Ask most people what a court reporter does and you’ll get the same answer: they sit in a courtroom and type fast. The reality is more interesting. Court reporters create the official verbatim record of legal proceedings — the transcript attorneys cite on appeal and judges rely on for rulings. At eScribers, that means working across U.S. Tax Court and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) hearings, in sessions that can run anywhere from five minutes to a full week. Since the pandemic, reporters also split their time between in-person appearances anywhere in the country and remote sessions, making flexibility as essential a skill as accuracy.
We sat down with Bruce Carlson, a Seattle-based veteran with over a decade in the field, and Sierra Self, who broke into the profession during the pandemic, to find out what a typical day actually looks like. Spoiler: it involves last-minute flights to Miami, a settlement that ended a three-day hearing before it even began, and a brief but memorable detour to Hawaii.
Day One: Organized Chaos
Both Bruce and Sierra agree: the first day of a multi-day hearing is in a league of its own.
“No matter how long you’ve done it, the first day is overwhelming,” says Bruce, who has been reporting for over a decade. “You’re walking in, setting up equipment, getting familiar with all the parties — all the names, the acronyms, the terminology. It’s really important for getting an accurate transcript, and it’s honestly the hardest part.”
Sierra has a system. “I like to get there early, before the courtroom even opens sometimes,” she says. “I’ll make myself a seating chart of all the attorneys so I can visualize who’s who. If there’s a big group and I don’t know everyone yet, I’ll jot down little details — like who’s wearing the red tie — just so I can keep track. Once the hearing gets going and people start introducing themselves on the record, it all clicks into place.”
After the first day, things settle down considerably. You know the room, you know the players, and you can come in a little later without the scramble. “Day two, you’re in a groove,” Sierra says with a laugh.
The Hybrid Life: In-Person, Remote, and Everything In Between
One of the biggest shifts in court reporting over the past few years? The rise of remote work — and Bruce credits the pandemic with opening that door.
“When I started, you always had to be there in person,” he says. “Since COVID, video platforms became a huge part of it and it completely changed the profession. Now you might go in person for a couple of days and then come home and do the rest remotely. I’ve worked from something like eight different time zones. That kind of flexibility is a real benefit.”
For Sierra, that flexibility was actually what drew her into the field in the first place. She started reporting during COVID while she was finishing her degree — and later her master’s — fitting remote hearings around her class schedule.
“I came home from studying abroad and didn’t have a job,” she recalls. “I found online court reporting and thought, I can do this from home. It worked perfectly around my classes, and I could go in person to LA on the days I wasn’t in school. It was the ideal balance at the time.”
How Does Scheduling Actually Work?
The short answer: you need to be comfortable with not always knowing what’s coming next.
Reporters put their availability into a scheduling system — typically a few weeks out — and receive hearing assignments via calendar invites, which they can accept or decline. In-person hearings take priority, and reporters who are willing to travel tend to get more opportunities.
“Sometimes you don’t know where you’re going until the next day,” Sierra explains. “You might find out at night that you have a flight the next morning. And if an in-person job wraps up early, they’ll often fill in the rest of your week with remote work.”
Travel comes with a per diem built into the daily rate, and reporters are compensated for travel days. That said, as Bruce will tell you, the travel itself can take some unexpected turns — more on that in a moment.
How Long Are the Days? (It Depends.)
The day’s length can vary wildly depending on what type of hearing you’re in — and what happens once you get there.
“Tax Court regular sessions are usually pretty short,” Bruce says. “You might do a calendar call, a few recalls, and then you’re done. But NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) trials can go all day. I had one this week that started at nine in the morning and didn’t wrap until nearly seven at night.”
Sierra has a memorable example from the other end of the spectrum. She was asked to travel to a hearing in a small town in Utah — no direct flights, so she flew into Las Vegas and rented a car. The hearing was scheduled for three days. “The judge said they were working on a settlement and gave them time to resolve it. We never even went on the record. They told me I could go home,” she says. “So I drove back to Las Vegas. I went all that way and was done in less than a day.”
Meanwhile, Sierra has another Tax Court session coming up in Miami next week. The clerk already told her the calendar has just one case on it.
“We might be on the record for less than ten minutes,” she says. “Sometimes it’s less than five. You just never really know until the day of.”
“It’s like the Forrest Gump line — life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.” — Bruce Carlson
The Relationship Side of the Job
One thing that might surprise people about court reporting is just how relationship-driven it is. Bruce has been covering NLRB Region 19 in Seattle for over a decade, and at this point, he’s part of the furniture.
“I’ve gone through whole cycles — judges who’ve retired, new people coming in, others leaving,” he says. “When I walk in now, it’s like, ‘Hey, Bruce is here.’ You really get to know the clerks especially. You work with them constantly.”
Sierra echoes that. “You see the same attorneys, the same clerks, the same judges over and over. It’s genuinely nice. You get invested in how people are doing, what cases they’re working on. It becomes a real community.”
Is Court Reporting Right for You?
When asked what they would tell a friend who was curious about getting into the profession, both reporters had clear-eyed, honest answers.
Bruce emphasizes the intellectual curiosity the job rewards. “You learn constantly. I’ve covered so many different industries — I know more about the Starbucks unionization effort than I ever expected to. That kind of thing is genuinely interesting. But I’d also be upfront with people: it can be uncomfortable. Security clearance hearings, contentious labor disputes — there are moments that get emotional and confrontational. You have to be able to stay calm and stay focused. And you have to be a really good listener. That’s probably the most important skill there is.”
Sierra’s biggest piece of advice? Be honest with yourself about how you handle unpredictability.
“If you like to plan your week out and stick to it, this probably isn’t the role for you,” she says. “I’ve had to cancel doctor’s appointments, rearrange personal plans, miss weekends with friends because a job ran long or I got a last-minute travel assignment. You have to be genuinely okay with that kind of thing. But if you are — and I really am — it’s a wonderful job. You’re constantly learning, you’re meeting interesting people, and no two days look exactly the same.”
Bruce sums it up with a knowing laugh: “You can’t make lawyers litigate. A case might look like it’s definitely going to trial on paper, and then everyone settles at 11:59 at night. That’s just how the legal world works. If you can roll with that, you’ll be just fine.”
About the Reporters
Bruce Carlson is a court reporter based in Seattle with over 11 years of experience, specializing in NLRB and Tax Court proceedings. Sierra Self is a reporter who got her start during the COVID-19 pandemic and has since completed her graduate degree while continuing to report across the country. Both work with eScribers.
