Iowa courts are facing a serious shortage. The Gazette's courts reporter Trish Mehaffey talks with Becky Lutgen Gardner on the opportunities available to Iowa job seekers.

Key points:

• Iowa is facing a 'beyond crisis' level shortage of court reporters, with 33 job openings in the state and a nationwide high demand.
• Court reporting offers an annual starting salary of nearly $56,000 and involves transcribing court proceedings using specialized stenography skills.
• There's only one school in Iowa offering a two-year real time/court reporting degree, contributing to the shortage. The program recently went virtual and saw its highest enrollment in years.
• Despite the strenuous certification process, court reporters enjoy the varied nature of the job and the learning opportunities it provides.
• The shortage is affecting court proceedings, with court reporters having to juggle between different judges and hearings, causing delays and increased stress.
• Temporary solutions include hiring retired court reporters and conducting remote hearings, but a long-term solution is still needed.

Questions, comments? Contact us at Corridor Careers

Welcome to careers in coffee. I'm Becky

Lutgen-Gardner, Product Manager with Corridor Careers. I'm here

today with a special guest, Trish Mahaffey, who is a

reporter who covers state and federal courts for The Gazette.

So we have a lot of great journalists at The Gazette. And

it's really we feel important that we have conversations with

people like Trish, about what's going on with workforce

development, especially as it relates to Iowa. So Trish,

welcome.

Hey, thank you. Thanks for asking me to do this.

Well, you recently you wrote a story,

basically, about the shortage of court reporters in Iowa. And so

you mentioned in that that it's, it's beyond a crisis state.

That's what people were saying. Tell me a little bit about the

story. Yeah, it's

basically yeah, it is a crisis beyond crisis

state, I guess, still. And it's just gotten worse. And so they

right now, the our district or local district, the sixth, we

have 10 openings. They have 20, there have 20 for 20 reporters,

we only have 10 filled. And I guess I think we're losing one

more, I believe this summer, and with a retirement. So there'll

be 11. So I think and so then, and the districts across the

across the state are in the same shape. Everybody's got an

opening of two or more. And I think we have the most of 10,

two or more. And there's only one district I think that

doesn't need anybody. But that's rare. At this time.

So what what potential problems or

current problems does that create when you've had that big

of a shortage?

Yeah, basically, it means everybody's court cases

getting bumped because they don't have enough court

reporters. For the for the court hearings. I mean, the court

reporters are the eyes and ears of the courtroom. I mean,

they're taking down verbatim, the live, you know, the the

court proceedings. And so that's what the court has to rely on,

to look back on to make rulings you know, and and have an actual

transcript of the of the actual hearing or trial.

So you touch on that a little bit about

exactly what that court reporter does. So for people who don't

quite understand how do they do their jobs, what do they do?

Sure,

they use like, basically, there's, they're the

ones that are singing up front by the judge, and they're taking

down everything that everybody's saying. So it's really a you

have to be a multitasker, because you have to be able to

listen, and then write down and they're using a steno machine,

so it's a little bit easier. So they're because they're covering

things in real time. And so the steno machine, like, lets him

put in a phrase at a time or sentence at a time or, and they

build a vocabulary in that in that machine that they can just,

you know, hit a button. And that's what it is. And so, you

know, that helps a lot. But, but it does take somebody that can

multitask, and somebody that wants to stay busy, because they

are constantly, I mean, they get breaks during, you know, trials

or court hearings, but still it's a, it's a pretty, it's a

pretty, you know, sorry to say, what's a

It's a demanding job and you're you

can't really doze off? You can't, because you're gonna miss

out. That's what your job is, is to report, for sure.

I mean, that's kind of what I do. I cover

trials in real time, but nothing like they I mean, I'm not taking

down verbatim, you know, I'm writing like normal like notes

to myself. And then like, you know, so people can read it,

though and follow along with the trial in real time. And so, but

their job is pretty, it is pretty demanding. And, but it

does really pay well. That's, that's a big thing. You know, it

pays well, it starts out about it. I think it's like $58,000,

here in Iowa. And then nationwide, I think it can be

starting out pay can be like 62 or $65,000. So that's fairly

good. And they can I mean, sometimes it's court reporters

can make up to $100,000 a year. They can do besides besides

court, besides court hearings and court proceedings, they can

also be freelancers they can like do depositions for like law

firms, you know, civil, there's always these civil law cases

going on. And so you can stay quite busy even as a freelancer.

