Using mentors to encourage court reporters
Certified court reporters have an important job that is highly respected in the legal world. Without realtime court reporting, subtle nuances in witness testimony can be overlooked or small details within a trial can be missed. A strong court transcript is essential to a case's outcome, which is why mentoring programs are often used.
In the April edition of The Journal of Court Reporting, several experts in the field discussed the practice of an experienced court reporter working with less tenured individuals to help them become stronger.
Susan Kiniry, RMR and chair of the Student Internship School Liaison Committee of the Pennsylvania Court Reporters Association, told the news source that mentoring programs are crucial to court reporting.
"It allows the student someone else outside the instructor and their student peers to bond with and learn from," she said. "The mentors can provide students with additional opportunities to observe in the workplace and, as they progress in the program, to attend proceedings and gain real life experience with their skills."
Kiniry added that once students near the end of their program, a mentor can assist – along with the school – in finding possible job opportunities.
According to Lisa Selby-Brood, a court reporter and mentor, it is important for students to have a "cheerleader." She explained that when she was first starting out, there was no one to take her under their wing, answer questions or encourage her to join the state association.
Furthermore, Selby-Brood said that she took a 17-year break to raise children, and then returned to the court reporting field. Even then, she had many questions involving computers, but luckily her boss was able to guide her.
When court reporting mentorship programs are encouraged, the future of the industry is strengthened and courtrooms will continue to have strong, accurate transcripts.
