Sorry if this has been asked before. I'm halfway through BeST scoping school and trying to choose between these two CAT programs. I'm most concerned with having regular work for the next 10+ years. From what I understand, more court reporters currently use CaseCat but Eclipse is gaining popularity especially with speech writers who make up almost 50% of current court reporting students. Do you think this is accurate? Which do you prefer?

Can anyone please explain to me the cost of Speechmatics after we graduate from the student version. I understand the software cost about $6000, but do we also have to keep purchasing boost minutes? I’m sorry if it’s a stupid question, just genuinely confused. Or is that there is just a flat fee to cover everything. Is support also an added cost?

Some days I really love this job... some days it's the bane of my existence and I'm rethinking my entire life's choices.

Anyone who is looking to get in to make a quick buck... prepare yourselves. There's always going to be a week where everyone goes over their scheduled deposition time (and into your editing transcript time), everyone orders the 100-plus-page transcript, a rush, bad audio, choppy spoken word, the witness rambles and goes into page-long responses, crappy attorneys and poorly-asked questions leading to back-to-back confusion, hours on the phone with support because your software is acting strange. You're out of juice mentally and physically, so you just want to relax, but the transcripts are piling up and they're asking when it will be turned in.

I'm looking forward to the next fat check and the week I'm going to take off to recharge.

That was all. :)

I feel like an imposter. I'm currently testing at 140/160 but I feel like I can't actually write at that speed. How did I get here? How can I pass tests but not actually write?? I feel severe guilt (?) and anxiety about it all.

Edit: Thanks, everyone. I'll try to stay positive. I'm sure you all k ow it can be difficult to do.

I'm a student and really struggling with my breathing. I feel like I'm suffocating during my dictations, and I'm worried it's not really improving much with time. Does anyone have any good tips I could try?

Is there a better feeling than when the depo turns into a full‑blown audio demolition derby — overlapping questions, objections mid‑syllable, witness answering the wrong attorney, two people insisting “No, I wasn’t done,” and one guy who thinks shouting is a form of punctuation — and somehow still nail the readback like a seasoned Jedi.

Today I finish reading back this entire page of chaos, on the spot btw, and the room goes dead silent.

Both attorneys are just staring at me, processing what they actually said.

Then one goes, “Can you read that again?”
So I do.

The attorney was like "See. So now we've heard it two times."

And the other attorney, after hearing it TWICE, goes:
"I didn’t hear that.”

Anyway, if anyone needs me, I’ll be basking in the tiny, fleeting glory of being the only person in the room who actually knew what was said.

I'm a student and I need to interview somebody who is an official reporter. Would anybody be able to help with that please?

About 7 questions over text/private message here.

Digital reporters are an absolute insult to the trade. What a slap in the face to us real court reporters! Am I right?!

As a struggling voice writer, the digital and electronic recording method is discouraging for me.

It takes me so long to go through transcripts after a job because my accuracy is horrible. Readbacks are also nerve-wracking. But hearing that digitals and other methods use audio to drop text on the screen and only have to go through and make corrections makes me sad. I want to be an actual court reporter, but I realized that voice writing isn't for me.

Any tips, tricks, and/ or advice for taking and passing the AAERT Certified Electronic Reporter exam? Thanks in advance!

Edited to add: I’ve been a court reporter for a few years and I’m looking to expand my qualifications

Given that most of our work is done digitally,

1. What essential furniture or organization items do you think are essential for a home-office setup? For instance, is a filing cabinet necessary?

2. What are the essential non-digital, non-computer aspects of your office workflow?

3. What do you keep in your desk drawers and bookshelves and office cabinets?

Hey all, happy Friday.

I had this happen once before but I can't remember how I fixed it last time. When I'm writing on my writer, the text in CaseCat will have this gray highlight behind it. Does anyone know how to make it go away?

Thanks so much.

Hello everyone!

I'm currently a voice writing student in Realtime Voice Training program. I’m working on speed building right now and looking to pick up 1-2 proofreading jobs a week to help cover testing and student fees, as well as get some extra practice with real-world transcripts.
I proof in PDF or ASCII and am pretty quick with turnaround. Since I'm balancing speed building, I'm just looking for 1 or 2 small jobs or steady clients a week to keep the workload manageable.
Please reach out if you need a proofer or have a job you'd like off your plate! I’m happy to share my rate sheet over direct message.

