Tracy Wilkerson was bartending when she had a conversation with her father about her long-term prospects.

During that conversation, he mentioned a friend’s daughter had become a court reporter and that she loved it. It proved to be a life-changing conversation for Wilkerson, who looked into the profession and decided to pursue her certification. Since 2018, Wilkerson has served as a court reporter in Carter County and has never looked back.

“It was a lot of practice, and I am glad that I did it,” Wilkerson said. “It has been a great career so far.”

Pursuing a career

Wilkerson is from Madill and moved to Texas to take classes for court reporting. Her plan was to do freelance deposition work in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She went to The Court Reporting Institute of Dallas, and they closed the school down. She completed her education at the Arlington Career Institute.

“It didn’t take too long to finish,” Wilkerson said. “It was a trade school and there was no math requirement. So that sold me. So, after a little investigating online, I saw that it was something I was interested in. There was a lot of job opportunity and placement.”

Wilkerson said when you go to school, you learn stenography, which is like shorthand. You use a steno-type machine and basically learn a language that you can read and write.

“It is phonetic,” she said. “You listen to sounds and there are certain keystrokes that we press. If you think of a piano, it is kind of the same. And you practice over time, and you have to get to 200 words a minute in Oklahoma with 95% accuracy. So, it really is just a lot of practice.”

Wilkerson had to learn which keystrokes made which sounds and build off of what she had learned.

“You will write, cat, hat,” she said. “And there is dictation at certain speed levels that the teachers will read. Once you get to a certain level, you can start writing with music and the TV.”

When she completed school, she decided to pursue an opening in Carter County. While she had intended to focus on deposition work, she had received a lot of exposure to the discovery phase and testimony, where attorneys ask witnesses questions.

“Growing up here, I knew I wanted to come back home at some point,” she said. “So, I took the Oklahoma test, I passed all of that. Then, I applied for this job, and I got it. I figured it was meant to be.”

Finding a home in Carter County

When Wilkerson arrived in Ardmore, she found it was more difficult at the beginning than she had imagined because she was having to identify the speakers. There were more people involved than in a deposition.

“I definitely had imposter syndrome, like, ‘Should I be here,’” Wilkerson said. “It seemed like a pretty important job, and I am sitting here doing this. And I don’t have a lot of supervision. I work for the judge. He is really the only person I report to.

“And I was lucky enough to work here and there was a reporter working here as well that kind of mentored me and helped me understand how things worked.”

When Wilkerson began work in Carter County, she was assigned to former Assistant District Judge Thomas Baldwin. She is currently assigned to District Judge Dennis Morris.

“He is great,” she said. “He will be leaving me soon, and I don’t know who I will work for next. That is one thing, I have job security so I will be able to stick around and work for whoever comes through.”

Wilkerson said the career has been rewarding and she enjoys it. She enjoys the stability, her co-workers and the work that she does matters. She preserves the record and if there is an appeal, the attorneys and appellate courts rely on the transcripts that she has created.

“My work product can make a difference in someone else’s life,” Wilkerson said. “Whether or not they get a trial or how things proceed.”

As a court reporter, Wilkerson works for the State of Oklahoma, rather than the county. It is a nine-to-five job with some flexibility. There are also some days that are longer than others.

“During trials, we are here as long as we have to be and those are really long days to be in the courtroom with minimal breaks because we are trying to get through,” she said.

Wilkerson lives in Ardmore with her husband and their two-year-old daughter and enjoys spending time with them when not at work. She used to watch court shows and legal dramas but now chooses to keep it light, given what she sees at work.

“It can be sad working here, so I have to be sure to keep it separate from my personal life,” she said. “At first, a lot of cases would bother and sit with me. I think after doing it for so long, you have to learn to have a different perspective and be grateful for what I have.”

Wilkerson said there are happy endings as well. Seeing families reunited is a high point and she sometimes will sit in on an adoption because it is such a happy moment.

“We can’t do our work without her and when you look at the detail of her work, it is very impressive,” Morris said. “The transcripts that court reporters produce are extremely detailed and accurate.

“All of the court reporters we have had over the years have been great and I have been fortunate to have worked with them.”

Court reporters needed

Wilkerson has been a welcome addition to the profession of court reporter, but more are needed.

“I would like to say, a lot of stenographers are older, and they are retiring and leaving the field,” Wilkerson said. “We don’t have enough reporters coming in to fill their place. And I just feel like court reporting is not really out there. A lot of people don’t really know what it is exactly what we do.

“We are still necessary, we are a big part of the legal system.”

Those looking for a career change or have children looking for a profession are advised by Wilkerson to look into court reporting. There are job openings throughout the state, including in Ardmore and neighboring counties.

Wilkerson said it took her four years to finish school, but you get what you put into it. She pointed out one of her friends in Love County completed school in two years.

“If you have an interest in the legal field, in grammar and good listening skills,” she said. “If you are organized and don’t want to be out there in the mix doing it all but want to be part of it, this is like the perfect thing.

“And there is the stability. You can’t beat State of Oklahoma benefits and the holidays.”