An Associate in Applied Science in Paralegal degree program will be established by Seminole State College to prepare students for employment as skilled legal assistants by providing practical training in legal research, writing, and procedures.
The program is designed to address a growing demand for qualified legal support professionals in rural and urban areas of the region.
The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved SSC’s request on Oct. 23.
By offering affordable, accessible education and hands-on training in areas such as legal research, litigation procedures, ethics, and document preparation, the SSC program will equip students with skills needed to work in law firms, courts, government agencies, and corporate legal departments, university officials said.
In addition to meeting workforce needs, the program will help increase access to justice by supporting the legal infrastructure with competent, well-trained paralegals. The program will be tailored to meet the needs of local employers such as smalltown law firms, tribal courts, and municipal agencies that often struggle to find qualified legal support staff.
Approximately 3,060 paralegals and legal assistants were employed in Oklahoma in 2023. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment growth by 2033, with approximately 37,300 job openings expected nationally each year due to worker replacement needs. This steady demand supports the continued relevance and value of college paralegal programs in preparing students for entry into the legal field.
Paralegals remain integral to the legal profession, with consistent demand driven by turnover and cost-efficiency pressures in law firms and corporations. The state expects approximately 320 openings per year, driven by both new job creation and replacement of retiring workers.
Major metro areas in Oklahoma offer the bulk of opportunities. The Oklahoma City metro area employs approximately 1,240 paralegals and the Tulsa metro area employs approximately 1,010 paralegals. Rural regions like southeast Oklahoma are smaller but still show consistent demand.
The national median annual wage for paralegals and legal assistants is $61,010 with the highest 10% earning more than $98,990. The paralegal profession is among Oklahoma’s top 100 critical occupations, and the expected 6.5% statewide growth indicates a stronger regional demand.
The Associate in Applied Science in Paralegal program will consist of 60 total credit hours, and existing faculty and two new adjunct faculty members will teach the courses.
Court reporters in short supply A related area in which critical shortages exist is court reporters.
Modern court reporting has been around since development of the stenotype machine in 1877, the first technology to allow real-time phonetic transcription. The ability to quickly convert speech to text in real time became an invaluable skill for preserving legal records, and set the stage for a fast-evolving legal field.
By the 1980s and ’90s, computers had made real-time captioning possible for courtroom participants who were deaf or hard of hearing. The number of people entering the court reporting profession peaked around that time.
Today, there is a nationwide court reporter shortage because fewer people are entering the profession than leaving it. “There’s a huge shortage” of court reporters, Grady County District Judge Kory Kirkland confirmed on Friday.
According to the Speech to Text Institute, only one in 10 court reporting students graduate, contributing to an annual net loss of at least 900 court reporters. Each year, 1,120 stenographers retire but only 200 new stenographers enter the profession.
National Court Reporters Association said the average court reporter is 55 years old. There simply aren’t enough newly trained young reporters to replace those nearing retirement. The number of people employed as court recorders has shrunk by more than two-thirds since its peak in the ’90s.
The reasons why aren’t clear, though many point to the rigorous requirements for the profession. For instance, most court reporters must be able to type at speeds of at least 200 words per minute with 97.5% accuracy. In addition, the average court reporter’s salary may not be high enough to offset the demands, although the median pay of $63,940 is higher than many other jobs.
One reason for the shortage of court reporters is because “it’s not a university program and it’s not a vo-tech type of program, so the students aren’t eligible for financial aid,” Judge Kirkland said.
“Although no degree or certificate programs in court reporting are offered by our state system colleges and universities, Oklahoma State University-OKC offers three micro-credentials in court reporting,” said Angela Caddell, spokesperson for the State Regents for Higher Education.
Those courses are Court Reporting Theory, Court Reporting Academics, and Court Reporting Speed Building Preparation.
Micro-credentials are “short-term, alternative learning pathways directly aligned with high-demand skillsets, competencies, and knowledge that can be readily transferred to fill critical workforce needs” Caddell said.
“Lots of cases” in southwest Oklahoma “have been continued over the years because a court reporter wasn’t available.” Consequently, he said, “We have to be creative to survive.”
Kirkland said former Judge John Herndon told him, “When you get a good court reporter, hang on to them because they’re worth more than gold.”
“It’s incredibly hard to find” a court reporter today, Kirkland said. “This is the first time in years that we are fully staffed. Back when I was a practicing attorney, every judge had their own court reporter. We have since given up on that concept.”
Caddo County Associate District Judge Wyatt Hill and Special Judge David A. Stephens share a court reporter, and Associate District Judge Z. Joseph Young and Special Judge Regina Lowe in Grady County share a court reporter.
Kirkland, the district judge for both counties, has a court reporter “who travels with me between the two counties.” She also helps out in other counties when it’s necessary and she’s available; this week, for example, she said she will be in Cotton County for two days and Comanche County for three days.
Court bailiffs are lending a hand, too, performing chores such as answering court telephones and/or “taking care of the court calendars,” the judge said.
Recording of court proceedings is permissible.
Since June 2021 the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, for one, has “utilized ZoomGov for all OCC-related hearings and Commission meetings,” said Trey Davis, the agency’s chief public information officer. “In 2022, we adapted from utilizing digital handheld recorders to only using ZoomGov audio recordings of hearings and Commission meetings.”
An official transcript of a hearing may be requested and provided by an OCC court reporter using the audio recording of the case/ hearing, Davis said. “Under our augmented use of court reporters, a party may request the presence of a court reporter for a hearing in addition to the audio recording of the matter.”
Some court reporters are not fond of recordings, however, because the quality of the recordings can be sketchy.
Regardless of the issues, “We find a way to make justice happen,” Kirkland said.