Legal transcription involves converting spoken dialogue into written documentation. It can be a flexible career choice, requiring excellent typing and computer skills, as well as a grasp of legal terminology. Transcriptionists use digital dictation recordings and may need to contact employers for clarification. Formatting the document into a legal report is also necessary.
Legal transcription is the act of transferring spoken dialogue into written documentation. A legal transcriptionist will listen to a lawyer’s dictation and write that dictation down in the form of detailed accurate legal documents word for word. A court clerk or court reporter is technically a type of legal transcriptionist as they transcribe the spoken word in real time, but is not generally referred to as such.
Legal transcription can be an excellent career choice for many people. While there are certificate programs offered, formal training beyond a high school diploma is typically not required. Many law firms ask that their transcriptionists have some experience in legal terminology, which can make legal transcription more accurate. Additionally, it is often possible for legal transcriptionists to set their own hours and work from home, as long as they consistently meet deadlines and provide high-quality, error-free work.
Anyone who wants to work in legal transcription is required to have excellent typing and computer skills, as well as a firm grasp of the English language and proper grammar. Transcriptionists are often freelance workers and need to be able to proofread and edit their own documents for correction. When a transcriptionist works for a transcription company, the company may have editors who can check documents for errors; it is still important, however, to be able to turn in reasonably correct and proofread work.
When working on legal transcription, a transcriptionist is typically provided with a digital dictation recording that can be listened to using a computer-based transcription program. Most transcriptionists invest in things like a footswitch to stop, start, or speed up and slow down the recording, as well as a headset to listen carefully to the recording. The transcriptionist will start listening to the recording and transcription; he or she will need to use context clues to decipher unclear words, or may need to contact the employer for clarification if the recording is too confusing.
After the legal transcription is completed, it will be necessary to format the document into a legal report as desired by the attorney. Most attorneys usually specify how reports should be formatted. Legal transcription is just one type of transcriptionist job; Medical transcription is also a very common job, but this often requires extra training due to the unfamiliar terminology that is consistently used by doctors in medical reports.
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