Interview Transcription Services Vary, and One of Them Deals with Legal Transcriptions
Starting your own career as a transcriptionist might actually be a worthwhile business.
Transcription service is unexpectedly needed in a lot of fields of work.
To cater to different needs in different fields of work, transcription services are divided into several types of services.
One of the services that we will get to know better in this article is interview transcription found in the discipline of law: legal transcription.
Yes, people working in the law field of work also need transcription service.
How so?
Legal professionals involve a lot of interviewing than we thought.
Pleadings, subpoenas, summonses, sworn statements, interrogations, hearings, and more occurrences happening in the court entail a lot of conversation and questioning that need to be documented.
With the help of transcription, it helps legal professionals capture each detail to review later so allows them to focus to the interview, save their valuable time, and provide the documentation
Furthermore, the documentation of these legal transcripts needs to follow specific requirements, especially when it comes to evidence for an ongoing case.
Different districts, clients, and types of transcript may require different transcription formats.
Thus, sorting the transcription documents could end up time-consuming.
For much more effective work, it’s not uncommon to outsource a transcriptionist for the task.
That way, those in law enforcement could save time and focus on other tasks needing immediate attention.
Interview Transcription Service for Legal Documents: A Standard to Follow
Legal documents, which closely relate to legal procedures, are tied to a strict standard for transcription.
Hence, the interview transcription service for legal documents must also follow a set of rules and guidelines.
There are at least five important points to note in transcribing legal documents.
1. Mastering the art of verbatim transcription
The transcription for legal documents is in the form of verbatim transcription as the final documents of the transcription are exactly the same as the audio file.
This includes mutters, speech errors, filler words, stutters, long pauses, and other sound heard in the audio file.
Some even ask to include non-verbal signals or body languages written in the final transcription document.
While such sounds are less necessary and often omitted in other types of interview transcription, they hold a significant difference in the law field.
2. Highlighting accuracy in noting who speaks what
When it comes to an interview with more than two people, some speeches may overlap.
As a transcriptionist, it is important to recognize the voices and precisely write who said what.
Though it could sound like a simple mistake, writing the wrong person could really change the whole interview’s nuance.
3. Having legal terminology knowledge
Transcribing legal documents, obviously, requires someone who is expert in legal terminology. The discipline of law comes with various terms that are only used by people working in the field. It is not enough to have a good ear but it is equally important that a legal transcriptionist is fairly aware of legal terminologies. Not to mention, several Latin phrases used to explain the testimony. If you have no background knowledge on legal terminology, you will find it difficult to write down “affidavit”, “subpoena”, “nolo contendere”.
4. Getting certified
The needs for certification may differ from state to state. This goes the same for the requirements to pass the certification. The major pro from having a hold of the certification is the reassurance you can give your clients over how professional your service is. Clients can also know how much the transcriptionists they choose in understanding legal terminology.
5. Ensuring confidentiality
Confidentiality is pretty much a basic rule in transcription service. Additionally, it is essential to assure all parties involved in the project can guarantee confidentiality by themselves. To realize it, professional transcriptionists are trained to understand the ethics of the business that they will not share files and documents inappropriately.
The Bottom Line: Interview Transcription Service Leads
Interview transcription service could be helpful for people working in the field of law.
By outsourcing for transcribing audio files, professionals and employees involved in the work field can maintain their focus on other tasks with more urgency to finish.
However, being interview transcriptionists for legal documents need to pay attention to a set of strict rules and guidelines.
Appealing yourself as a legal transcriptionist might be a challenging, yet worthwhile career to choose!
