September 21, 2022

What Is Legal Transcription?

Transcription involves listening to an audio recording and putting the contents into writing. General transcription covers content from diverse fields. These include educational videos, marketing materials, news interviews, and technology seminars. The legal profession has a unique area of translation dedicated to the industry. What makes it special is the terminologies and the extreme demand for accuracy.

What Does Legal Transcription Mean?

Legal transcription turns audio or audiovisual material of spoken words into writing. It is useful for proceeding recordings or interviews. A skilled legal transcriber converts an audio recording into a referenceable document. Sources of these audios could be a trial, disposition, or other legal events. The transcriber delivers the resulting document to the relevant parties, such as attorneys. A legal translator saves the time needed to watch or listen to a recording.

Attorneys can cross-reference important statements from the provided documents. In a couple of moments, they get all the facts and draw links and relationships across events.

Who Needs a Legal Transcriptionist?

The consumers of materials related to the law need a legal transcriptionist. Anyone who makes use of court hearings, witness statements, interviews, and depositions requires a skilled transcriber to convert audio content into writing to simplify their work. These parties include attorneys, insurance companies, legal institutions, and court reporters. The volume of materials processed at a particular time needs professional help. That’s the massive role that transcription service providers play.

Importance of Training Legal Transcriptionists

Proper education and training are critical for anyone eyeing to work as a translator in the legal profession. Below are the reasons why:

  • Legal Terminology

Vocabularies in the legal profession can be challenging for anyone who lacks enough training. A person who intends to translate law-related materials will experience difficulties if they do not understand the different terms and vocabularies of the industry. It is advisable to have a trained team to produce accurate results for clients seeking transcription services. The best personnel include those who understand the context of legal proceedings. They will grasp every word they hear in a recording for accurate results.

  • Precision

Accuracy and precision in the legal field are critical. Errors in transcribing content can result in the erroneous interpretation of a case by an attorney. In the worst scenario, wrongful convictions may result when the transcriber makes errors that lead to the loss of crucial facts and information to support a case. Working as a legal translator requires extreme commitment to ensure that every detail goes on the record.

Every party in the legal profession is keen to work with trusted and reputable transcriptionists like GoTranscript. Its services are available online. It has trained personnel with years of experience in video and audio transcription on legal matters. No matter your role in the criminal justice system, you want the most qualified people to transcribe your documents. The rates start at $0.06 per word, and with no hidden charges, that’s very competitive.

  • Confidentiality

Many of the materials used in legal proceedings require high confidentiality. Attorneys and legal practitioners prefer finding transcribers who understand and agree to these terms. Well-trained staff in this career will be discreet with materials entrusted to them for transcription.

Why Human Transcriptionists Are Better Than Automated and Machine Learning Solutions

Machine or automated transcription providers use software to recognize audio contents. The tool converts recordings into text format with minimal human intervention. Despite the speedy execution, the results are less accurate. Trained transcribers use their cognitive power to produce more precise results. Indeed, their accuracy can reach up to 99% or higher. Unlike machines, human transcriptionists provide:

  • Foreign language transcriptions, where applicable
  • Speaker identification
  • Descriptive explanations beyond the typical text-to-speech conversion

Conclusion

Legal transcribers are in higher demand compared to those in general environments. The career can be challenging because of the complex terminologies encountered. Precision and high accuracy are also necessary for this field. The skills provide reliable and helpful text to clients. With proper training and education, human transcription surpasses machines in accuracy.

Legal clients will look for well-trained transcribers who maintain confidentiality. Some materials must stay private when the case is ongoing. If you are looking for a transcriber, select someone who can assure privacy and timely, accurate, and reliable results.

About the author 

Elle Gellrich


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