Legal Transcription
The definition of transcription is quite multifaceted, and can mean and refer to a variety of things. First, genetic transcription refers to the process of reproducing DNA to RNA through the RNA polymerize enzyme. Second, transcription can be musical in nature, essentially involving the process of rewriting or recopying a musical piece or number. Finally, transcription in the linguistic sense refers to the process of converting or transferring spoken language into written language, or written language into another written medium.
Transcription in the linguistic sense refers to the process of converting or transferring spoken language into written language, or written language into another written medium. More specifically, linguistic transcription could refer to the conversion of audio files or written shorthand into the full written form, or matching sounds in speech with special written symbols in order to fully transcribe at a later time. The most common types of linguistic transcription include corporate, medical, and legal transcription.
Corporate transcription, also known as business transcription, involves a service provider (such as a company, contractor, or freelancer) providing business-related transcription services to a business, saving the company both time and money. Likely the most popular and well-known type of transcription is medical transcription. Medical transcriptionists are medical professionals and writers who are trained and intimately familiar with medical terminology. The types of documents needing to be transcribed range from medical reports to written summaries of medical theories.
Legal transcription, as you can safely assume, involves transcription in the legal domain. Legal transcription services and freelance transcriptionists, often hired by lawyers, attorneys, law companies, and law firms, work with legal matters and documents such as record depositions, court hearings, official legal conversations, and tapes.
Legal transcription is growing into a booming business both for large and smaller service providers and home-based freelancers alike. It has proliferated all over the world in many countries and has spread like wildfire across the Internet, with respect to companies and freelancers offering their legal transcription services or searching new recruits for transcribing, law firms and lawyers looking for legal transcription service providers, and newly trained legal transcriptionists looking for a job.
Legal transcription essentially involves the preparation of legal documents from a shorthand or symbolized format or a digital audio file into a readable, official, and professionally finished piece of work. However, there can be other aspects involved with legal transcription and legal transcription services, as well, depending on the service provider; examples include drafting and filling legal documents, keeping track of and documenting legal proceedings, and even law-related research.
Many legal transcription service providers essentially do the work of a full-time legal assistant, but on a casual or freelance basis. Some of these “duties,” in addition to basic transcription, include client information organization, filing, billing, research assistance, and other related duties.
The process of legal transcription is fairly straightforward. The most common type of legal transcription work involves transcribing audio files (of almost any type of legal proceeding) that are sent to transcriptionists (either companies or individuals) in a digital format by attorneys or law firms.
First, going from the client’s point of view, the client seeks out the services of a legal transcription provider. If satisfied with a former provider’s work, the client will likely stick with that provider rather than take the time to seek out another. If legal transcription services have not been used before, the client will likely ask for a legal colleague’s recommendation or referral, or seek one out on their own.
This process can be done either right before a major legal proceeding that will need to be transcribed, immediately after an audio-recorded or dictated legal proceeding, or at any time when a client is looking for legal transcription services in general.
When a suitable candidate is found, the client (again, the attorney or law firm) hires the service provider and sends them their first (or only) assignment. Generally, audio files recorded in a digital format are sent via e-mail from the client to the service provider. The transcriptionist will download the files, play them, and basically type them out as they listen to the files.
When finished, the transcriptionist will e-mail, mail, or fax (or all three) the completed written documents in text format back to the client. Upon approval and acceptance, payment is arranged.
If you are employed in the legal sector in any way, shape, or form, you may require the benefits that legal transcription services offer.
As an attorney—particularly if you are young and fairly inexperienced—you will likely require some help converting your audio files into written files, converting written symbols or shorthand into fully written documents, preparing your court trials, organizing all your clients’ important information, documenting facts related to each case, and more. A great alternative to hiring a full-time legal assistant to help you with all these important tasks is to hire a freelance legal transcriptionist or enlist the help of a corporate legal transcription services company.
Because some legal transcription services offer other services in addition to just specifically transcribing audio files into written files, you may require the services of a legal transcription service provider—whether a full-fledged company or a freelancer—for other reasons. For example, some providers offer law-related research as part of their services. If you’re a law student, you could really benefit from this. In fact, many law students are seeking the services of legal transcription companies and freelancers in order to get help with respect to law research for their papers.
If you’ve decided that you need legal transcription services, you’re going to have to figure out where to find the individuals and companies that provides these services, and then decide which service provider to choose.
In your search for legal transcription services, you will come across a number of different companies as well as individuals that offer legal transcription services. How will you know which one is the right one for you?
