By Sheila Pursglove
Legal News
A freelance certified court reporter working for Hanson Renaissance Court Reporting and Video in Detroit, Caitlyn Hartley loves to type in a “secret language” that only she or fellow court reporters can read.
“On our screens it can translate into English, but if we closed that and only showed what we were typing, it would be gibberish to anyone else,” she said. “Also it's a skill-based profession, unlike all those
academic tests you could pass but that don't determine how good you are in your actual career. A skill-based profession, you can’t fake it or study hard and pass and then forget everything. You have to type a minimum of 225 WPM at 95 percent accuracy. Not everyone can do that.
“It's very rewarding as well and you get to meet many amazing reporters from different areas of the profession.”
Hartley previously worked as a clerk in a law office. After several years she became a secretary, then a paralegal for seven years in a medical malpractice/personal injury firm and one year as a paralegal doing PIP/provider work.
“I had lots of legal knowledge and background so court reporting was an easy transition for me,” she said.
Her mother, a judicial attorney, was the person who suggested the niche career of court reporter.
“I didn't even know what that was,” Hartley said. “At the time I’d been working in a law firm and knew I didn't want to go to law school, but wasn't sure what I wanted to do.
“I could type extremely fast on a normal keyboard — about 110 at my fastest —a nd was top of my computer and typing classes throughout high school and college.”
Attending the Academy of Court Reporting in Clawson, she graduated top of her class, testing out of two levels and graduating in two years instead of three.
She learned to type on steno machines, specialized machines where reporters type in the steno or brief language — and AI advanced software translates into English on the screens — and speed build to type a minimum of 225 words per minute. She now uses a Luminex machine, by Stenograph LLC.
Hartley has seen technology change in her six-year career, especially working virtually due to the pandemic.
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