Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 90% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Seelbach: Litigation is rising while new stenographer numbers drop substantially

Karl Seelbach · 13 - Revolutionizing Legal Depositions with Skribe Founder Karl Seelbach · Jan 7, 2025 · at 14:46

Karl Seelbach, founder of Skribe.ai and a practicing trial attorney, details the macroeconomic and demographic bottlenecks facing traditional court reporting.

0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 14.9s

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“The problem is the number of claims, the number of litigated cases is on the rise. The number of new stenographers has dropped substantially, and a lot of them are ending or they're entering the retirement phase of their careers.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

The number of litigated court cases is increasing while the number of new stenographers has dropped substantially as existing reporters reach retirement.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim consists of three assertions: (1) litigated court cases are increasing, (2) the number of new stenographers has dropped substantially, and (3) a large portion of existing reporters are reaching retirement. Published court data and court reporting industry metrics confirm all three legs: federal civil filings rose 22.4% year-over-year in 2024 (with state court incoming cases also trending upward by ~4%), annual newly certified stenographers have fallen to roughly 200–360 per year (far below replacement demand), and the average age of NCRA court reporters has reached 55–56 years, placing well over 50% of the active workforce at or near retirement eligibility.

Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics 2024 showed U.S. District Court civil filings rose 22.4% year-over-year to 347,991, with pending civil cases up 85.7% between 2015 and 2024.
NCRA and industry data show training programs fell to fewer than 26 nationwide, producing only ~200-360 graduates annually against ~1,100-2,000 required openings.
NCRA demographic data indicates the average active court reporter age is 55-56 years old, with over 50% of the stenographic workforce aged 50 or older.

Checked against

[1] uscourts.gov [2] ncsc.org [3] sji.gov [4] ncra.org [5] viqsolutions.com [6] uslegalsupport.com [7] exma.ai [8] capturetherecord.com

stenographer shortage court reporting retirement statistics Ducker NCRA court reporter demographics average age retirement graduating US court filings trends Court Statistics Project Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics 2022 2023 2024 Ducker report court reporting industry shortage retirement age

assessed as of 2026-09-02

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

litigated cases Stenographers

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Seelbach: Litigation is rising while new stenographer numbers drop substantially

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