Justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and members of the Committee of Chief Judges held their annual joint meeting May 24 in Madison.
Agenda items included the Statewide Digital Court Reporter Program, Digital Audio Recording (DAR) and updates on what’s happening the state’s nine judicial administrative districts.
District Court Administrators Patrick Brummond and Jon Bellows, delivered a presentation on the use of a statewide remote digital court reporter pool to help address a shortage of available court reporters.
Using DAR, court reporters in the pool are able to take the record remotely from court offices on the CCAP network, including hub locations in in Menasha, Dane County, the Waukesha area, and some District Court Administrator (DCA) offices. There are currently 26 court reporters in the pool, which was created using court reporter position vacancies that developed over time.
The pool has been recruiting, hiring, training and mentoring new court reporters across state. Some courts are unable to find either digital or stenographic court reporters, which is resulting in scheduling problems.
Bellows said the court reporter shortage is a national problem. Stenography schools are closing around the country, and there is only one remaining school in Wisconsin. Some of the steps taken to recruit and retain court reporters include the development of a partnership with Fox Valley Technical College on a digital court reporting certification program and a more attractive court reporter compensation plan.
Director of State Courts Randy R. Koschnick reconvened the Making the Record Committee in September 2022 to discuss and develop possible solutions. The committee met for the final time and submitted its report to the Director in early June. See the full report here.