BECOME A MEMBERReporting Skills
The skills needed to be a verbatim reporter are good grammar skills, manual dexterity to press chords on the keyboard, the ability to concentrate and sit quietly for long periods, though be robust enough to speak up if the need arises. Verbatim Reporters are wordsmiths, even if the words they write are spoken by someone else. Becoming a high-speed verbatim reporter whilst maintaining accuracy when stroking the keys on the shorthand machine, is something that takes time and a lot of effort on the part of the student. If it was easy everyone would be doing it and if it was too hard - no one would do it. There are, however, several hundred just in the UK, but we could always do with more.
Keeping up-to-date with current affairs is important so that the latest news about people and places will be familiar to you when referred to. You can be very sure that if someone refers to being "economical with the truth" in the press, Defence Counsel will be using it that very day in mitigation in the courtroom.