From the American Bar Association:
"A legal assistant or paralegal is a person qualified
by education, training or work experience who is employed
or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental
agency or other entity who performs specifically delegated
substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible."
From the American Association for Paralegal Education
(AAfPE): "Paralegals perform substantive and procedural
legal work as authorized by law, which work, in the absence
of the paralegal, would be performed by an attorney. Paralegals
have knowledge of the law gained through education, or education
and work experience, which qualifies them to perform legal
work. Paralegals adhere to recognized ethical standards
and rules of professional responsibility."
Official Court Reporter
The official court reporter brings computer technology
to the courtroom in an effort to capture all of the action
and drama taking place during a court trial. The court reporter
then produces transcripts for all who request it. They are
paid a base salary to write in court and earn additional pay
for preparing and selling the transcripts. Often times, the
transcript fees exceed the base salary. This career area offers
excellent salaries, benefits, and regular hours.
Freelance Reporter (Independent)
Freelance reporting may be perfect for the individual
who enjoys independence and flexibility. These self-employed
reporters work directly with trial attorneys where depositions
are conducted to discover what witnesses know and what they
might testify to in court. Freelance reporters enjoy scheduling
their own hours and an independence unheard of in most other
professions.
Court Reporting Firm
Many working reporters choose the security and
freedom of working for a firm, although in an effort to gain
experience and become established in the profession, some
court reporters begin their careers in this area. The benefits
of starting with a firm are that you have an office, administrative
support, access to computer equipment, and steady professional
assignments. There are certain freedoms when working for a
firm, such as flexibility of work schedule, the ability to
accept or turn down assignments, and the freedom to work from
your home or office. Court reporting firms are made up of
reporters whose services expand beyond the legal profession.
Closed Caption Reporter
Closed caption reporters are trained to write
real time, which is the ability to have data analyzed and
transcribed instantly into English. These reporters work in
the exciting television, news, and entertainment industry.
Television closed captionists write live television broadcasts
such as The Tonight Show, sitcoms, nightly news, etc. These
reporters earn excellent incomes and have a wide variety of
specialty areas to work in, such as the Olympic Games, the
Super Bowl, and the Academy Awards, just to name a few. This
is a vital contribution which allows hearing impaired people
access to all television programming.
Political Reporter
Political reporters travel extensively
providing reporting services for individual politicians or
political groups. If you are the type of person that savors
independence and travel, this area of reporting can take you
all over the world. Political reporters travel extensively
and use the latest technology to deliver a verbatim account
of meetings, speeches, and official presentations. These specialized
reporters are assigned to the President, the Speaker of the
House, representatives, senators, and other officials and
dignitaries.
Congressional Reporter
The supreme legislative body of the nation, as
well as your state capital, employs congressional reporters.
Working in teams of ten, these prominent reporters work in
the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives, the Senate,
etc. These reporters have the most exciting front row seat
to the ever changing policies affecting our lives. As a congressional
reporter, your team is responsible for producing the congressional
record within an hour after adjournment. This unique area
of reporting is always a challenging and ongoing learning
experience.
Government Reporter
Government reporters have the responsibility
of recording history as it happens. These highly skilled reporters
use the latest technology and are the first to report new
legislation, hearings, and political meetings,etc. These reporters
provide a crucial service that is high demand. This career
area has regular working hours, above average salaries, and
excellent benefits.
Medical Transcriptionist
(Stenoscriptionist)
Medical stenoscriptionists work with medical
professionals preparing medical records and reports using
a stenograph machine. The high demand in the field of health
care has made medical stenoscriptionist an important aspect
of the medical profession. The qualified stenoscriptionist
must understand disease processes, anatomy, physiology, and
medical terminology, as well as medications and their dosages.
An increasing number of medical stenoscriptionists work from
home-based offices as subcontractors for hospitals and physicians.
These medical language specialists work with prerecorded material,
rather than a live account from a medical professional. Those
who specialize in the health care profession will be highly
sought after in the next century.
Cyber-Conferencing Specialist
These machine shorthanded writers play a very
important role in bringing people in different cities, states,
or parts of the world together. These capable computerized
reporters are capturing sales meetings, press conferences,
technical training seminars, and legal deposition testimony.
As participants speak, these reporters write and the words
appear instantly via satellite on individual computers or
large conference screens in different areas simultaneously.
In today's world of "instant information," there
is an urgent need for reporters with this skill.
Publishing
Transcriptionist
Transcription for the publishing industry involves
taped or live dictation from an author, editor, or publisher.
The variety and content has no bounds: fiction and nonfiction
books, periodicals and newspapers, instructional books, educational
textbooks and journals, scripts for commercials, and other
entertainment industry projects. These reporters are highly
paid for their understanding of language and ability to be
versatile. This is a great area for those interested in the
literary field.
Corporate
Transcriptionist
Minutes of board meetings are taken by computerized-machine-shorthand
transcriptionists and are then transcribed using word processing
programs. The disk and hard copy are given to the chairperson
or CEO for final editing. Corporate executives appreciate
having accurate "NOTES" to rely on to produce the
final minutes for publication. If the corporate world sounds
intriguing, this area of reporting is a vital asset to major
corporations.
Public
Reporter
These reporters are called upon to record hearings,seminars,
forums, and public meetings stenographically. After recording
the proceedings, a computerized verbatim transcript is prepared.
The demand for for the services is rapidly increasing due
to recent federal legislation which requires equal access
for all people.
Educational
Reporter
Educational reporters are working with students
at all levels from grade school through college . A student
with limited vision, hearing or attention span benefits greatly
from this one-on-one assistance. A transcript of the class
is provided to the student as a study aid. Because of the
enactment of the Americans With Disabilities Act, the demand
for these reporters is on the rise.
Media-Room
Reporter
The United States Sports Association is providing
this computerized reporting service for the media who are
working on a deadline. The media-room reporter is available
after all sports events and uses the computerized stenograph
machine to take down the verbatim comments of individual players
and coaches. This information is instantly translated into
the written word, and a perfect transcript can be issued to
the media in two to four minutes. USA Today stated that the
media-room reporter is especially valuable when there is a
potentially controversial issue brewing.
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