Veritext and Digital Reporting

There has been a lot of discussion recently on social media about Veritext’s position on digital reporting and our support of the stenographic reporting profession – we’d like to take this opportunity to further emphasize our position on the issue.

Steno remains the irreplaceable gold standard of testimony capture. Veritext is committed to the reporting profession. Veritext is not promoting digital reporting services as a replacement for stenographic reporting – it’s the exact opposite. Steno remains our strong preference, and our goal is to keep all stenographers as busy as they would like to be. More than 99% of the work we cover is done by stenographic reporters. In fact, last year Veritext provided more work to stenos than anyone else in the country.

As a company we continue to make every effort possible to help this highly respected profession prosper and grow well into the future. The facts are, however, that stenographic reporters are retiring in significant numbers, reporting schools are closing, and fewer people are entering the profession. While currently being felt in some geographic markets more than others, the court reporter shortage is very real and is something we all face together.

Litigation continues to grow and is fundamental to our legal system; as a provider of services to this market we make every effort to ensure all our clients’ assignments are covered. Similar to many others in our profession, occasionally Veritext does cover some proceedings with alternative capture methods including mask, remote and digital reporting. This occurs for work that is routinely turned down by stenographic reporters – perhaps due to its inconvenient location, undesirable type of proceeding, or because it’s not worth the economic effort for the stenographer. Overall, this is a very small number of incidents; for Veritext it represents less than 1% of the work that we cover.

Veritext has always supported stenographic reporters – this company was founded and continues to thrive based on our relationships with steno reporters, and we value each of you.

We remain committed to supporting the court reporting profession – including efforts to attract, train and mentor new stenographic reporters. If you are interested in being part of the solution by joining Veritext in these efforts, please contact us at courtreporter@veritext.com.