Professional Legal Transcription Services
Legal transcription is a specialist skill that should be handled by an experienced legal professional. During legal transcription, spoken words are recorded (usually digitally) and converted word for word into text or a legal transcript. Legal transcripts can be used as evidence or a record of events and referenced in court cases or legal proceedings.
Legal transcription is best undertaken by a transcriptionist with sufficient legal experience and training and requires an extremely high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
Here are some of the things you should look for when outsourcing your legal transcription.
Security.
Your chosen legal transcription company should take the security of your data very seriously. Depending on how you wish to send your files (online or via courier) your transcription service should have implemented all of the necessary precautions to make sure that your files are kept secure and confidential at all costs. This can be demonstrated by the use of file encryption, secure uploads and downloads and by ensuring that anyone who has access to your files, has signed a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement.
Specialist Knowledge and Experience.
The legal sector has many different areas of practice and therefore needs a secretary who has the correct knowledge and understanding of specific legal terminology. Your chosen transcription service should be able to provide you with a formally trained legal secretary who has a trained ear to all legal terminology.
Accuracy.
A professional transcription service should be able to provide you with a legal secretary with perfect accuracy. Every legal case requires records that are transcribed with accuracy and attention to detail (usually verbatim). Legal transcripts are important documents that may be referenced several times by lawyers or during court proceedings and therefore should be transcribed with the upmost precision.
Speed.
Working within the legal sector can be a very high pressured and fast moving environment. Deadlines are non-negotiable and must be adhered to. Not only should your legal transcriptionist be accurate, she should also be lightning fast and able to meet tight deadlines – with time to spare.
Cost.
Although it is always wise to shop around for a good price. Looking for the cheapest transcription services may be a false economy. In an industry as important as the legal sector, your number one priority should be accuracy, experience and professionalism. Many legal documents require a trained legal professional. Special skills such as verbatim or discourse analysis transcription may be required, along with a second or even third proofreading.
Deciding which transcription services are best for you can be a tough choice. With these tips you should be able to find the best legal transcription service for your needs.
