Devlin
HAUPPAUGE — CSEA member Darlene Devlin is a Suffolk Supreme Court Reporter or Stenographer, also referred to colloquially as a “guardian of the record.”
On her days off, she has been volunteering her time to help recruit court reporters along with her colleagues at the New York State Court Reporters Association (NYSCRA) and Plaza College in Queens.
CSEA court reporters are civil service employees responsible for producing accurate transcripts of court proceedings. They are highly trained and certified in New York state, covering more than 300 courts and judges, yet many of these positions are vacant, leading to long wait times for proceedings, delayed court dates for months or years and in some cases, shutting down court rooms altogether.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, court reporters enjoy high annual salaries with the ability to take on extra freelance work and can top six figures, especially where Devlin lives and works, on Long Island and in New York City.
“There is potential to make a lot of money in this field,” said Devlin. “The starting salary for a grade 24, which is the basically the entry level for court reporters where I live is something like $86,000 right now. The starting salary for a grade 27 is $99,000 plus. Across the state, it goes from $60,000 to $99,000 and that’s not even top pay. That’s just the entry level pay.”
Devlin said mass retirements, intimidation of technology, and the unmet need for continuous recruitment (infrequent civil service testing) have caused the high number of court reporter vacancies to grow despite great working conditions and high pay.
Working in coalition with the New York State Court Reporters Association and Plaza College, Devlin and a team of her peers have been helping prospective court reporters enter the field, current freelance court reporters prepare for civil service exams to make the transition to official court positions help current official court reporters improve their skills. Faster recording rates translates to more money for the court reporter, plus greater productivity and fewer errors for the court. It’s a win-win.
Too often, freelancers often don’t fully understand the benefit of becoming official and having a union, said Devlin.
“I became a freelance court reporter when my daughter was young, which served its purpose, but I was able to take my skill and go from freelancer, working a few days a week, to a steady career that has a good salary with all the benefits and the union protections and the camaraderie that goes along with it,” said Devlin. “The number one benefit is having a retirement and a pension. It has just been life changing for me.”
To help recruit court reporters, Devlin tapped into skills gained from teaching court reporting at Long Island Business Institute for three years as an adjunct instructor and her work visiting high school students to introduce the career to them as an option.
“[Outreach] has just made all the difference,” said Devlin. “We want to make sure that this job is still around for another generation to come and we want to make sure that people get their day in court. For me personally, giving back is the only way to really repay those helping hands that helped me.”
Devlin noted that if you’re interested in a career in court reporting or know someone who might like to give it a try, the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) has a FREE two-week introductory stenography course on offer.
Plaza College has partnered with them in this program. It is called “NCRA A to Z.” Find it here: www.ncra.org/discoversteno.
— Jill Asencio
Recruitment and retention a top CSEA priority
One of CSEA’s main budget priorities in this year’s budget talks with Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislators was to give state and municipal governments the funding and other tools necessary to recruit and retain a strong workforce to ensure that New Yorkers receive the services that they need.
In the final New York State Budget, several retention and recruitment provisions were approved.
Here’s what is included:
- From July 2023 to end of December 2025, New York state will waive civil service exam fees to promote equitable access to careers in state government and allows municipalities to do the same.
- Allow for continuous recruitment and testing of candidates for positions throughout government.
- Create 12 Centers for Careers in Government that allow people to meet with representatives of civil service, learn about open positions, and take exams on site.
- Implement a marketing campaign promoting public sector jobs.
- Examine the pay structure of civil service jobs to ensure they are competitive with the private sector.
