The court system loves to cry poor. Budget shortfalls. Staffing cuts. Rising costs.
Meanwhile, it’s sitting on an untapped revenue stream so obvious it hurts: depositions.
The Deposition Industry Is a License to Print Money
Every appellate litigator knows the drill. You schedule a deposition. You get billed hundreds of dollars — per hour — for a stenographer to sit in a Zoom room and type what everyone just heard. Want a transcript? That’s extra. Want it expedited? Mortgage your house.
Nationwide, millions of depositions are taken every year. Multiply that by the $300+ hourly rate most reporting services charge, and you’re looking at an industry that makes billions siphoning money from litigants — all for a function that technology can now deliver in real time for pennies on the dollar.
The Courts Could Own This — And Fund Themselves
Here’s the grenade:
If courts ran their own secure, Zoom-like deposition portal with integrated automated transcription (plus human post-editing for the record), they could charge a fraction of the market rate — say, $30/hour or $30 per deposition — and still generate staggering revenue.
Let’s do the math:
- 500 depositions per week in a medium-sized jurisdiction = 26,000 per year
- At $30 each = $780,000/year in new revenue for one courthouse system
- Scale to a state like Maryland, with multiple jurisdictions = millions annually
- Scale nationally? You’re talking hundreds of millions — without raising taxes
That’s before you even factor in the ancillary benefits: faster transcripts, searchable text, real-time indexing, cloud storage, and seamless appellate integration.
The Technology Is Ready — The Only Thing Missing Is Will
Federal agencies, administrative hearings, and even private arbitrations already use high-quality digital recording and automated transcription. Accuracy, when paired with light human editing, matches or beats stenographers. The tech is scalable, secure, and cheap.
So why aren’t courts doing it? Tradition. Protectionism. And a baffling loyalty to the stenographic status quo — even when it means forfeiting revenue and continuing to overcharge litigants.
Imagine the Possibilities
Court systems claim they need more funding for modernization, staffing, and access to justice initiatives.
Imagine if that funding didn’t come from taxpayers — but from a steady, predictable, tech-powered revenue stream that actually lowered costs for the people using the system.
Instead, courts cling to human court reporters like a comfort blanket, handing billions to private services while pretending there’s no alternative.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t just about replacing stenographers. It’s about recognizing that the courthouse is sitting on a self-sustaining business model that could revolutionize access to justice, reduce litigation costs, and fund itself — without asking taxpayers for a dime.
We’ve replaced cab drivers, call centers, and factory floors with tech. It’s time for the courts to do the same — and profit from it.
Until then, the gold mine sits untapped. And the meter keeps running.
