NATION'S LARGEST TRIAL COURT EXPANDS UNPRECEDENTED

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Media Relations

publicinfo@lacourt.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

September 5, 2023

NATION’S LARGEST TRIAL COURT EXPANDS

UNPRECEDENTED RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

CAMPAIGN TO ADDRESS CHRONIC

COURT REPORTER SHORTAGE

Significant Increase in Incentives, Targeted Recruitment Marketing Campaign

Designed to Entice Court Reporters to Join the Superior Court of LA County

The Court is building on its comprehensive efforts to address a chronic shortage of court

reporters with a significant increase in retention and recruitment incentives first announced in

February and the expansion of targeted recruitment efforts to help fill vacant positions, Presiding

Judge Samantha P. Jessner and Executive Officer/Clerk of Court David W. Slayton announced

today.

The substantially increased incentives, including over $70,000 in potential bonuses for new

hires, are intended to address the ongoing detrimental impacts of a nationwide court reporter

shortage crisis, which recently required a shift in court reporter coverage at the Court from

family law, probate and matters assigned to the writs and receiver departments to criminal

felony and juvenile proceedings to ensure court reporters can cover those statutorily mandated

case types. The increased incentives were negotiated and agreed upon by the Joint Council,

which comprises Service Employees International Union Local 721 and the Los Angeles County

Court Reporters Association.

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INCREASED COURT REPORTER INCENTIVES

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“As a result of the chronic shortage of court reporters, thousands of litigants are denied

meaningful access to justice every day in Los Angeles County, leaving their proceedings with no

verbatim record of what transpired and putting them at a significant disadvantage,” said

Presiding Judge Jessner. “This is a constitutional crisis. These increased incentives and high-

profile recruitment efforts demonstrate the Court’s determination to address this crisis by

attracting and recruiting qualified court reporters to work in our court system.”

The increased incentives and recruitment advertising, all paid for with funding provided by

Governor Gavin Newsom and the Legislature, reflect the Court’s commitment to utilizing bold

solutions to address the current court reporter shortage crisis. The crisis disproportionately

impacts low income and self-represented litigants who cannot afford to hire private court

reporting services, which can cost upwards of $5,000 a day, and those who do not wish to

continue their hearings until the Court can provide a court reporter from its limited pool of

available court-employed court reporters.

“The Court is committed to spending the funding the Governor and Legislature allocated for the

purpose of recruiting and retaining court reporters,” Executive Officer/Clerk of Court Slayton

said. “We remain hopeful these increased incentives and our ongoing high-profile advertising

efforts will help alleviate this significant access to justice issue by promoting the court reporter

profession and showcasing the Court as a preferred employer for both court reporters just

entering the profession or court reporters currently employed in the private market.”

INCREASED RETENTION AND RECRUITMENT INCENTIVES:

Effective immediately, the Court will offer the following incentives and benefits to recruit and

retain court reporters:

Increased Signing Bonus for Newly Hired Official Court Reporters

• $50,000 total, increased from $20,000 total, over two years, retroactive to new court

reporters with a start date on or after July 1, 2023.

Court Reporter School Student Loan and Equipment Allowance

• Up to $15,000 total over two years. This incentive is retroactive to all new court reporters

with a start date on or after July 1, 2023.

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INCREASED COURT REPORTER INCENTIVES

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Retention Bonus for Current Full-time Court Reporters

• $5,000 if employed as a full-time court reporter as of January 31, 2023, and remain

employed as of May 1, 2024.

• $5,000 if employed as a full-time court reporter as of June 30, 2023, and remain

employed as of May 1, 2024.

• $10,000 if employed as a full-time court reporter as of January 31, 2023, and remain

employed as of May 1, 2025.

• $10,000 if hired as a full-time court reporter between February 1 and June 30, 2023, and

remain employed as of May 1, 2025.

Retention Bonus for Court Reporters with 25 Years or More of Service

• Retroactive to July 1, 2023, up to $10,000 for court reporters who submit the required

Agreement Form within 45 days of being eligible and agree to remain working at the Court

for at least 12 months.

Finder’s Fee for Court Employees who Refer Official Court Reporters to the Court

• $25,000 total, increased from $15,000 total, incrementally ending on court reporter’s one-

year hiring anniversary.

Floater Bonus

• Court Reporters actively working and assigned to the Floater Pool (not assigned to a

courtroom and designated as a Regional Assigned Floater) will receive a 5% per pay

period bonus.

In addition, the starting annual salary for a court reporter currently stands at $120,888.

HIGH-PROFILE ADVERTISING:

The Court placed recruitment advertisements in the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-

Tribune and USA TODAY in March. This summer, the Court also placed court reporter

recruitment advertisements on Metro Buses across Los Angeles County and on billboards on the

side of the 110 Freeway just outside of Downtown Los Angeles. Similar advertisements were

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placed in select LA Metro transit shelters, and the Court continues to aggressively recruit via job

posting sites such as LinkedIn and NeoGov.

The inability to obtain a verbatim record limits the ability for litigants to seek counsel and advice

after a decision is made and deprives litigants the ability to meaningfully preserve critical rights

on appeal. It also creates challenges in memorializing the court’s ruling in a proposed judgment

and ensuring that the judgment is enforceable.

Due to the ongoing chronic shortage of court reporters coupled with statutory restrictions on

electronic recording, more than 52,000 court proceedings took place in LA County in January

and February of this year alone with no verbatim record at all. If the crisis persists, the Court

estimates roughly 300,000 proceedings will take place in 2023 without any verbatim record.

Despite the robust set of incentives first announced in February and generous salary and

benefits packages, vacancies for court reporters have remained relatively unchanged, with the

number of court reporters leaving court service continuing to outpace the number of new court

reporters entering court service.

Those interested in joining the court reporting profession in California can learn more about the

process via the Court Reporter Board of California’s Informational Flyer, accessed here. Qualified

court reporters interested in working for the Court can apply here.

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