What is Legal Transcription?

Legal Transcription is the act of transcribing any type of legal proceeding from the spoken word to a document format or a printed format. In general, during courtroom proceedings, legal transcription is performed by licensed court reporters known as stenographers. These court reporters utilize a special device called a stenotype as well as a computer to capture real time, legal transcription of the proceedings. The stenotype allows the court reporter to type the proceedings as they happen in shorthand. The computer then converts the short hand to English in a document format.

Today however, the industry of legal transcription is growing rapidly. Legal transcription now includes, but is not limited to, the transcription of depositions, testimonies, official court hearings, interrogations, client letters, legal briefs as well as general legal correspondence. The source material for legal transcription ranges from audio tapes to digital recordings to video. Many legal professionals also still rely on direct dictation to a transcriber for various documents.

Legal transcription works like any other type of professional transcription service. The transcriber first reviews the source audio or video material. The transcriber carefully listens to the source material and copies it verbatim to a written format. Each transcription is accurate to the task. If the source material is an interrogation or a court proceeding, the nuances of speech patterns and grammatical inconsistencies of conversational speech will remain. However, if the end product is a legal document, brief or letter, all attention will be paid to grammar, correct legal wording and phrasing as well as professional documentation.

After the legal transcription is finished, it may then be reviewed and proofread by one or more persons to ensure accuracy and/or grammatical integrity of the legal transcription. Once the transcription is proofread, it is returned to the client in the desired format. If requested, the legal transcription can be delivered in multiple digital formats as well as printed documents. The transcript is also archived within the transcription agency securely and indefinitely for the benefit of the client.

Normally, a legal file is completely transcribed within twenty-four to forty-eight hours. However, there may be certain larger projects or bulk files that are more time intensive and may require more resources. In a cases like these, a one to two week turn around period is not uncommon. It is a general rule of thumb in legal transcription that turn around time is dependent upon the size of the project.

The benefits of legal transcription include saving time while trimming overhead costs, improving work flow and shortening turn-around times. Customization is a benefit as well. Companies can create a certain look and feel to their transcripts. Legal transcription also assists with work productivity. By eliminating the necessity for administrative departments to carryout transcriptions those departments can concentrate on more crucial, day to day, administrative tasks.

Legal transcription is performed by professionals with a strong command of the English language as well as a strong sense of ethics and confidentiality. Many legal transcribers have a background in law that gives them a strong understanding of the source material.


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