Transcripts Play a Crucial Role in the Legal Industry Even in This Digital Age

Transcription continues to play a crucial role in the legal industry. This is because lawyers need written transcripts while attending courtroom hearings, sessions, depositions, and testimonial discussions. Legal professionals, enforcement officers, attorneys, government officials etc rely on legal transcription services for accurate transcripts of reports, interviews, investigations, pleadings, memorandums and so on in any format for future use. 

Earlier, law firms used to store their important files as hard copies but with advancement in technology they switched to digital storage of data due to space constraints and lack of data security. Once the important documents are digitized, the digital files are moved to cloud storage that enables easy and quick retrieval of case files. Cloud storage allows instant access to large volumes of data which has resulted in high levels of collaboration within the law enforcement agencies.

The court or deposition recording can be from multiple channels or tracks and these recordings need to be copied to physical media like DVD, USB, hard disk etc. It is also common for recordings to be uploaded to the cloud for long-term storage, and to distribute it to transcribers or others who need access to the documents.

When a deposition is recorded, the court reporter chooses some transcribers for transcribing the recordings. With cloud storage system, the transcribers can download the recording and the reporter’s log notes from the cloud for transcription. 

Legal transcriptionists use various transcription applications based on the type of media they have been provided. All professional legal transcription applications allow users to play the recording, listen to the audio via headphones or watch the proceedings on the screen and transcribe. Transcription applications enable the transcribers to focus on specific speakers, control the volumes for each channel separately and use various features specially designed for transcribing recordings with multiple speakers. The transcribers are also equipped with fully functional foot pedal and quality headphones to transcribe the recordings into standard legal formats like Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or stenographic software such as Case CATalyst or Eclipse.

The court reporter can assign one more professionals for transcribing the recording. Earlier, transcripts were produced with little or no formal training or certification. However, today with organizations like the American Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers, organizations can transcribe and provide best practices guidance and certification opportunities for the digital court reporting industry. Reputable transcription and court reporting firms will contract only with qualified individuals who are either certified or preparing for certifications. Once the transcripts are ready, they are reviewed by a proof-reader who will carefully listen to each and every audio and video recording. 

The National Court Reporters Association requires test transcripts at 95 percent accuracy for a stenographer to get foundational certification of Registered Professional Reporter (RPR). The AAERT (American Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers) cut off is 98 percent accuracy for transcribers to achieve their foundational certification of Certified Electronic (digital) Transcriber (CET®). Transcriptionists with this certification will provide accurate and timely transcripts.

It takes about three hours for an experienced transcriptionist to convert an hour-long audio or video content to text format. Transcripts such as trial transcripts that are made from longer recordings, or transcripts that have to be delivered within very short turnaround time can be assigned to multiple transcriptionists. Professional firms have qualified transcribers. They use advanced web-based tools and with collaborative tools transcribers, proofreaders and digital reporters can share spellings, chat about nuances in the proceedings, share research about the content and support each other to complete error-free and timely transcripts. This helps many transcription firms to meet their clients’daily turnaround needs for transcripts of any size and even ensure hourly turnaround if required.

Law firms have large volumes of data that needs to be entered manually. With transcriptionists from a reliable legal transcription company, all legal data can be converted into digital format. Paralegals and court reporters can lighten their workload with a dedicated transcription service provider. Recording and transcribing legal proceedings and saving those files in digital format enables faster analysis and helps streamline the decision-making process. By transcribing legal proceedings to digital files, law firms, court professionals, and attorneys can improve efficiency and valuable time, which they can use for more productive purposes. 

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