LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — About a year ago, we brought you a close look at how a shortage of court reporters was impacting courtrooms across the state. One year later, the problem still hasn’t been solved.
“There's a certain number of reporters that we lose each year and it's becoming more and more difficult to find,” said Circuit Court Judge, Mackie Pierce.
The court reporter shortage has continued to impact courtrooms across the Natural State.
“There's a judge in this courthouse that is in need of a court reporter, and I’m aware of other judges in the state, needing reporters,” Judge Pierce explained.
He also explained how court reporters are a vital part of the judicial system.
“I can't enter the courtroom and conduct any type of hearing without a court reporter,” Judge Pierce added.
In 2022, we spoke with the Arkansas Court Reporting Academy which said the shortage was happening well before the pandemic— and a year later, not much has changed.
“Has not slowed down any, we're seeing that it's just, that's something that's going to be here for a while,” said Heather Pierce, Director of the Arkansas Court Reporting Academy.
The academy has still been doing what it can to prevent courts from going without, such as making the court reporter courses more affordable.
“We have completely redone our real-time program and engineered that in a way where people can get into the voice recognition side of things, which will save time and allow them to do more work and spend less time on the transcription side of it,” Heather Pierce described.
Judge Pierce said that efforts such as those will hopefully help introduce more people to the profession.
“120 some-odd trial judges in the state of Arkansas. So, if two or three of us lose an official reporter, and that's, you know, I don't know what the attrition rate is on an annual basis, but it could be significant,” said Judge Pierce.
The training to become one is a 19-week course, and on average, a court reporter in Arkansas can make up to seventy thousand dollars a year.
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