So what does it take? If I'm interested

in becoming a court reporter or learning more about it was it

take for me to be certified?

Sure, you have to go you do have to go through

a program. It's called a real time court reporting program.

And they only have one in this day and it's offered at said Des

Moines Community College DMAC, which people might know it does.

And there's a there's an actual they're doing the program

online. So you can do the program online now. But it does

take two years to get through and then you get certified then

you have to go or take a certification test to pass and

it's not easy, but you know, many people have done it and

they're There are plenty of openings. I mean, I think

they've predicted like the the court administrators said that

he could guarantee jobs 4848 job openings, like in the next, you

know, several years. And so but that's the only thing it's like

it does take a while to get through the program. So that's

kind of the lag time that there are some people going through

the program, but it's just gonna take you know that two years to

get him in and get them out. And so but

it does sound like they decided that the

online certainly with only having that one program that was

available and making it available to more people online,

I'm sure fleet will keep upping the number of people who are

registering to go through the program.

Yeah, right. Yeah. Because there are, there

are some in there, I think there's like, I think there was

like 48 in there. But, of course, that's going to, you

know, take a while to get them out too. So that that's the only

thing. But once they get out, they are honestly guaranteed a

job.

I think you also talked to some current

court reporters, what do they really like about their jobs?

Right,

they like you because it is it does keep them

busy. You know, they do stay busy, they enjoy and they enjoy

being like, the insider, you know, listener on all the all

the other court proceedings, especially like, if you're a

crew trot or a true crime fan, it would be it would be great

for someone because that's, that's, you know, what I love

about it too, is because you get to know, you get to, you know,

know all the details of the case, which you don't get until

you usually get to trial, or you get in a hearing of some kind.

But that's what they love about us. They keep busy. And they

just they just think it's been a great career for them.

Yeah, it sounds. Yeah. Sounds very

interesting. And that's one of the reasons I invited you to

talk about this. Just Sure. There's, you know, we were

talking about workforce in general, where are those

opportunities? And certainly, that kind of struck a chord

there, too. In your story, you know, you also, you know, just

talked about the future and people's concerns about, you

know, whether it's the judges or the administrative folks within

the courthouse, the concerns with the lack of the court

reporters, and the fact that judges can't, they can't rely on

the fact that they're not going to have the same person because

they don't there's just not enough of them. And so used to

be your record record, it was in your courtroom, and and you you

knew them very well, and you still probably know them very

well. But, you know, what are those other challenges of judges

and others are talking about?

Sure. I mean, that's basically it. I mean, and

sometimes there's like one court reporter for like three judges.

I mean, it's happened like that. And they've all got like

hearings. And so it's been interesting, because I mean,

those court reporters, they're honestly running back and forth,

to different courtrooms, you know, because it's, it's never

in the same courtroom, it's always a different courtroom.

And some of the some of the hearings have been delayed,

because they have to wait for the court reporter finish up

with the, you know, the previous hearing. And so it's just been,

it has been really crazy. I mean, it's so different, even

when, than when I first started, because there were just, you

know, there were numerous court reporters, and, and nobody was

waiting like that, necessarily. And so without the court

reporter also, it means that the the trial schedule is going to

be delayed, or the court hearings are going to be

delayed. So it kind of has to, you know, if there's just no

court order, they can't do it, because they have to have that

court reporter there, especially in the criminal cases they do.

And most of the civil cases, now they're getting more backed up,

because they're not the priority on the schedule. That's the

criminal that takes priority and like, custody issues with kids

and juvenile cases. And so those are those are just being backed

up more, and the judge is basically I mean, the chief

judge sent out a letter saying that for criminal or for civil

cases that they would, you know, they couldn't probably give a

quart per quarter per why can you do it longer than five days?

Because they just they can't spare them. And so, but a lot of

the civil cases, too, they like hire their own, they get

freelancers to do it. So that's more the route they're going to

take for sure. Now.

