Court reporters recognized for hard work - WAOW - Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, Sports

Court reporters type on their machines with amazing speed.

Starting Friday, court reporters in Wisconsin are being recognized for their work.

Their work requires speed and accuracy, with a minimum of typing 225 words per minute.

"I am certified for 260 words a minute," said Karla Sommer.

It's a full week of recognition for court reporters in the state, giving court reporters a chance to share their work.

"The lawyers and the judge are pretty visible, yet, none of this could be preserved without the court reporters there," said Greg Huber.

Court reporters have to work quickly with a lot of information.

"It's just interesting, there's always something new," said Sommer.

Karla Sommer has been court reporting in Marathon County since the 1990's and she said changes over the years have no only made her job easier, but faster.

"As I write on my steno-machine, it comes up in English on the screen, so not only do I have access to the transcript right there, but the judge does as well," said Sommer.

The steno-machine keyboard doesn't look anything like the QWERTY keyboard we all know.

"The keyboard is totally different, every letter of the alphabet is not on the steno-machine, so I have to make a combination of letters to make another letter," said Sommer.

Sommer said her skills have even given her opportunities outside of the courtroom.

"I actually worked in my home office and did captioning for MSNBC, The Weather Channel, I did a lot of local news stations," said Sommer.