Iowa’s court reporters recruiting for future

Three area court reporters are planning for the future of their profession because an estimated 60 percent of the reporters in Iowa will be retiring or eligible for retirement within 10 years.

'It's a great time to be a steno reporter,” Karen Teig, a 6th Judicial District court reporter who is on the board of directors for the National Court Reporter Association, said last week. 'It's a growing career choice. I still love it after 39 years.”

Deb Shields, a 6th Judicial District court reporter, said there are opportunities in the judicial setting but also many outside the courtroom, such as broadcast captioning for live sporting events or television programs, depositions for legal cases and medical transcription. The jobs pay well and people stay in the profession. She also has certified reporter for 39 years.

Iowa court reporters have gone through a tough time since the layoffs of 2009 and 2010 when state officials started talking about using audio recordings for some court proceedings, as some other states do, instead of court reporters, to save money. But most states found it wasn't a cost savings and had to bring back court reporters.

The Iowa judiciary fought against the idea because judges and attorneys believed nothing could replace the human element for being the 'guardians of the court record.” The judicial budget last year allowed districts to hire back some of the reporters cut in the two layoffs. There were 173 court reporters in the judicial system before 2009 and after cuts there were 153 but now it's back to 173.

Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge Patrick Grady said court reporters are an 'indispensable” part of the court system. The district is back up to 18 and one part time reporters but before 2009 there were 21.

'We rely on them to make an accurate record,” Grady said. 'In Iowa, we also rely on them to provide extra support services to the judges. We don't have clerks or secretaries to help with typing up orders and other paperwork. It was tough for a while with less.”

Shields said the push for recruitment is vital now because of the aging workforce and Des Moines Area Community College in Newton has a new court reporting program. The program, starting in the fall, is the only one in the area after AIB College of Business terminated its program because of dwindling enrollment, which stemmed from the court layoffs. Shields and others have been talking to middle and high school students about the profession.

The Iowa Court Reporter Association has been working with DMACC for more than a year on the curriculum and faculty, and the DMACC board approved it in February, DMACC Provost Mary Entz said.

Sarah Hyatt, 6th Judicial District court reporter and president of the Iowa Court Reporter Association, said the state has a reputation of providing exceptional reporters, so the association was happy to lend support to the school for this program. Shields said more students may be interested in the DMACC program because it's less costly than AIB at $139 per credit hour.

The reporters said on the national level there is a movement to use more court reporters and the U.S. News and World Report names court reporting a 'Top 50 Career” and the career outlook is 'excellent” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics with a projected job growth of 14 percent through 2020.

According to a 2013 job posting for Iowa court reporters, starting salary is $48,000 to $75,000 a year, depending on experience. All the court reporters said it's possible to make much more after experience and even freelancers can make a living because there is so much need for transcripts, depositions in civil and criminal cases and captioning jobs.

'Young people who text are perfect for this,” Teig said. 'Have you seen them? They have great hand-eye coordination.”

Hyatt said the job is suited for someone who is good at multi-tasking, detailed oriented, loves grammar and punctuation and looking for a long term profession.

Teig said one colleague described it to someone as it's like playing music - 'hitting several keys at once.”

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