Helpful Resources

History of Court Reporting | Court Reporting Career | Alabama Judicial Chart

HISTORY OF COURT REPORTING

Reporters trace their history to ancient times.

• In the 4th century B.C., a freed slave, Marcus Tullius Tiro, used a system of shorthand to record the speeches of Cicero and other Roman orators and leaders. One of his shorthand devices, the ampersand - the familiar "&" symbol - is still used today.
• The first system approaching fully phonetic writing was devised by Timothe Bright, who in 1588 published a shorthand treatise dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I. It and similar systems became popular with scholars and ministers for writing letters and sermons. The famous diary of Samuel Pepys was written in shorthand to keep it safe.
• The year 1750 saw the publication of the shorthand system of Thomas Gurney, the first official reporter of parliamentary debates in England. Before becoming famous as a writer, Charles Dickens practiced as a parliamentary reporter. His struggles to learn shorthand became a subplot in "David Copperfield."
• The Pitman system of shorthand was introduced in 1837 and was followed 50 years later by Gregg shorthand.
• Modern shorthand began with the introduction in 1913 of the stenotype machine, the most reliable and flexible means yet devised for creating a verbatim record. By pressing one or more keys at a time, reporters capture the sound of words in a phonetic code, with each line of characters usually representing one sound or syllable. Today these notes usually are printed on a narrow paper tape and simultaneously captured in computer format.
• Reporters were computerized starting more than 20 years ago - long before most of the court systems and attorneys they serve. With advances in technology, today's court reporters are information managers.

Information courtesy of the National Court Reporters Association.

:up

A CAREER IN COURT REPORTING
Interested in a career in court reporting, broadcast captioning, communication access realtime translation (CART), or proofreading/scoping?  Contact Prince Institute of Professional Studies in Montgomery, Alabama at (334) 271-1670 or (877) 853-5569.

ALABAMA JUDICIAL CHART

JUDICIAL CHART courtesy of www.judicial.state.al.us
:up