For years, we’ve heard speculation that electronic recording will replace the court reporter and eliminate the need for scopists.

Here’s my take on that: While electronic recording is said to be less expensive, someone will still need to be there to run the computer and be responsible for the production of an accurate transcript — a court reporter; and someone will still need to proofread the transcript and correct errors — a scopist. And remember, the best computer in the world cannot rival the human brain, which is capable of distinguishing minute subtleties that a computer can’t.

So are we worried? Nope!  For more info on the electronic recording debate, visit www.ncraonline.org and click on “Issues & Advocacy.”