A court without stenographers is a court with a doubtful archive

In a recent move that many have considered devastating and problematic, Alberta Justice has decided to do away with stenographers as an effort to cut costs. The plan would be to only use audio recordings for hearings, which would see an end to traditional methods. The Ministry of Justice has undertaken this step for criminal trials in the Court of King’s Bench in the 2026–27 fiscal year, citing time and cost efficiency as justifications. However, many involved parties have shared skepticism. Intertwined with the modern justice system, stenography is a crucial process for courts. The plan, though, to do away with this process might have unsolicited repercussions.

While the term stenography is relatively recent, the practice of shorthand writing — its more generic form — has existed for centuries around the world. Shorthand writing refers to a condensed style marked by abbreviated words, phonetic strokes, and simpler letter omission designed to enhance speed and precision in live writing. A stenographer, however, is not any shorthand writer with impeccable skill in phonetics or an extraordinarily deciphering ear. The stenographer, whose training can last from two to four years, learns about a wide range of related topics from legal and forensic to technical fields, which produces a spot-on transcript. 

While doing their job, they also go back and forth between the arguments and evidence that produce rounded documents. They work in real-time with knowledge gained over years of experience in the court. To think that audio recordings alone can replace stenographers is not just an affront to human reason but also a miscalculated step that might cost the justice system a dear price. 

Stenographers are not just recorders or transcribers, as the argument for replacing them would make you think. They have a much more important task of assisting the judicial process in real time. Shawn King, the president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association of Alberta (CTLA), has highlighted the hindrance that the absence of stenographers can cause to judicial process.

Machine recordings and transcriptions are often delayed and require a lot of time to produce readable documents. A stenographer is of vital help in high-stakes cases requiring urgent cross-examination based on testimony. Stenographers have the skill to reproduce arguments immediately for judges and lawyers. There may be cases that cause commotion in the courtroom, where the noise needs to be filtered and the relevant dialogue recorded. Technology does not possess the awareness and sensitivity required for selective recording, as for right now. The stenographer, with their old-school active listening skills, alone can do this task.  

Human discernment, skill, and technology have existed side-by-side as collaborators up until now. Dazzled by the capacities of artificial intelligence (AI), we have clearly forgotten the schoolbook definition of machines as helpers-of-humans, and have started to see them as replacements. Courtrooms, hospitals, and schools are not the place for this involvement of technology, as the stake at hand is human dignity, integrity, and above all, life itself. Courts should employ stenographers and equip them with technology that will help them enhance their performance. Noise-cancelling listening gear and live transliterating would greatly help stenographers. But, above all, stenographers need a sense of security that AI will not rob them of their jobs. At the same time, though, this does not mean that one should disqualify audio recordings altogether. Using these recordings to supplement, clarify, and understand case-related aspects, especially those that appear flattened under the stenographer’s voice, can be incredibly useful.

Court transcripts are much more than recorded words — they are official documents with the gravity enough to direct the course of justice. It is, therefore, important that the human reason and the machine’s precision are equally involved in producing better, realistic, and accurate pictures of what can potentially seal people’s fates.