Star Trek: 10 Starfleet Jobs You Won't Believe Exist
6. Court Reporter
The court reporter was almost exactly as it sounds. On board a starship, if a statement needed to be taken, the court reporter was ordered to attend. That means that, on a vessel filled with officers, a court reporter was seen as essential personnel, even if they often didn't get much of a mention. In fact, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is the only time they have been called out on-screen.
That said, though crime on a starship was a very infrequent occurrence, it made sense to have a department to deal with any issues that arose. When the bodies of Yeomen Burke and Sanno were found in a corridor on the Enterprise-A, Kirk devised a scheme to lure their assassin out into the open. The court reporter was publically summoned over the ship's intercom to attend sickbay so that they could take statements from the two men.
The ruse worked perfectly, with Valeris being outed as the men's killer. The only way that the ruse could have blown up in the captain's face was if the assassin turned out to be the court reporter. But in the words of Kirk himself, the risk is part of the game.