Test Shortage of Court Reporters in California

Overview

Courts across California are experiencing a persistent and deepening shortage of court reporters. Courts rely on Certified Shorthand Reporters (“court reporters”) to capture verbatim records of court proceedings in case types where electronic recordings are not authorized by current California law.¹ More than a million hearings in unlimited civil, family law, and probate proceedings have been held without a verbatim record since January 2023.²

Why does this matter?

The absence of a verbatim record makes it nearly impossible for an individual to appeal their case. The California Supreme Court, in a 2018 opinion, stated the lack of a verbatim record will "frequently be fatal" to a litigant’s ability to have an appeal decided on the merits.³ The shortage of court reporters threatens access to justice for court users, especially Californians who can’t afford to pay for their own court reporter.

Summary

1. The vast majority of family law, probate, and unlimited civil hearings go without a verbatim record

2. Number of court-employed reporters falls far short of need

3. There is a shrinking workforce of California licensed court reporters

4. Courts must compete with the private sector - and each other – for a shrinking pool of court reporters

5. Despite widespread use of incentives, courts continue to lose reporters faster they can hire them

The vast majority of family law, probate, and unlimited civil hearings go without a verbatim record

State law authorizes the use of electronic recording to create a verbatim record for infractions, misdemeanors, and limited civil hearings, but not in family law, probate, and unlimited civil proceedings. In fact, California law currently prohibits courts from using electronic recording in these cases.⁵

Of the 1,435,650 family law, probate, and unlimited civil hearings reported by Courts between October 2023 to August 2024, an estimated 1,013,924 hearings had no verbatim record (71%).⁶

The inability to create a verbatim record limits people’s ability to appeal significant and life changing decisions regarding child custody, paternity, conservatorship assets and more. This is a direct consequence of the court reporter shortage in California.

Number of court-employed reporters falls far short of need

To meet the demands of the current caseload, California courts need an additional 444 full-time court reporters⁷. In recent surveys, California courts reported that — between January 2023 and June 2024 — 149.5 (FTE) court reporters were hired. But 30.0 (FTE) of those new hires came from other courts (23% of all hires) and 167.1 (FTE) court reporters have left positions at the courts, resulting in a net loss of 17.6 (FTE) reporters employed across the Branch.⁹

There is a shrinking workforce of California licensed court reporters

There were 5,584 California-licensed court reporters residing in the state as of July 1, 2023¹⁰. According to the California Department of Consumer Affairs, the total number of licensees declined 19% between FY 2013–14 and FY 2021–22. New license applications declined 70% in the same period, ¹¹ suggesting the pool of licensed court reporters available to fill vacant positions will continue to shrink.

Court reporters likely nearing retirement

Making matters worse, nearly half of Court reporters are likely nearing retirement. In California, approximately 43% of all active licenses were issued more than 30 years ago¹² and an estimated 50% of court-employed reporters were eligible to retire as of December 1, 2023.¹³

Challenging pathway to licensure

Growth in the court reporter workforce is limited by the significant hurdles to getting a license in California. Only sixty-eight new licenses were issued statewide in 2022–23^14,15. Of the 326 individuals who applied to take the skills (dictation) portion of the past three California certified shorthand reporter exams (held Jul. 2023, Nov. 2023, and Mar. 2024), 43% passed.¹

Courts compete with the private sector - and each other - to hire new court reporters

Court reporters in California courts are paid, on average, 51% more than other nonmanager court positions. At the same time, the declining number of court reporters in California has created a tight and competitive labor market, exacerbating compensation pressures.

