Stenos Fight for Justice, Not Just Survival

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The Fight for the Future of Court Reporting: Why Stenographers Will Prevail Over Digital Interlopers

In the race between a lion and a deer, many times, the deer wins. The lion runs for food, but the deer runs for life. This analogy perfectly captures the battle between stenographers and the digital interlopers attempting to take over the court reporting industry. The companies pushing digital reporting are in it for profit, but stenographers are fighting for something far greater—accuracy, justice, and the very integrity of our legal system. When purpose is stronger than need, victory is inevitable.

The Rise of the Digital Threat

Over the last decade, companies promoting digital court reporting have aggressively pushed their technology into courtrooms, deposition rooms, and legal proceedings across the country. Their promise? A cheaper, faster, and seemingly more efficient way to capture the spoken word. Digital court reporting relies on audio recordings and artificial intelligence (AI) to transcribe proceedings, often with minimal human oversight.

At first glance, this might seem like a logical evolution, a natural transition in an era of automation. However, the motivations behind this push are clear—profit. These companies are not striving to improve the legal system; they are capitalizing on a lucrative market, prioritizing their bottom line over the quality of the record. They see food, not purpose.

The Purpose-Driven Fight of Stenographers

Stenographers, on the other hand, are driven by something far greater than financial gain. They are the guardians of the record, ensuring that every word spoken in a courtroom is accurately captured and preserved. They are not just typists; they are highly trained professionals with years of experience, capable of providing real-time transcription with near-perfect accuracy.

Unlike digital recording systems, which can misinterpret words due to accents, overlapping speech, or technical malfunctions, stenographers rely on their expertise to differentiate between similar-sounding words, detect nuances in speech, and clarify proceedings in real time. They bring a level of human judgment and critical thinking that technology simply cannot replicate.

For stenographers, this isn’t just a job—it’s a calling. Their work upholds the integrity of the legal system, ensuring that no one’s words are lost, misrepresented, or misinterpreted. A single error in a legal transcript can have catastrophic consequences, from wrongful convictions to unjust rulings. That’s why stenographers fight—not for financial gain, but to protect truth and justice.

The Shortcomings of Digital Court Reporting

The push toward digital court reporting is often justified by claims of efficiency and cost savings, but the reality tells a different story. Digital systems are fraught with risks and shortcomings, many of which are already causing disruptions in legal proceedings.

  1. Inaccuracy and Misinterpretation – AI and digital recording systems struggle with overlapping speech, low-quality audio, background noise, and varying accents. A stenographer can clarify these in real time; a machine cannot.
  2. Technical Failures – Courtrooms and deposition rooms are not immune to power outages, software glitches, or recording malfunctions. A stenographer’s skills, however, are not dependent on technology alone.
  3. Security and Privacy Risks – Digital recordings are vulnerable to hacking, data breaches, and manipulation. Stenographic transcripts, on the other hand, provide a secure, tangible record that cannot be altered without detection.
  4. Lack of Immediate Readbacks – In the heat of a legal battle, attorneys often request immediate readbacks of testimony. Digital systems lack the capability to quickly provide accurate, on-the-spot playback the way stenographers can.
  5. Dependence on Transcription Services – Many digital court recordings still require human transcriptionists, leading to delays and added costs. If digital reporting truly provided a seamless solution, why does it still require human intervention?

The Race to Preserve the Profession

Just as the deer must outrun the lion to survive, stenographers must continue their relentless pursuit of excellence to protect their profession and the legal system. The battle is not just about employment; it is about preserving the accuracy and reliability of legal records.

The legal industry is beginning to recognize these dangers. Many attorneys, judges, and legal professionals are advocating for stenographers, acknowledging that digital alternatives simply do not measure up. Several court systems have already rejected digital reporting due to the high rate of errors and inconsistencies.

Moreover, the demand for highly skilled stenographers remains high. While some have argued that the stenography profession is declining, the reality is that there is a shortage of qualified professionals. Courts, law firms, and legal agencies are actively seeking skilled stenographers who can deliver the precision that digital systems lack.

Strength in Purpose

Ultimately, purpose will always triumph over profit-driven motivations. Digital reporting companies may continue to push their technology, but they will never match the dedication and expertise of a trained stenographer.

This is not just about technological advancement—it’s about ensuring justice. Just as a deer runs for its life, stenographers are fighting for the very survival of an accurate and fair legal system. No amount of financial incentive can match the passion and commitment of professionals who understand the gravity of their work.

The battle is far from over, but the outcome is clear. Stenographers are not just court reporters; they are protectors of truth. And in a race between need and purpose, purpose will always prevail.

Published by stenoimperium

We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years! As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps.  This has done a lot of damage to our industry.  It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued.  We've become a replaceable commodity. Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives.  Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that!  We are the Responsible Charge.  “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.  This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more.  In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.” If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.” Shared purpose The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator. In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.”  That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone.  Who we are is the Responsible Charge.  How we do that is by Protecting the Record.

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