Scopist

Be a Scopist

The term scopist is used to describe a court reporter. The word scopist was created for this profession based on how court reporting took place many years ago.

Back when court reporting first became computerized, the scopist typed on a desk sized microcompouter with a small green video screen. This screen contained about 80 characters and showed only a few lines at a time, which made the screen look like an oscilloscope. Since using the microcomputers was much like looking through a periscope, the term scopist was derived.

Today, the court reporter has far more advanced equipment that does not result in the same limited view of the information being recorded. Nonetheless, the term scopist remains in use to describe this position.

There are two major categories a scopist may pursue after acquiring the necessary education: official scopist or freelance scopist. An official scopist is a person that is employed on a regular basis with a company or organization. This may include working for a judicial system at the state, circuit, district, or federal level. Similarly, a scopist may work on a part-time or full-time basis for a company in order to record what is said at meetings and other important events.

A freelance scopist, on the other hand, is not hired to work with just one company or organization. Rather, the freelance scopist may work for a variety of different companies, organizations, and people on a contractual basis. For example, various attorneys may hire the services of a freelance scopist in order to record statements, depositions, or court testimonies.

In either case, the job of the scopist is to accurately record the things that are said at meetings or legal proceedings. Since the final documents created by the scopist are considered to be legal documents, it is essential that the scopist performs an accurate and thorough recording of what is said. Furthermore, the scopist must keep the information protected so that it may not be altered in any way.