Transcription services offer many benefits to many different industries. The legal industry is just one of the main industries which rely on the use of transcription services. These services are used to take audio files of hearings and witness testimonials and transcribe them into text. These can then be referred back to and used to build and document cases within the legal industry.
This article will discuss the main reasons why legal transcription is important, as well as highlight the main uses that the legal industry has for transcription services.
What Are The Main Uses of Legal Transcription Services?
One of the main uses of legal transcription services is to allow for accurate documentation of various types of legal cases. There are many different aspects of cases that are recorded either by audio or by video, these files are then sent off to transcription companies where a trained professional, who has some sort of knowledge of the legal industry itself will transcribe the audio into written text.
For example witness testimonies are transcribed and are often referred back to in court where the jury can have these documents to hand. This allows for everyone in the jury to have the same understanding, and avoids any risk of misunderstanding. These transcribed documents are often presented alongside the original audio or video file.
As well as witness testimonies, the legal industry records official court hearings, interrogations, legal briefs, and general legal correspondence. These are also sent off to professional legal transcribers.
What Are The Main Benefits Of Legal Transcription?
Having transcribed documents of important recordings also allows a similar way of taking notes and highlighting important factors. This makes it easier to build an understanding of what is being said, as well as keep track of the most important elements. It is also much easier with a text document to find certain parts of it. This is due to the fact it is there in front of you, and you do not have to rewind back to relisten.
This is something that highly benefits lawyers. This is due to the fact that they often have many clients at one time, and are always looking to take on more. By having these transcribed documents to hand means that they can look over them whenever necessary as well as keep organised.
Another benefit of having these documents transcribed is the fact you do not need any extra equipment to be able to access them. In most cases you do not need a device to view them on as they are available to you as a hard copy. You also do not need the likes of headphones or a quiet environment in order to listen carefully to what is being said, as it is in front of you to read.
Read : Legal Translation Quality Can Make or Break Legal Cases
What Is the Difference Between Legal Transcription and Court Reporters?
Legal transcription services and court reporters both do very similar jobs, both capture the words being said in court hearings, and both offer this with a high level of accuracy. Both of these have training within the legal industry.
One of the differences between the two is that a court reporter is present in the court hearing itself whereas a transcriptionist is sent the recording after the hearing has taken place. Whereas legal transcriptionists can work in either an office, or if a freelancer, at home. They rely on audio or video files in order to complete their work, as opposed to actually being there at the time. Even though this is a less formal process, it is still just as important, and still provides highly accurate results.
To Summarise
Overall the legal industry has many uses for using transcription services. Due to legal transcriptionists having knowledge of the industry allows for an accurate outcome that holds many benefits.
These benefits include the fact that written text is easier to refer back to certain aspects and take quotes from as opposed to an audio or video file. It also limits the risk of misunderstanding what is being said, as well as helping make sure that everyone within the legal case perceives what is being said in the same way.
