U.S. Courts Slowed by Shortage of Reporters

A chronic shortage of court reporters threw the Los Angeles federal courts off schedule Tuesday when four judges opened their courtrooms and found that no one was available to record the proceedings.

“It’s unbelievable. I’ve never had it happen to me in all my life as a judge,” said U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian, who postponed the start of trial in a civil suit for more than 2 1/2 hours before a court reporter could be located.

Senior Judges David W. Williams and William P. Gray also were without court reporters Tuesday morning, though they eventually settled their pending cases, and Chief Judge Manuel L. Real was unable to take the bench Monday until 3 p.m. because of the reporter shortage, court administrators said.

“This is crunch time. It’s been deteriorating for a period of time, and when lack of court reporters grinds the federal district court to a halt, it shouldn’t happen,” executive officer George Ryker said. “This is the U.S. government, and we ought to be able to provide a court reporter.”

The current shortage of court reporters, sophisticated stenographers who provide transcripts of court proceedings, reflects a shortfall in the field that has become particularly acute in Los Angeles, court officials say.

“We’re having a very, very difficult time just staffing the courts every day, and we’re experiencing quite a problem with delinquent transcripts, and the combination of the two things has put us in quite a critical situation,” said Frank Zolin, administrator for the Los Angeles Superior Court system.

So far, the shortfall in the state courts has not caused the postponement of a trial, Zolin said.

One reason that the problem has come to focus in the Los Angeles federal courts is the presence of active senior judges, officials say. Right now, the courts are down to 22 reporters for 22 active judges and 10 senior judges, although the district is authorized for 25 reporters. The district has requested three additional full-time reporters for next year.

Another factor that makes the problem acute in the federal courts is the national wage rate for court reporters. In Southern California, where the cost of living is high, the national wage rate is not competitive.

While state court reporters can earn up to $48,552 a year, the maximum wage authorized in the federal system is $38,203. Newly appointed U.S. Judge Ronald S.W. Lew’s reporter, for example, took an $11,400 pay cut when she followed the judge to his new appointment, Ryker said.

Federal court reporters can increase their earnings because lawyers pay higher rates for transcripts in the federal system, but the reporters often must work as many as 16 hours a day, seven days a week, to meet the workload, Ryker said.

The result is that even with a $70,000 budget for hiring temporary help, the federal courts have had difficulty recruiting reporters.

Moreover, the courts have been reluctant to hire temporary help because of problems that arose previously. In two instances, court administrators say, part-time reporters lost their notes. In another case, a judge had to issue a bench warrant for a court reporter when she disappeared.

Tevrizian said he had to delay a hearing on a temporary restraining order sought last week by NBC against U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner for nearly 45 minutes because he could not find an available court reporter.

“There were three judges in federal court that couldn’t get their trials off the dime today. It’s unbelievable,” he said. “You’re ready to go, you study your case, and you can’t go anywhere.”

Francis L. Bremson, circuit executive for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said federal officials have been reluctant to grant Los Angeles’ request for additional staffing in the past because of statistics which showed that existing reporters were not being fully utilized.

That situation has changed, however, and the two federal panels looking at the problem have recommended additional staffing for next year, he said.

But state officials say the problem may not be relieved so easily. California has been suffering a shortage of court reporters in its urban areas for the past two years, said Rick Black of the state Certified Shorthand Reporter Board, which has licensed 7,500 reporters in California.

“I think the number of attorneys is constantly increasing, as is the amount of litigation that we have in the state, and the supply of court reporters just doesn’t seem to be keeping up,” he said.