The National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) today bestowed its highest honor, the 2026 Distinguished Service Award (DSA), on Michael Miller, FAPR, RDR, CRR, a freelance court reporter and agency owner from Houston, Texas. Miller was honored at a special awards ceremony at the 2026 NCRA Conference & Expo held July 16-18 in Bellevue, Wash. He is the 66th NCRA member to earn the award.
The NCRA DSA recognizes the distinguished work and service by an individual member for the benefit of the court reporting and captioning professions, including service to NCRA as a member, a committee member, a director, or an officer of the Association. Other displays of distinguished work include contributing to the JCR, the official membership magazine, service to a state or local court reporting association, or service in the field of public relations or public affairs. Award winners are nominated by their peers and are recognized each year at the NCRA Conference & Expo.
Miller is a graduate of the Stenograph Institute of Texas and studied engineering management at the University of Texas in Austin. In addition to Texas, Miller is certified to work in the states of California, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Washington. He also holds a Top Secret Clearence from the U.S. Department of Defense due to his work as technical lead to manage a team of court reporters working onsite at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba during the trials of the 9/11 plotters, as well as other cases.
At the national level, Miller is a past NCRA Director and has served on or chaired a number of the Association’s committees, including the Nominating and Technology Committees as well as the Certified Legal Video Specialist Council and the Realtime Task Force. He is also a past chair of the Realtime Systems Administrator Certificate Committee and is credited as a co-creator and lead presenter on the NCRA Realtime Administrator program. He is also credited as a co-creator of the National Court Reporters Foundation (NCRF) Career Launcher program, an online video-based training system for newly certified court reporters.
Miller also developed the Depoman.com website that ran from 1995 through 2015, which served as a premier technology help site for court reporters. He also created the ever-popular two-hour seminar Tough Love, which covered the best practices and procedures for court reporters, followed by Tough Love Part 2, a 90-minute seminar that discussed the shortage of court reporters and how to help alleviate the issue by changing the mindset of the workforce.
In his 30-plus years of court reporting, Miller has reported extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia on all manner of pharmaceutical and intellectual property matters, including arbitrations.
At the state level, Miller was instrumental in helping launch the Texas Deposition Court Reporters Association. He also holds membership in the California Deposition Reporters Association and the Houston Court Reporters Association.
“I have been an active reporter for more than 56 years, and working with and watching Mike in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was awe-inspiring,” said NCRA member Rick Greenspan, FAPR, from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in his letter of nomination on behalf of Miller.
“With all of his expertise, he is a total team player. There are no airs put on. He uses his knowledge for benefit, no other reason. What I recited in the national level contribution section of the nomination requirements, plus in the letters of recommendation, are but a few ways that Mike Miller is truly worthy of this distinction,” he added.
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