Court Reporting in the 21st Century – Decade 1
January 1, 2000, 12:00 a.m., seems like a long time ago. As a working court reporter and firm owner I have felt the highs and lows that our industry has experienced. I remember vividly the days before the millennium backing up everything on all of our computers. We were backing up on floppy disks and weird little drives in anticipation of the great Y2K disaster. No one knew if our computers would be able to handle the year 2000.
In the early part of our decade, large “national” court reporting firms were being born. As the decade passed, many small-to-medium-size court reporting firms became “national” creating relationships and affiliations with other firms in different territories. “Networking” has become a common phrase. With the ease of emailing transcripts, scanning exhibits, and video conferencing, reporting firms are able to cover jobs for each other and keep the client happy working with their local firm.
With the suffering economy in California has come a slow-down in my areas of litigation. Business disputes are expensive to litigate. I have read dozens of articles about law firms downsizing in attorneys, staff, and space. Court reporters in California state courts have the monthly furlough now which means they work one less day a month and take a cut in their salary. The freelance court reporters have had a very tough year up and down the state.
My belief is in the spring of 2010 things are going to start popping. I am a layperson, but I have been studying market trends, analyzing the banking crises and stimulus package, and I am of the belief things are going to be shifting drastically. I hope my fellow reporters are going to be ready. I don’t want to hear of any old, crummy machines being out there or DOS-based software. I cannot emphasize enough the necessity of being on the top of your game for your future.
This decade is almost gone. Let’s thrive on the positive shifts our industry has gone through and flourish in 2010 – 2020. Each court reporter as an individual makes up the profession as a whole. We all need to work together. Join your state associations and national. They are on your side and are working for your future.
@rosaliekramm (Twitter)
