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I

n the Heavenly ledgers everything is perfectly recorded. In the earthly court court reporters try to get as close to that as possible. They need to type type and type some more — — and do it fast! Yet it takes more than just a high rate of words per minute to be successful. Whether people are describing violent crime breaking down in tears or cracking funny jokes you must stay an impartial employee of the court.

Devorah Cohen 23 is a court reporter for Gore Brothers in Baltimore Maryland. She’s been working for two years.

A court reporter’s job is to…

transcribe conversations word-for-word usually in a legal setting. We use a stenographic writer — — a 22-key typewriter used to type shorthand. The question-answer session recorded by the court reporter is a legal transcript that can be used for trial purposes. The field is broad because there are so many parts of legal proceedings that need recording.

I work as a deposition reporter meaning I type the oral testimony of anyone related to a lawsuit — — the plaintiff the defendant any witness to the case. An attorney asks the questions the deponent answers them and I type their depositions in a question-answer format.

I can type ____ words per minute.

250. To graduate from court reporting school you have to transcribe a five-minute question-answer dictation test at 225 words per minute with 97 percent accuracy. Phew! In most depositions I’ve recorded people speak at an average of 180 words per minute but there have been times where my speed has reached 300 words per minute. I type the deposition and it’s quick but I also record it so I can listen to the audio after and make sure I took down every word.

But that’s not all a court reporter needs to know how to do. There’s also…

organization and you have to be a quick thinker who can handle fast-paced scenarios without hesitating. And of course proper knowledge of grammar punctuation and spelling are necessary to create quality transcripts.