nearly 17 percent, or nearly 3,000 employees, in the last 13 years.
As part of his budget requests, Zayas is looking to restore the staffing levels to 15,7000 full-time equivalent non-judicial positions, which, although still less than it was closer to 15 years ago, is a “significant step in the right direction.”
Among those court officials are hoping to hire are court reporters.
According to a court official, there are 794 court reporters working across New York State, as of Wednesday.
In a statement on Wednesday, Zayas celebrated court reporters, without whom court trials could not be held, and promoted the new trainee role that looks to help make up for staffing issues.
“We are indebted to our court reporters for their valuable contributions,” Zayas said. “The work that they do each day is critical to the Court System’s mission and operations. In recognition of National Court Reporting and Captioning Week, I am pleased to join in celebrating our highly trained and dedicated corps of court reporters and encouraging students, job seekers, and others to learn more about the rewarding career opportunities available, from court reporter trainees to senior court reporters, in courthouses across New York.”
In the meantime, the staffing shortages have created a significant workload increase for the close to 800 employed by the state courts, causing double, sometimes triple duty, according to officials who spoke on Wednesday.
“I know people that are assigned to one work area, and because they're short in another work area, they volunteer when they are done, they go over to the other area,” said Goldsmith. “Upstate, they will drive from a county to another county to cover a courtroom that is short.”
The new court reporter trainee program at the New York State Court system will see stenographers go straight from school into the court system, without the previously required year of experience outside the courts. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
Keith Olarnick, the chief court reporter at Kings County Supreme Court, said he oversees 70 reporters between the borough’s civil and criminal courts, but is still in “desperate need” for more reporters to fill gaps.
“At the present time, we have approximately 70 court reporters and that may sound like a lot, but we are in desperate need of more court reporters,” Olarnick said.
“We work for one of the largest and greatest court systems in the country,” he added. “That very system wants and needs more court reporters to help carry out the administration of justice.”
Long before the press conference on Wednesday, court reporters and captioners have tried to promote the career they call “one of the best careers that nobody knows about,” amid the shortages.
“I get phone calls every week from freelance agencies, from all the grand juries, district attorney's offices all over New York State looking and waiting for our graduates,” said Karen Santucci, director of Plaza College’s sonography program. “We can't get the people out of school fast enough to fill up the seats.”
However, Santucci and others have said that part of the issue is making people aware of the career, which is what the Court Reporting and Captioning Week is designed to help with.
“The need is great, the problem is most people don't know about the career,” said Santucci. “It's just getting the word out of all these opportunities for them.”
