CAREERS

Whether you're just starting out or have been a court reporter for years, we invite you to consider the benefits of working as an Official Court Reporter in the Illinois Courts. To learn more, check out our BROCHURE. If you're interested in a career as a court reporter, click here.

Experienced Reporters

If you are tired of inconsistent work schedules without guaranteed income or benefits, consider working for the Illinois Courts.

As an Official Court Reporter, you will get a rewarding career with great benefits. There's a good reason why many of our employees have been with the Illinois Courts for more than 20 years! Starting salary is $71,336 in Cook County and up to $58,684 outside of Cook County--higher for NCRA's RPR and CRR certifications, plus additional transcript income and State of Illinois benefits.

Benefits include:

Health, dental, vision, and life insurance
Pension plan with the State Employee Retirement System
Deferred compensation - an optional tax-deferred 457 retirement/savings plan
Medical/dependent care pre-tax plans
Paid vacations, personal days, and sick time
12+ paid holidays per year
Continuing education waiver for state CSR licensing
Free annual seminar for 6 hours of continuing education per year (0.6 CEUs from NCRA)

Visit our Job Vacancies page to find out if we are hiring near you.

Court Reporting Students

You have picked a great career choice with outstanding prospects for the future. The U.S. Department of Labor has rated court reporting as "very good" for job prospects in its most recent analysis of the profession.

You may have heard about the Part-A "officialship" examination that was given at
court reporting schools in the past. This exam was commonly taken prior to passing the CSR examination. While we still give this examination, it is now only given in connection with potential employment opportunities. Yes, employment is possible in the court reporting field prior to obtaining your CSR license. Upon passing the Part-A examination, a person employed with the Illinois Courts is qualified for a restricted CSR license. With this license, you may work as a court reporter if there is an electronic recording system in the courtroom as a secondary record.

Due to statutory limitations, restricted licenses are not available for employment as a court reporter in Cook County, but there are electronic recording positions available until a time where you are able to pass the CSR examination.

If you have passed testimony examinations at 190 wpm or better, feel free to contact any circuit on our Job Vacancies page to see if they have electronic recording systems and whether they would consider hiring a restricted license holder. If so, the Chief Judge's office may request that you take the Part-A examination in our Springfield office to see if you would qualify.

Good luck in the rest of your coursework! We hope that you consider a career in judicial reporting once you have completed your classes.

Just Getting Started?

Court reporting is a specialized, technology-based profession. The old-fashioned idea of a court reporter scratching notes on a steno pad are long gone and replaced by realtime translation technology where the spoken word can immediately be displayed on a computer screen. You have probably seen
closed-captioning on television before. If you have, you have seen realtime in action.

Instead of captioning a television show, judicial reporters are taking down what
is said in a courtroom so there can be a written record of the proceedings. In some cases, they can be utilized to assist the hearing impaired in the courtroom by displaying a realtime translation on a computer screen.

It can be a very challenging and rewarding career. Visit our Getting Started page
to find out more about becoming a court reporter.