Stenographers take down Hermann Goering's testimony during the Nuremburg war crimes trials Wednesday 27 April 2011
Is stenography a dying art?
Stenographers take down Hermann Goering's testimony during the Nuremburg war crimes trials Court stenographers are being phased out in England and Wales with the last contract - at the Old Bailey - set to expire in March 2012. But what is a stenographer and are they no longer needed?
The "speed of speech" is often defined as 180 words per minute (wpm).
Anyone who has ever tried to take a note in longhand at that speed will tell you it is impossible.
Many journalists who learn shorthand struggle to hit 100 wpm.
So the only way to keep up is through a stenographer - a skilled professional using a stenotype machine.
The machine has a minimal keyboard, which omits key letters like i, m or n, and by hitting a combination of keys - known as chords - they can produce the missing letters or phonetic sounds like "th" or "sh".
"Stenographers vary greatly. The difference between the best and the rest is like a concert pianist and a pub pianist," says Mary Sorene, a stenographer who started work at the Old Bailey in 1971.
To increase their speed, stenographers learn hundreds of shortforms and memorise chords in certain orders so their hands can move swiftly from left to right.
"I have memorised lots of shortforms, for example MORJ, is My Lord and the jury," explains Sally Lines, a court stenographer at the Old Bailey.
HOW DOES IT WORK? 
The keyboard includes only a small number of lettersOthers letters are represented by combinations - known as chords, eg EU equals IThe asterisk, combined with other letters, can also create wordsExperienced court stenographers build up a "dictionary" of shortforms for long words or common legal phrasesSteno machines do not have the actual letters on them because so many chords are used it would be confusing
But the Ministry of Justice has decided to dispense with court stenographers and replace them with a Digital Audio Recording and Transcription and Storage (Darts) service. It believes the new system will be cheaper and deliver good results.
But stenographers don't believe it's a wise decision.
"The strength of stenography is that if you are listening to something on a tape it's hard to distinguish tiny nuances. Sometimes you need to almost lip-read. Sometimes there is patois or slang or you need to know the context of the case," Ms Lines says.
Some judges are believed to be unhappy with the changes too but so far none have put their heads above the parapet.
Texas-based stenographer Mark Kislingbury holds the world record for note taking at speed - a jaw-dropping 360 wpm.
He says: "In important cases - anything higher than a traffic court - we really need a human there.
"At this time of budget crunches the governments are being pursued by the audio companies who have got very good salesmen and they say it's going to save a lot of money but what they don't tell you is a history of numerous failures o
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