The median total salary plus benefits for each court reporters is estimated to be $193,232.¹⁷ This is significantly lower than the cost to hire a court reporter through a private company: $2,580/day for a deposition and $3,300/day for a trial, on average.¹⁸

Additionally, transcripts must be purchased from court reporters. In 2021, the Legislature increased the statutory transcript fees by approximately 30%.¹⁹ In FY 2022–23, California courts spent $22.6 million on transcripts.²⁰

Despite widespread use of incentives, courts continue to lose reporters faster they can hire them

Between January 2023 and June 2024, approximately 88% of trial courts had used at least one incentive to recruit and retain court reporters. These incentives included signing bonuses (75.6% of actively recruiting courts offered signing bonuses), retention and longevity bonuses (56.1%), finder’s fees (48.8%), increased salary ranges (21.9%), and more.²¹

Examples of incentives:

The Riverside Court offers up to $32,500 in retention payments over three years.
Contra Costa provides a $50,000 tuition reimbursement fund for existing court employees to use toward pursuing court reporter certification.
The San Francisco Court created a first-in-the-nation court reporter internship program.

The Los Angeles Court is offering a $50,000 signing bonus, a $15,000 student loan and equipment allowance, and a $25,000 finder’s fee for court employees who refer a court reporter. In addition, the Court offers a program to its employees that includes a full court reporting tuition scholarship (including all fees and equipment costs), the ability to attend classes during work hours, and guaranteed employment as a court reporter upon licensing.

Notes

^1,5Electronic recording is not authorized except in limited civil, misdemeanor, and infraction proceedings when a court reporter is unavailable (Gov. Code, § 69957(a)).

^2,6Courts were asked to provide the number of hearings without a verbatim record and the number of total hearings for each of these case types or in the aggregate. Where a court provided the number of hearings without a verbatim record for a case type but not the corresponding total hearings (or vice versa), that case type data was removed from the data set.

³Jameson, supra, 5 Cal.5th at 608, fn. 1.

⁴Courts must also provide an official court reporter in civil cases when a party with a fee waiver requests one, and the proceeding cannot otherwise be electronically recorded.

⁷Covering all case types where a court reporter is required or electronic recording is not authorized.

⁸Court reporter need is calculated by adapting the approach used in the Resource Assessment Study (www.courts.ca.gov/29305.htm). For all case types except misdemeanor, infraction, and limited civil, where Government Code Section 69957 permits electronic recording, the latest biennial Judicial Workload Assessment (https://www.courts.ca.gov/12922.htm) is multiplied by a factor of 1.25 or, for Civil Unlimited and Estates and Trust, 0.6125.

⁹Reported in surveys completed by California trial courts. Courts have been asked to report explicitly in FTEs since April 2023. Before then, we must assume that counts reported are FTEs and not simple headcounts.

¹⁰Department of Consumer Affairs data portal, www.dca.ca.gov/data/annual_license_stats.shtml.

¹¹Court Reporters Board: April 4, 2024, Board Meeting Packet, www.courtreportersboard.ca.gov/about-us/20240404_packet.pdf.

¹²Department of Consumer Affairs, Licensee List (as of Jun. 2024), www.dca.ca.gov/consumers/public_info/index.shtml.

¹³Estimation based on data collected in a December 2023 survey of California Trial Courts.

¹⁴Court Reporters Board: April 4, 2024, Board Meeting Packet, www.courtreportersboard.ca.gov/about-us/20240404_packet.pdf.

¹⁵Only eight court reporting programs recognized by the state remain open (down from 17 schools in 2010), www.courtreportersboard.ca.gov/applicants/school_info.shtml. However, students may also qualify for California’s Certified Shorthand Reporter exam by obtaining national certification demonstrating proficiency in machine shorthand reporting or voice writing.

¹⁶Court Reporters Board, School Examination Statistics, www.courtreportersboard.ca.gov/applicants/examstats.shtml.

¹⁷Median value of estimated salary and benefit costs statewide by the filled court reporter FTEs, Schedule 7A.

¹⁸Data provided by a survey of 49 private consumer attorneys. It is unknown how much of the court reporter rate charged by companies is provided to the reporter in the form of compensation and how much is kept by the company.

¹⁹Sen. Bill 170 (Stats. 2021, ch. 240).

²⁰2022–23 Schedule 7A total court statewide transcript expenditures, excluding Electronic Recording.

²¹Surveys completed by California Trial Courts.