Legal transcription is about converting of various legal documents from dictation/ audio recordings into typewritten formats. Legal transcription technology has been evolving and legal transcription is increasingly being outsourced though not as much as medical transcription. The court reporting process starts with the court reporters who take quick notes and send their shorthand notes of court proceedings/conversations to legal scopists. Scopists or scoping specialists are trained in court reporting schools and have the expertise in transcription / proof reading and editing of all types of court reports and legal documents. Court reporters are also trained to assist lawyers and judges.
Legal dictations may also be recorded and sent to the legal transcription professionals who may be located either within the same city or even out of the country. There are many dictation programs that enable recording of voice with automated typing. Dictation can be done by the law firm lawyer using either one of the different methods;
Using a dictation device Dictation on to a computer or laptop PDA dictation and recording Dictation by telephone Dictation over the Internet Court recordings & meetings
Today with court reporting software reporting has become a more efficient process. Here are some of the features in a good court reporting software;
Simultaneous recording possibility (up to 32 channels) Digital audio recording with high quality signal processing. Transmission using FTP /email or computer network. Automatic file size management/ breaking Overlapped file breaks at preset intervals. Must be user friendly Possible time stamping of bookmarks with notes/ recording Audio listening possibility in real time Recording in formats like to wav, mp3, etc Sorting of recordings by name /date /size and search using keywords. Automatic error notification. Various types of password security. Free minor upgrades
Besides legal transcription that requires supervision by professional lawyers, there are other legal services like legal research, litigation support, legal coding, document review/e-discovery that require actual lawyers to do the job. Such legal services are also now being outsourced to countries like India, primarily to reduce the cost of litigation.
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