New Career Opportunity: Digital Court Reporting Fellowship*

What This Is

The Fisher Digital Reporter Fellowship is a professional development sponsorship for a small number of people who want to establish an independent digital court reporting business in Montana.

Fisher sponsors your certification, provides mentorship and technical resources, and offers a reliable source of assignments. You establish and operate your own business.

This is not employment. Fellowship participants are independent professionals building their own practices. Fisher invests in that because well-prepared, well-supported reporters produce better outcomes for everyone - the reporter, the attorneys, and the record itself. The program is structured to comply with Montana's Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate (ICEC) framework and workers' compensation requirements.

We're currently focused on recruitment in Billings, and we're also considering candidates from across Montana.

The Work

As a Digital Court Reporter, you capture the official record of depositions, hearings, and other legal proceedings using multi-channel audio rather than stenography.

The equipment doesn't make the record. You do. A digital reporter runs the room: positioning and monitoring a microphone on every speaker, watching levels, making sure a witness doesn't trail off, keeping people from talking over each other, tracking exhibits, clarifying uncertainties, and annotating as things happen. Speech recognition is only as good as the audio it receives, and that audio and the accuracy of the transcription are only as good as the person responsible for it. A reporter who is genuinely present produces a clean, reliable record. One who assumes the technology is handling it produces a record that isn't acceptable.

That's the standard Fisher is building around. Montana's stenographer shortage is real, and speech recognition has come a long way. Neither one changes what the record has to be. We're using digital capture to expand capacity alongside our stenographic reporters, held to the same accuracy we've delivered for nearly 50 years.

An assignment typically involves

• Setting up and monitoring multi-channel audio capture, and running the ASR software
• Annotating the record as the proceeding moves, and marking anything that needs attention later
• Clarifying spellings of names, places, and technical terms
• Administering the oath (requires a Montana notary commission. Fisher will sponsor.)
• Coordinating with attorneys, witnesses, and legal staff during the session
• Collecting and tracking exhibits
• Handling recordings and transcripts securely and confidentially
• Troubleshooting technology calmly when something doesn't cooperate
• Editing, verifying, and certifying the accuracy of the final transcript before it goes to Fisher's production department

Between assignments, you manage your own schedule, your own business, and your own workspace.

For a detail-oriented person, this is a rare opportunity to establish an independent practice in a respected, certified, high-demand field in Montana.

Who This Fits

No legal background is required. The people who do well in this work tend to share a particular set of traits:

• Precision. You notice things. A misheard word or a typo in a text matters to you.
• Presence. You arrive early, dressed for the room, prepared for the matter in front of you. You're comfortable among attorneys, and they're comfortable with you there.
• Professionalism. You're an officer of the record, not an advocate. Both sides of the table need to trust you equally, and they will if you demonstrate complete neutrality and impartiality.
• Composure. Technology fails at inconvenient moments. You solve it without visible panic.
• Discretion. You'll handle sensitive information, sometimes about people in your own community.
• Comfort with technology. Not expertise - comfort. You can learn new software without dread.
• Self-direction. You show up. You're building a business, not filling a shift.

Prior experience in legal support, transcription, court administration, AV production, or customer-facing professional work is useful but not required.

What Fisher provides

• Sponsorship of your training and certification
• Structured preparation and shadowing alongside an experienced Fisher reporter
• Ongoing mentorship and technical support
• A reliable stream of assignment offers throughout Montana
• Access to Fisher's transcript production, scheduling, and billing infrastructure
• Equipment financing options available

What you provide

• Your own business entity and a Montana Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate (or workers' compensation coverage), which we'll walk you through obtaining
• Your capture equipment if not exercising Fisher's financing option
• Reliable transportation and the ability to travel to assignments in Billings and the surrounding region
• A secure workspace for handling confidential materials and reliable internet for remote assignments

Compensation

Digital reporters are paid per assignment and/or per transcript page. A reporter working a full schedule in Montana can expect $70,000–$90,000 annually, with more available to reporters willing to travel the state. See footnote.

How To Apply

Send a message to Sign in to view email telling us a little about yourself and why this caught your attention. We'll send you the full program details, an application, and set up a conversation.

We're sponsoring a small number of fellows, and we'll be selective about it to ensure alignment with Fisher's standards.

About Fisher

Fisher Court Reporting - Depositions, Video + Trial is a Montana legal support firm delivering exceptional service, hospitality, and high-quality legal discovery products. We pair a strong human element with advanced technology so attorneys can concentrate on the work in front of them.

Fisher provides depositions, deposition video, AV and presentation support for trial, and visual case strategy consulting and demonstratives development across the state. With remote services available virtually anywhere, Fisher is a one-call provider. Our team values professionalism, reliability, and client-centered service in every interaction.

• 442 E. Mendenhall Street
• Bozeman, MT 59715 406-587-9016
• fishercourtreporting.com

* Descriptive only - not an offer or contract. Fellowship participants are independent contractors, not employees, and receive no employee benefits or workers' compensation coverage through Fisher. Earnings figures are estimates of gross business revenue, not guarantees; actual income varies with availability, assignments accepted, and travel range. Certification sponsorship, equipment financing, rates, and all other terms are defined in the Fisher Digital Reporter Fellowship Program Agreement, which governs and is provided before participation begins. Participation is by selection; Fisher does not guarantee a minimum number of assignments. The goal is a balanced workload for all freelance partners.