TOP 5 REASONS TO
CONSIDER A CAREER
AS AN
ILLINOIS
OFFICIAL
COURT
REPORTER
Two year course of study
Excellent starting salary
Additional transcript
income
Excellent benefits
Professional working
environment
What area colleges offer court reporting
programs?
College of Court Reporting – Hobart, IN
(online courses)
www.ccr.edu
John A. Logan College - Carterville, IL
www.jalc.edu
MacCormac College - Chicago, IL
www.maccormac.edu
Midstate College - Peoria, IL
www.midstate.edu
South Suburban College - Oak Forest, IL
www.southsuburbancollege.edu
St. Louis Community College – St. Louis, MO
(live and online)
www.stlcc.edu/Prog rams/Information_Reporting
AIB College of Business - Des Moines, IA
www.aib.edu
What are some other career
opportunities for licensed court
reporters?
Freelance reporting (depositions, etc.)
Webcasters (realtime reporting of
meetings, conference, etc., transmitted to
all parties involved via computers)
Broadcast captioning (realtime reporting
of live television programming for people
with hearing loss)
Communications Access Realtime
Translation (CART) (personalized
reporting services for deaf and hard-of-
hearing people)
Where can I find more information?
www.illinoisofficialcourtreporters.com
What can I expect to earn as an
Illinois Official Court Reporter?
In Illinois, the starting salary varies depending
on location of the circuit to which you are
assigned and what level of testing you have
achieved. As an example, the starting base
salary for a realtime certified reporter hired
in Madison County is $41,790 plus transcript
income. There are automatic step increases
in the base salary through the 10
th
year of
employment. In addition, Official Court
Reporters may receive yearly cost of living
salary increases. (As a result of step increases
and cost of living increases, the yearly base
salary of Official Court Reporters who have
been employed for 25+ years is in excess of
$85,000.)
Transcript income is generated by the Official
Court Reporters billing the attorneys/parties
directly for each transcript requested, and
fluctuates from year to year, depending on
the volume of transcript requests received.
For the years 2006-2008, the average
transcript income of each Official Court
Reporter employed in Madison County was
approximately $16,000, which is in addition
to the base salary.
What employee benefits do Illinois
Court Reporters receive?
Health, dental, vision and life insurance
Pension plan with the State Employee
Retirement system
Deferred compensation – an optional
tax-deferred 457
Retirement/savings plan
Medical/dependent care assistance plan
Paid vacations, personal days and sick
leave
12+ paid holidays per year
What are the future prospects
for employment as an Illinois
Official Court Reporter?
A recent study taken of all circuits in
Illinois reflects that approximately 75%
of our current court reporting staff will
be leaving state service due to
retirement in the next 15 years. This
means the State will need to hire nearly
400 court reporters to fill those open
positions throughout the state.
According to the most recent edition of
the Occupational Outlook Handbook
from the U.S. Department of Labor’s
Bureau of Labor Statistics, job
opportunities for court reporters, in
general, are expected to be excellent,
as job openings continue to outnumber
jobseekers.
What are the qualifications to
become an Illinois Official Court
Reporter?
To become an Official Court Reporter in
the State of Illinois, you must obtain a
CSR license by examination, and also
pass the part-A “officialship”
examination. Several area colleges
offer court reporting programs (ranging
from two to four years) that prepare
students to sit for these exams.
What is an Illinois Official Court
Reporter?
Official Court Reporters are State of Illinois
employees who work under the Chief Judge
of the Circuit in which they are employed.
Official Court Reporters work in county
courthouses and take a verbatim record of
the words spoken in court by the use of
machine shorthand. The Official Court
Reporter then uses computer-aided
transcription to translate the machine
shorthand into an official written transcript
for use in the judicial process.
What is machine
shorthand? It is a method of phonetic
shorthand using a computerized machine,
called a writer. The writer allows court
reporters to press multiple keys at once to
record combinations of letters representing
sounds, words or phrases. The symbols
written by the writer are electronically
recorded and then translated by computer-
aided transcription and displayed as text on
the computer screen.
What is the work environment of
an Illinois Official Court Reporter?
Official Court Reporters have private offices in
the courthouse and work out of a pool
system. Court Reporters are assigned to
various courtrooms on an as-needed basis to
report hearings in all divisions: civil, criminal,
family, traffic, misdemeanor, probate,
juvenile, etc. While waiting for an
assignment, Court Reporters prepare
requested transcripts. Regular work hours in
Madison County are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.