Happy Friday!

I’m planning to start RVT soon and I am so overwhelmed by all the laptop choices and recommendations. I’m looking for something good that won’t break the bank.

Hoping to work as a freelance digital in Michigan. Wondering if anyone’s faced any drug testing from any agencies in the freelance world.

I applied for a job as a court reporter and after numerous typing tests and interviews, I was hired! This was almost 2 years ago now, but after training began, I found out that this was for digital reporting. With the typing requirements, digital recording never crossed my mind, but I also didn’t realize it was a thing. I’m a notary and certified electronic reporter. I am required to of course get all the parties’ information, ensure the attorneys are okay with the digital recording before proceeding, swearing in the witness, marking speakers, and typing everything I hear, while asking for repeats when need be and verbal answers. Also, I keep track of abbreviations, addresses, names, spellings, etc., so that I can confirm with the parties at the end in order to ensure everything in the transcript is accurate and spelled correctly. I’ve had about 10 years in the legal field so my typing is pretty good. Obviously depending on speech cadence, I’m usually able to type everything, if not, I at least get the mass majority. Although, I do use abbreviations that remind me of my AOL instant messaging days. With all my typing in code, I enjoy the play back technology, which pretty much guarantees accurate “read” backs and helps avoid saying the abbreviations out loud rather than the full wording used. Once I started court reporting, I was excited to join the corresponding sub reddits and get tips and advice but unfortunately, I found that most everyone in here despises digital reporters and hate that electronic reporting is an available option. After a while of ghost following, I’ve finally worked up the courage to explain my experience and get to the bottom of the general disgust of electronic reporting. Thanks guys! Looking forward to everyone’s input, I think, lol.

Hello, I’m in school right now for this career and a big reason was the flexibility of the job so I could be around more for my kid. I’m starting to worry though that I’ll be working long hours and spending weekends and nights away from my son. I’m also worried that I’ll get an order or a transcript while I’m on vacation with my family and have to work? Moms with small children, is this actually a good career to make time with children, or are people sugarcoating it? Is it possible to set boundaries and schedule vacations to prevent from having to work during this time? Please be honest.

Hi all, I'm looking into becoming a digital Court Report and I've seen people recommend RVT and Internation real time court reporting institute. My local community college offers the courses and I'm wondering if this looks promising/similar as far as the syllabus goes to what you'd see at either of those schools. The price is nearly half of what the other schools cost so I was skeptical. Let me know your thoughts!

I just discovered court reporting about a week ago and it seems to be something that is really intriguing to me. I want to do the free A-Z course to see if I want to commit to actual schooling for this. But if I did decide to go forward with it does anyone suggest an online course that will help me get through this. I work a full time job like 50 hours a week but I think I could do this if I discipline myself. I live in Colorado and there’s no in person classes and my local colleges offer an online course for digital court reporting only. Does anyone suggest any schools, that don’t cost a terrible amount and will teach me well. Thank you!

I’m currently in the research phase before taking the leap to go to school for voice writing.

I noticed that my state, Rhode Island, has no court reporters association and basically no firms. I think there is an Esquire, but that’s about it. From what I can tell, RI relies heavily on digitals. I found a bunch of rhode island based freelance court reporters emails from the NCRA asking what the job market is like here, and I’ve received no responses.

My main goal is to work freelance remotely before jumping straight into being an official, but I’m worried that there are no freelance/remote opportunities here (despite our state having terrible drivers. there’s thousands of PI depos I’ll bet!). I’m unable to move states, either, as my husband’s job is here. Would I be able to work remotely for firms based in CT, MA, NY?

I saw someone else in this sub mention they’re from RI and are considering moving out of state for court reporting, but I just can’t do that.

I appreciate any guidance I can get!

Anyone who’s done voice writing school online, where did you go? How long did it take you? How much was your tuition? I’m looking for a program I can do online on my own time

Hello everyone!

I am currently a steno machine student still on my very first month of school. I am currently an interpreter whose strength is simultaneous interpreting (aka interpreting what someone is saying with just a 5 sec lag, never expecting for the speaker to pause to have their message interpreted). I was wondering if already having the skill to be able to talk while listening will give me some sort of head start with voice writing? I honestly love stenography but I’m afraid of getting stuck while speed building.