Shorthand reporters association says there are enough court reporters to meet the need
In less than a month, Alberta court reporters will know whether they’ll still have a role transcribing the proceedings of the Court of King’s Bench.
“They gave us a deadline of November 1 [saying] they want to roll out some changes. And those changes, I think, sound more concerning than maybe they are,” says Kristen Di Rocco, president of the Alberta Shorthand Reporters Association (ASRA). Among ASRA’s members is a small handful of court reporters.
Although Di Rocco has a positive attitude about what’s to come, there could be a significant shift in the profession, according to a report in The Edmonton Journal. The newspaper quoted a memo issued by Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Mary Moreau on September 11 – a document that Di Rocco and her members haven’t seen – that calls into question whether the court will continue to use court reporters.
Quoting Justice Moreau, the newspaper wrote: “Since 2021, [Transcript Management Services] has struggled to provide sufficient court reporter coverage due to the shrinking pool of available court reporters… As the trend in court reporter resources will likely continue, it is expected that the court will eventually have to phase out the use of reporters entirely.” Di Rocco says TMS is the government division that court reporters are contracted to if they want to take on court reporting assignments.
Di Rocco says that currently, 18 people are contracted to serve as court reporters in Alberta, which “sounds like it’s not enough. But we weren’t aware that they were requiring more. We just want to bring attention that the numbers are here in Alberta. We have a way to reach out to our membership and maybe get more people involved.”
ASRA has requested a meeting with TMS to raise their concerns. Di Rocco wanted to have it set by the end of the week, but nothing has been scheduled. “We hope to be setting up a meeting soon, where we can find out what the actual metrics of the problem are and offer some solutions for it.”
According to Di Rocco, there is no shortage of court reporters. She notes that in Alberta, 145 people hold the Certified Shorthand Reporter (Alberta) designation, which means they are qualified to work in the courts, and that many of those people would step up to fill in whatever assignment gaps the court is experiencing. She says the figure “hasn't materially changed in the time frames referenced in the memorandum, which was 2019 to 2022. The number of members with their CSR(A) designation in our association has remained stable over the last decade or so.”
To qualify to work in the courts, people with a CSR(A) designation must actively engage in continuing education. They must earn a prescribed number of credits throughout three years.
And it’s not just experienced court reporters who are undergoing training. Di Rocco says the overall profession is growing and thriving in the province, thanks mainly to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s (NAIT) court transcription program.
“I don't see a greying profession. I see young and involved individuals who want to do the best things that they can for our industry. And I see everybody getting involved and rallying around students. And I see everybody getting involved and rallying around finding people to become students.”
Her view is, apparently, in contrast with Justice Moreau’s. According to the Journal, “The memo cites four factors straining the court reporter workforce: an ‘aging resource pool’ coping with a string of retirements; more reporters going to work in the private sector, where pay is better; the increased draw of captioning and hard-of-hearing services, and the ‘increased concentration’ of reporters in Edmonton and Calgary, leaving regional courthouses under-covered.”
While Di Rocco says the private sector might pay better, this isn’t a factor for people considering court reporting. Di Rocco doesn’t serve as a court reporter but says people choose that professional pathway because of personal interest.
“The people that do court work – that have consistently done court work – are people [to whom] the court work matters. And it’s not to say that civil work doesn’t matter, but when you’re in the middle of somebody’s jury trial, or you’re in the middle of somebody’s murder trial, you’re really involved and engaged in that process.”
Di Rocco says that engaged court reporters can ensure a more accurate transcription. They can ask people to repeat remarks that were not clearly spoken or request comments or testimony to be clarified if people in the court talk over each other. Courts operating without on-site court reporters send audio recordings of the proceedings to off-site transcriptionists who produce the written records. But without having somebody to intervene, Di Rocco says the recordings aren’t always audible, which makes it impossible for the off-site transcriptionist to produce an accurate account.
“The thing about overtalk is that people tend to do it when it matters most. And it’s been my experience, as a professional, when the issue gets heated is when everybody starts talking at once. That’s when you really want a reporter in the room.’”
She says having a person in court for lengthy trials is helpful. They can go back into the transcript and read earlier testimony rather than just relying on the people’s recollection.
Shawn King, a criminal lawyer who heads up King Defence and who serves as the vice-president of Alberta’s Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association (CTLA), says that asking for something to be read back doesn’t happen that much.
“I've been doing this for 12 years. And let’s put it this way. I’ve only ever once had to ask for the transcriptionist or the in-court court reporter to read something back to me,” he says.
When he requires an overnight transcript, he typically puts in a request with “For The Record,” the service that is in charge of the court’s audio recordings, and pays what he describes as an exorbitant fee. But despite the cost, he feels in-person court reporters are not required.
“From my perspective, we don’t necessarily need them. It doesn’t seem to be adding any value to it at this point. And it’s just requiring two people to do the job if you need something immediately,” says King, although he does say off-site transcriptions aren’t perfect.
“You sometimes get things that aren’t super accurate.”
Like Di Rocco, King said he didn’t see the memo, which wasn’t distributed to the CTLA. He doesn’t know what to expect when it comes to when or how or if in-person court reporting will be phased out at the Court of King’s Bench.
“Rather than just scrapping the whole thing, we might want to do a pilot project to see if counsel or the justices ask for a transcriptionist on specific matters, for instance, homicides or jury trials.”
Di Rocco said the court is already using a triage system, assigning court reporters to jury cases first, then murder trials and then cases where their services are requested.
And despite the current uncertainty, Di Rocco is optimistic about the future of the overall profession.
“If I had a child right now, I would encourage them to get into court reporting. I think it’s an industry that’s going to outlast the fear that’s surrounding it.”
