The court reporting profession is often misunderstood as relic-like in an age of rapid digital change. The truth? We’ve long been leaders in real-time transcription and digital integration. For over a decade, we’ve quietly used advanced tools—AI-assisted editing, live streaming, integrated CAT systems—that surpass many of today’s trending tech startups. But our technology is developed for, marketed to, and consumed within our 32,000-strong professional community. That’s why the world doesn’t realize just how advanced we are.
We are now past what Malcolm Gladwell calls “the tipping point.” The legal transcription space is experiencing irreversible change. But the path forward must not be dictated by profit-driven software vendors or cost-cutting court systems. It must be shaped by professionals who understand what is truly at stake: the integrity of the record.
Right now, uncertified operators are entering the courtroom with automatic speech recognition (ASR) tools connected to CAT software. Some, like ProCAT’s DepoDash and Stenograph’s MAXScribe, operate entirely without a certified reporter. Others, like Eclipse Boost, keep certified professionals in charge of the transcript and simply enhance productivity with integrated ASR. That’s the critical distinction.
Certification is the gatekeeper. It’s what separates a legal record from a best guess. Voice writers once faced resistance too, but they proved themselves through certification. They must pass the same tests as stenographers and cannot access recordings during transcription—ensuring the integrity of the process. ASR-based reporters must meet the same standard.
We propose this: if ASR is to be accepted, it must come with binding certification standards. The individual who monitors the proceeding must be the same individual who produces and certifies the transcript. That’s what it means to be in “responsible charge.” This is non-negotiable.
And let us be clear—the last thing we can allow is for courts themselves to become the record keepers via electronic recording systems. Centralized control of the record by the court is a direct threat to impartiality and transparency. Stenographers are independent, ethical officers of the court. Courts controlling the record is like letting the referee write the scoreboard.
To safeguard the profession, national and state associations must act now. We urge them to adopt a Responsible Charge Statement as policy. This would define who qualifies as the true custodian of the record—not the agency, not the software, not the court system. Only the trained, certified reporter present at the proceeding.
This isn’t just a battle over tools. It’s a battle over truth. Without certified reporters, we risk degrading the integrity of transcripts, undermining appeals, and eroding public trust in the justice system.
We must lead the digital shift. But we must do it on our terms—with our ethics, our certification, and our charge. The record must remain ours.
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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