Yeah, it sounds like for somebody who

might be interested in doing this, you know, I think you

spoke to that to attention to detail, huge because you want to

pick up on everything and then be able to work fast and timely.

so you don't miss something. But so is there anything else that

that whether it's your courts, or anybody else is doing in this

crisis to get that word out about not only the fact that,

you know, there's a need, but try to let people know that

there's a huge opportunity here for somebody who is looking for

a good paying position going for or is there anything else

they're doing as far as trying to get that awareness out there?

Yeah, I

think they've expanded their advertising on

that. And then also, they set up a task force even to look into

that. And some of the they've even, like reached out to other

workers, you know, in the system, like employees of the

court system, that maybe they were like clerks, usually other

clerks, to see if anybody had an interest in it. And they would

help them, you know, they were working around their schedule to

get them to take the classes to be a court reporter. So it's

even come to that, you know, even inside, you know, inside it

turned internally, they would, you know, move a move a person

into the quarter quarter, if that's what they wanted to do.

And it would be, you know, a better paying job for them than

a clerk's position. So

sometimes that hiring from within is your

best opportunity, right? Training and down. Move that

they Yeah, so the task force will continue to

study this and come up with ideas that they can try to try

to get people into these because they really do need them. But

and it is, you know, it's like I said, it is happening

nationwide. So they're everybody's kind of having the

same problems.

Yeah, well, that sounds like we're

putting together a task force. Everyone's trying to find out,

how can we learn from others the best way to help solve our

current crisis and, and see what we can do moving forward. But

taking that two years to get somebody trained, you just gonna

have to constantly keep people in that pipeline. And that

awareness. So talked about, you know, for sure.

And that's what they're kind of trying to do

right now. So it's kind of slowly but surely, maybe it'll

happen.

So anything else about about the

story or about the shortage of court reporters?

I don't think so. I just think a lot of people

probably aren't even aware of court reporters, you know,

because they are the ones that, you know, they're the eyes and

ears, but they're supposed to just kind of be like, you know,

into the background, they don't want to draw any attention on

them for sure. And so, you know, there's their to do their job.

And it's, you know, it's a it's a really demanding job. So

it's sounds very interesting. I mean,

court record, numbers everywhere, right, every

different type of trial and everything from your, your crime

type stuff, but also your your other opportunities that arrive.

So I would think it would be pretty interesting, if you are

curious about what's going on?

Yeah, I think it is, too. And they always, all

the corporates have said to me that they always they love it,

because they learn something new every day, you know, for

different cases and things like that. I mean, that's true. Like,

you know, my job I have, I've learned that stuff, too, you

know, just like following. Like, you're you're learning all the

medical stuff, if there's like an autopsy involved, or, you

know, if it's a civil case, you're learning about, you know,

a civil law that you probably don't even know about, you know,

the something that, you know, it could be anything, you know,

based on it, like maybe it's an automobile accident, or maybe

some other kind of, you know, horrible accident of some kind

of somebody, somebody's suing somebody. And so, there's just

all kinds of things, you know, you can learn in the court

system.

Yeah, I put things up pretty fascinating

on that. So I think we have finally, I think you touched on

the fact that we two years to get certified, but online is a

possibility. And right now that if if I was interested, GMAC is

going to be the place I would want to go to figure out or find

out more about that training.

Yes, they Yeah, definitely to go to them. And

then there's also they're supposed to be there's another

couple of schools that are looking into, like having a

program but they don't have it yet at this time. And so anyway,

but so maybe hopefully, that would help too, if they would,

you know, have other programs in the state to

offer I think even destroying the

awareness, if it's more widespread would be definitely

helpful. Certainly, anybody can join anywhere. But certainly

that awareness of the need, in that the major shortage, a big

idea with that, but I just want to leave those job seekers with

that thought just saying, hey, you know, there are this

opportunity is a big opportunity. And here's how you

can take that next step towards maybe even putting yourself out

there towards getting this training because it just sounds

like a crucial leap right now in the state.

Right, and it is a job opening and it does pay

well. So that's good to

Well, thank you. Thank you so much for

talking a little bit more about your story with me and and

joining us for careers and coffee. And thank all of you for

listening and we'll continue this series of working with our

reporters and really trying to get dive into where where's the

need in the state as far as workforce development and those

jobs that folks may not even know that there's an opportunity