What Are Court Transcripts?
Court transcripts are written or recorded accounts of court proceedings. Typically created by a court reporter, court transcripts are meant to be a word-for-word record of every court proceeding that occurred during a given trial, including court proceeding, witness testimony, attorney arguments and questions, and verdicts. Court transcripts of a particular trial are usually publicly available by request for any interested party. Before the advent of tape and digital recording devices, court transcripts were written by hand or typed. Court reporters, also called stenographers or transcriptionists, had to use a unique and often personalized form of shorthand to record words as quickly as possible. Since a court transcript is meant to be an exact replica of the court proceedings, speed and accuracy were vital skills needed by a court reporter.
