NATIONAL CERTIFICATIONS

The NCRA, or National Court Reporters Association, is a national association whose mission is to promote and support the use of machine shorthand reporters nationwide. They offer continuing education opportunities and confer certifications for reporters not only in litigation reporting but for television captioning and CART work as well. "CART" refers to reporters who write realtime specifically for the deaf and/or hard-of-hearing in business meetings, seminars, conferences and in educational settings, schools and universities.

Membership in NCRA is not mandatory for most reporters. Some, but not all, states have licensing requirements for reporters. Occasionally, states will insist their state-certified reporters also maintain membership in NCRA.

Are there great realtime reporters who don't belong to NCRA? You bet! Are there realtime reporters who belong to NCRA and are realtime certified who aren't so great? Absolutely. Just like you can get a great realtime reporter who's not a member of NCRA, you can also get a not-so-great realtime reporter who is.

I've held membership in NCRA for many years, and I also belong to several state associations. But even with letters after my own name, it's always been my thought that all the certifications in the world don't mean a thing if a reporter can't deliver what the marketing guys have promised.

IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY YOU CAN DO ... IT'S WHAT YOU CAN DO!

I've been reporting for 29 years now. Lately, some say we are in the middle of a severe reporter shortage. That may be. But I think worse than that, we are in the middle of a severe QUALITY shortage.

So if a firm tells you that ALL their reporters "are realtime," don't take that to mean they're all Real Realtime writers. They may all just be willing (or forced) to "do" realtime. And if a firm insists that they only use "certified" reporter, and that means something to you, you can always ask for proof of that certification. I think the better "proof" of what a reporter can do is what they promise and deliver every single day, not just what they do in a five-minute test that they've sometimes practiced for for weeks.

Sometimes those certifications DO mean something. But sometimes, they don't. Asking for a "certified realtime reporter" may or may not get you a top-notch writer.

I'm all for certifications, and I think it's great when a reporter works diligently to attain certifications that are meaningful to them and/or the firms they work with.