The Oregon Court Reporters Association Pro Bono Program provides court reporting services for indigent clients represented by the Oregon State Bar, Legal Aid Services of Oregon, Victim Rights Law Center, or private attorneys volunteering through approved state pro bono programs. We do not provide services to individuals in pro se litigation.

Pro Bono Guidelines

All requests for a court reporter’s services are to be directed to the coordinator of the Pro Bono Program through OCRA.  The coordinator will contact court reporters who have offered their services through the pro bono program.  The coordinator will notify the attorney with the name and contact information for the reporter who accepted the job. Flexibility in scheduling the date and time of the pro bono job is expected.

Our pro bono services consist of two hours of reporting time and 50 pages of transcript, after which the court reporter’s rates will apply.  Rough drafts and realtime are not part of our pro bono services. We do not provide transcription services (producing a transcript by listening to recorded audio.)

We request appropriate notice of the need for service.  Such notice shall be given at least two weeks prior unless a prior agreement has been made by the court reporter and attorney. At the time of scheduling the pro bono job, the attorney will provide the pro bono coordinator with an approximation for the length of the job, case information, appearances, and any requested transcript delivery date.

Should the indigent status of the parties change, the pro bono coordinator will be advised of the change. The attorney may then choose to reschedule the job through his/her regular court reporting service or expect to be billed at the court reporter's regular rates for the job.

If a court reporter is not needed or there is a cancellation, the pro bono coordinator shall be notified at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled time. If not, the scheduling attorney will be responsible for the court reporter’s appearance fee and travel costs.

The pro bono transcript will be delivered in a timely manner. However, the court reporter may need to give priority to other transcripts reported by him/her. For this reason, the delivery time for pro bono transcripts may be as long as four weeks. If an expedited transcript is agreed to by the pro bono reporter, the attorney will pay the difference between the regular rate and the rush rate. The transcript will be delivered on a C.O.D basis. If opposing counsel orders a copy of a transcript and is not representing an indigent client, regular rates will apply.