Lapsed Certification, Captioning CE, and a Pending Court Job
Ben was certified by the Michigan SCAO as a court reporter, but his certification expired on December 31. For the next 18 months he worked only as a broadcast captioner and did not report court proceedings. In March he accepts a part-time position reporting magistrate hearings in a northern Michigan district court, with a start date of April 1. He submits a late renewal application on March 10 with proof of 20 hours of continuing education: 6 hours in captioning software, 8 hours in legal ethics, 4 hours in courtroom technology, and 2 hours in implicit bias. None of the courses was preapproved by SCAO. He asks whether he can start April 1 while the renewal is pending, whether the captioning hours count, and what the Board of Review will consider. The court administrator needs a defensible staffing decision.
1. Can Ben start reporting on April 1 while his renewal is pending?
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No. Once his certification expired, Ben was no longer certified, and a pending application does not authorize him to create official court records. The court should not schedule him for record-making duties until SCAO reinstates or renews his certification. Starting early would expose the court to record challenges and expose Ben to board action for unauthorized practice. The administrator should either delay the start date or assign only duties that do not require certification.
2. How should the board evaluate the continuing education hours?
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The board will look at relevance, content, documentation, and whether the hours meet current SCAO requirements. Legal ethics and courtroom technology are likely relevant to court reporting; implicit bias may also qualify if the content relates to court proceedings. Captioning software is more questionable because it may serve a different practice area, though some technology skills could overlap. Lack of preapproval is not necessarily fatal, but Ben must provide course descriptions, attendance proof, and hours. The board may require additional court-reporting-specific hours or may consider whether a lapse of this length requires an exam or other reinstatement condition.
3. What factors should the Board of Review consider in deciding whether to renew?
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The board should consider the length of the lapse, the reason, whether Ben reported court proceedings without certification during that time, his candor, his continuing education, and his current fitness to report. An 18-month lapse is significant, but not automatically disqualifying. The board may also examine whether his skills were maintained and whether he understands current Michigan practices. The court administrator should document that Ben cannot start until reinstatement and should verify the credential before assigning him. If Ben works early, that fact would weigh heavily against him.