Working World

Perhaps you grew up watching “Perry Mason,” or maybe you’re a fan of “Boston Legal” or “Law & Order.” You love the legal scene, but the life of a lawyer isn’t your cup of tea. Don’t fret! There are still two highly lucrative careers within the legal profession that will give you a front row seat in the courtroom or get you behind the scenes of real-life legal dramas. Maybe you should consider training for a new career as a paralegal or a court reporter.

Paralegal
While a paralegal cannot practice law or give legal advice, he or she can draft legal documents, research cases — includting gathering factual information about a client’s situation — and help the attorney prepare and organize information for trial. Needless to say, a paralegal is a very valuable commodity in a law office.

According to Ric Riccobono, director of Los Angeles Valley College’s Extension Program, says, “A person who…is analytical and wants to be on the cutting edge of the law and experience a wide array of cases, who thinks like a lawyer without the stress of becoming and being a lawyer…that’s the right temperament for a paralegal. It’s a stable career direction, a career with a ladder to status, an office job and a ladder to financial success.”

Paralegals can pursue the area of law that interests them most, finding positions in litigation, personal injury, corporate law, employee benefits, labor law, bankruptcy or criminal law. Employment can be found in a wide variety of settings, including legal offices, state and federal government agencies, corporate legal departments, consumer groups, insurance companies, banks, title companies and legal aid societies. Most paralegals work behind the scenes, although some do accompany attorneys into the courtroom.

Michael D. Hargrove, J.D., is the paralegal department chair at the Ontario Metro campus of Everest College. He says, “Most of our students are interested in and even intrigued by the law and want to delve further into it. Paralegal training allows you to do many things. [The skills we teach in] deductive reasoning, investigating, anticipating and resolving issues…these are skills that are transferable to other career directions such as forensics, small businesses, insurance claims companies, even counseling and corrections officers. I always tell my students to be creative — especially in an economy like this one — and not lock yourself in a box. The most enticing thing about a paralegal degree is you’re not locked into any one thing.”

To work as a paralegal in California, training and certification is required through an accredited and compliant school, which takes about 10 ½ months. The course descriptions depend on the school you choose, but topics covered in most programs include legal terminology, legal research and writing skills, procedures for pleading motions, client billing procedures, civil procedure, family law, contract law, torts, wills and trusts and probate, criminal procedure, trial preparation, ethics for paralegal employment law, bankruptcy procedures, investigations and process service, intellectual property law, entertainment law and some computer skills. Typical starting salary for a paralegal is $35-$42K but can rapidly climb to six figures with experience and skill. (Not bad for a nine-to-five job!) Many paralegals become independent and work from their own homes or offices under the license of one attorney, but with several other attorneys using their service.

Court Reporter

Climbing the court reporter ladder isn’t a bad idea either. Terry Littlefield, who has been a full-time instructor at Bryan College for 14 years, says, “A lot of people enter court reporting for financial reasons… But I want to stress that this job is for those who have a love of the English language and a curiosity about life. Court reporters learn a lot about a lot of different things working on different cases.”

An official court reporter working for the state has a starting salary in the upper $80K range plus additional income from transcripts, which pay per page. “Of course, you can also work from home as a freelancer. We call that the ‘Pink Fuzzy Slipper Career’ route because you can stay in your pajamas all day while you work a couple of days a week,” says Debbie Freeman, a full-time instructor at Bryan College and a licensed court reporter.

Now that we’ve got your attention, what exactly does a court reporter do? He or she serves as an independent, impartial party that cannot be directly employed by attorneys. Court reporters are considered writers, only they write at very fast speeds using stenography machines to capture and transcribe spoken words verbatim in various settings. And they aren’t writing in English — stenography uses separate marks and symbols that comprise its own unique language, so a court reporter has to be proficient in English and then proficient in transcribing it into stenography. “There’s an underground industry for Spanish-speaking court reporters who make even more money for their special skills,” Freeman says.

The average speaking speed is 180 words per minute, but graduates of court reporting programs type between 200 and 225 wpm, because when people are upset and arguing, their speech rates go up. There are national exams, however, that require 280-300 wpm or higher. So the faster your skills are, the more in demand you’ll be, and your pay rises accordingly.

Court reporters can work in a variety of places. According to Cindy Grafton, CSR program coordinator in Downey Adult School’s court reporting department, “Court reporters work in many different settings, including official court reporters, freelance deposition reporters, broadcast captioners and CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) for the hearing impaired.” CART reporters might attend classes with hearing-impaired students, for example, or work for private clients attending meetings in various industries. “Students must be very focused and dedicated, professional in all areas, assertive, organized, and put in lot of practice time on the steno machine,” Grafton says.

English language and writing skills are heavily stressed in the court reporter programs; so expect to take classes at every level in English, punctuation, grammar and English usage. Medical terms, legal classes, stenography and shorthand skills are also learned.

A good deal of the training involves practice on the stenography machine and building speed — but not just speed, speed with accuracy. The average student in the U.S. takes four years to complete a court reporting program, though some students do finish sooner. An associate degree in court reporting at Bryan College takes an average of three years and can be accomplished on campus or online through virtual classroom technology. And certification from Downey Adult School’s program requires the completion of 660 hours of academic credits plus a passing grade on all speed tests.

Check with individual schools and programs regarding financial aid, job placement, career counseling and externships. What are you waiting for?   ­

Resources

Bryan College
California Official Court Reporters Association
Deposition Reporters Association of California
Downey Adult School
Everest College
Los Angeles Valley College
National Court Reporters Association
Paralegal Professional Associations

Katy Allgeyer is an artist and freelance writer. She is a columnist for Working World and Working Nurse magazines and her features have appeared there and in Feng Shui Times, The Art of WellBeing, You & Me Magazine and others.