While there’s no way to know for sure (the trial-and-error rule does apply to a certain extent), there are a few certain things you can look for to help you pick someone who will do the job, do it well, do it quickly, and all for a reasonable price.
First, and foremost, use the power of recommendations and referrals. If other attorneys or law firms have used the services of a particular legal transcriptionist or transcription company and have been satisfied, go with that. You could also post a notice using both online and offline advertising methods and screen the candidates accordingly.
The key is to choose an individual or a company with whom you feel comfortable, and that is trusted and reliable. Always ask for samples and several references. Make sure they have appropriate qualifications, such as the right education, skills, and experience with respect to legal transcription. And always go with your gut.
If you think that you might be able to benefit someone else in the legal field, such as an attorney or an entire law firm, by providing legal transcription services, you may be in luck. As the legal transcription business is only just now scratching the service as a business with huge potential, you can jump in and get a piece of the legal transcription pie for yourself. As an added bonus, if you play your cards right, you will have no shortage of work, and the monetary compensation is more than reasonable.
However, you can’t just jump in blindly. No one will hire you or offer you work if you don’t know anything about legal transcription. You will—at the very least—need to be speedy and accurate typist as well as be fairly familiar with legal terminology. If you don’t have these skills, take some time to brush up on your typing speed and learn some basic legal terms.
Keep in mind that even with these skills, you still might not find work as a legal transcriptionist. This is because nowadays it is becoming a more competitive field, and clients and companies alike are looking for service providers who are “certified,” in that they have completed an accepted legal transcription course. It’s more than worth your while as a potential legal transcriptionist to take some time to scope out some available courses, and then pay the fee and take the time to complete one.
You may come across local courses offered through a community college or community center, but you will find greater selection if you search online for a legal transcription course.
Now that you are trained and have worked on your skills, you will want to look for work. You have a number of different options here as far as legal transcription job, employment, career, and business opportunities are concerned.
One option is to seek an actual job as a legal transcriptionist. This means that a legal transcription services company would hire you to either work at their main office (if there is one in your local area), or to work from home strictly for them during normal business hours, or on a casual basis, which is more common.
If you would like to work in an office, find out if there are any legal transcription service providers in your area, and if they are hiring employees. In most cases, legal transcription companies prefer to hire transcriptionists who want to or have the means to work at home, and if you worked in an office you would probably more likely fall under the category of “legal assistant.”
If you would like to work from home but avoid becoming self-employed, find legal transcription companies either in your area or online that are hiring workers to transcribe for them from home. Searching online is a great way to start, as you’ll find a plethora of job recruitment sites as well as legal transcription sites where you can search for jobs and projects, contact hiring companies, and post your resume.
If the thought of working for yourself or from home as a freelancer sounds appealing, consider skipping finding a “job” as a legal transcriptionist (or consider leaving your current legal transcription job) in order to freelance as a legal transcriptionist.
There are many individuals (such as lawyers and attorneys) as well as companies (like law firms) that need the services you can now offer, and if you think you could do well looking for your own work and setting your own schedule, hours, type of service, and fees, then freelancing as a legal transcriptionist could be very enjoyable and profitable for you. You would be working directly with clients rather than with a legal transcription services company.
Of course, quitting your job and hoping for clients to just fall into your lap is purely wishful thinking. You’ll need to get proactive and learn to sell yourself as well as your specific legal transcription services.
Start by building your resume and tailoring it to your legal transcription-related skills, training, and experience. Join several job recruiting sites where you can post your resume. Find sites that are geared specifically toward transcription work and register with them. Seek out actual legal transcription services companies and query them directly with a proposal to work for them on a contract or freelance basis. There are many things you can do to find work as a freelance legal transcriptionist.
Once you have several years of experience as a provider of legal transcription, whether you have been hired by a legal transcription service provider or company, or have decided to freelance your services to lawyers and law firms—or both—you could start to expand into the business market and start your own full-fledged business as a company offering legal transcription services.
However, keep in mind that getting appropriately trained and having experience as a legal transcriptionist as an employee or a freelancer is not enough to launch your own legal transcription services business. It takes a lot of time and hard work, not to mention specific skills like business know-how and development, administration and bookkeeping, and marketing and advertising (in order to get both clients as well as employees), among others.
If the thought of starting your very own legal transcription services business sounds exciting and appealing yet challenging and overwhelming, take all the time you need to learn what exactly is all involved with this process of starting a business, particularly as it relates to legal transcription. You might even want to take a class or course—either locally or online—about starting your own business or company.