About VoiceWritingU
At VoiceWritingU, we have been training realtime voice writers since 2005, and our mission is to provide real people with flexible, exciting, and lucrative careers. Our instructors have decades of experience, and VoiceWritingU is the only program taught by a certified realtime instructor, Sarah Flynn, and our co-instructor, Colette Wayda, along with being a CCR, is a certified Eclipse Vox basic and advanced trainer, so you are getting the best of both worlds in one easy-to-understand program.
Although we are an online platform that is available to you 24 hours, 7 days a week, you are in constant contact with your instructors and our student coordinator, past NVRA president and Registered CART Provider, Maranda “Mandy” Sullivan.
About Court Reporting
The creation of accurate transcripts is of vital importance in legal proceedings, and that is the jurisdiction of the court reporter. A court reporter is just what the name implies: a reporter that makes a record of everything that was said and done at a specific point in time. Not only does a court reporter create a record of the spoken word, but it’s also the responsibility of the court reporter to check the transcript for accuracy. Voice writers use Dragon and CAT systems to produce realtime text as it’s being spoken. See our Eclipse demo below for a live demonstration.
While the amount of court reporting jobs are finite (with certified court reporters having a distinct advantage in finding employment), court reporters can find ample job opportunities transcribing live events for the hearing-impaired (closed captioning for television, university lectures, etc.) as well as transcribing live internet streams. As of 2012, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the average annual earnings of court reporters to be approximately $60,000, with the highest paid 10% earning in excess of $80,000. Realtime court reporters can make in excess of six figures and will always be in the highest demand!
About Sarah Flynn, CCR, CVR-M, RVR, CLT
Certified Court Reporter, Certified Verbatim Reporter-Master,
Realtime Verbatim Reporter, Certified Legal Transcriptionist
Sarah Flynn, CCR, CVR-M, RVR, CLT, has been working in the legal field in the Little Rock area since 1988 as both a legal secretary and legal assistant. In 1994, Sarah discovered the voice writing method of court reporting and trained using a tape-recorded course given by the inventor of the Stenomask, Horace Webb. After her training, she took the state certification exam, passing the first try, and began practicing as a freelance reporter in the Little Rock market.
In 2003, Sarah opened Arkansas’ only full-service litigation support firm, Flynn Legal Services, and she owned and operated the successful court reporting firm until 2016 when she sold it to Alaris Litigiation Services to solely center her focus on training others in the field of voice writing.
Sarah formed the Arkansas School of Court Reporting in 2006 to fulfill the shortage in Arkansas for trained court reporters. Sarah has successfully trained and mentored dozens of successful practicing reporters and is committed to the field of court reporting and advancement of its high ethics and principles, along with promoting the use of speech recognition software and realtime technology. Sarah’s goal is to provide qualified students the opportunity to train for a professional, life-long career with better than average income potential, flexible schedule, thus increasing her students’ quality of life.
In early 2010, Sarah recognized the need nationally for a proven voice writing training program and proceeded to build an online portal of easy-to-understand instruction so that anyone in the world could participate and train in the program. Now IR has students participating in the exciting online E-learning program from all over the country and even internationally, including the UK, Canada, British Virgin Islands, and Singapore. As you will find out, Sarah is both your cheerleader and your mentor. She will keep the excitement level up while you learn the skills required to be a successful realtime court reporter, and she is committed to your success in every way.
In 2011, Sarah was awarded the Value Award for Education by the National Verbatim Reporters Association for the individual who works to establish standards for testing, certification and continuing education, and has served on the Membership Committee and the Nomination Committee of the NVRA. She currently serves as a one-year director on the board.
In 2018, Sarah obtained her Realtime Verbatim Reporter and the Certified Legal Transcriber certifications with the NVRA, further demonstrating the skills necessary to teach the voice writing method to future court reporters, CART providers, captioners, and legal transcriptionists.