Court Reporting Schools in Ohio

The credit crunch leading to the failure of large banks such as Washington Mutual and the bailout of the remaining banks such as Chase, Bank of America, and Citibank is also leading to the failure of other companies in other sectors. Known among them are the Big 3 car companies in Detroit. The situation will be no different in Ohio where several failing banks, such as National City Corp. of Cleveland, become takeover candidates as a result of the mortgage fallout.

As a result of the financial collapse, the FBI began investigating some of the big lenders or (former big lenders) for fraud and other criminal activities. These events, disturbing as they are, mean that the courts will be busy for the next 5-10 years with lawsuits from bankruptcy, fraud, shareholder's claim, etc. And who knows what other cases will flow from them.

The increase in court use will increase demand for court system personnel. Anyone properly skilled to help the court system ought to be seeing a steady stream of employment in the immediate future.

Future court reporters should look forward to taking advantage of the dire financial times as the courts become overload with cases. Simply put, there will be a need for more court reporters as court cases increase.

In Ohio alone, there are six federal courts that have increasing workloads, namely, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, two bankruptcy courts, two district courts and a probation court. State and county courts are faring no better.

SALARY FOR COURT REPORTER

So how much do court reporters make? In 2007, the national average is $48,380 per year. Breaking down the numbers, court reporters working for the federal government averaged $50,380 annually, while those working for state governments averaged $51,820 annually.

COURT REPORTER SCHOOLS IN OHIO

A well-known vocational court reporting school in Ohio is The Academy of Court Reporting. The private court reporter school has been around since 1970 and has campuses in Akron, Cincinnati, and Columbus. The Academy of Court Reporting is certified by the NCRA (National Court Reporters Association) and holds small classes to foster learning.

Local community colleges and, sometimes, adult schools also offer certificate programs for court reporting. These maybe a cheaper alternative to private schools.

The author is a web producer and writes freelance on various topics of interests, including career advices such as becoming a medical coder.