State of Illinois offering tuition-free court reporter training program in Urbana, Wheaton

SPRINGFIELD – Court reporters and the transcripts they produce are an integral part of the court system, but a shortage of licensed court reporters is looming on the horizon.

To boost interest in the career, in addition to meeting the demand, the Chief Judges of Illinois have approved a tuition-free training program in exchange for a two-year employment contract with Court Reporting Services of Illinois.

Dustie Spradlin, executive director of Court Reporting Services in Springfield, said huge recruitment efforts are underway to educate students about the court reporting profession.

Licensed court reporters take a verbatim record of criminal cases heard in Illinois to ensure that all citizens have equal access to justice, not just the ones who can afford to hire a court reporter.

“Half of our official court reporters are age 55 or older. Court Reporting Services currently has over 100 vacancies throughout the state, and we anticipate that number to significantly increase over the next 10 years as our veteran court reporters retire,” Spradlin said.

The starting salary of official court reporters in the state of Illinois has a range of $53,000 to $58,000 per year (more for higher certifications and for Cook County court reporters), plus state of Illinois benefits. There are also cost-of-living increases and proficiency testing.

Additional income is generated by the transcripts official court reporters prepare for cases that appeal and for requests from attorneys and parties. This transcript income can fluctuate from year to year, depending on the volume of transcript requests received.

“The key to gaining more licensed court reporters is in attracting more court reporting students,” Spradlin said.

The next classes for this tuition-free Officialship Training Program will begin in September 2025, and will consist of two years of on-site training in Urbana, led by court reporters Melissa Clagg (Urbana) and Peggy Cuda (Wheaton).

The deadline to apply is March 15.

A final decision of those chosen will be announced soon after a mandatory information and evaluation workshop in Springfield on April 12 and in Wheaton on May 9.

To apply or to learn more about this opportunity, visit https://www.ilcrs.com/training.

Inquiries can be emailed to Training@ilcrs.com or Spradlin at Dustie@ilcrs.com.