Monday, June 17, 2013

Digital Dictation: Is it making an appearance in the Legal Industry…?


Imagine a lawyer with countless court cases and a very busy practice. With all of this he/she also needs to draft, edit and re-write certain important and confidential legal documents. Apart from that, they will also have situations, where writing or putting together countless letters and other documents to clients becomes a very demanding job. Many of these lawyers or advocates will not be typing these documents on their own and therefore this type of documentation or drafting will be done by a legal aid, law clerk or legal secretary.


Take a defense attorney, sometimes he/she will request the legal secretary to take down some general information regarding the court case itself or to provide the opposing counsel with a letter or some type of claim. There are also countless times, where there might be some formal dictation involved and it will be written by hand, prior to being typed out and printed. It can be referred to as a first draft. There are also those who have immensely busy days that they cannot sit down and dictate each and every word to their secretaries! For these individuals the assistance of small cassette tapes is the only saving grace. They will record their thoughts, ideas or comments and the secretary will be required to go through it and transcribe it. Even though this technology has provided much assistance to the legal world, in the 21st century we are all expecting more! The days are gone where we have time to sit down and write some mediocre letter or even to dictate speech to a secretary. We think it is safe to say that these methods, although proven quite effective in the past, are out dated and should make way for more advanced and time saving options.
As with most Dictaphones, it can be quite a tough task to understand what is being recorded and, in some cases, the speech recorded on the tape can be inaudible. We also must not underestimate our ability as human beings to forget! For example, when recording speech on a Dictaphone we are sure to use many, many cassettes. In such a situation what if we record something on top of another recording?! Then what do we do? It cannot be recovered and both, the lawyer and the secretary, may be in a situation where very important information, pertaining to a court case, might be lost forever with no chance of being salvaged!

Surely, with current developments and advancements made in technology there are many ways that lawyers can avoid these mishaps and use a more dependable method of making sure that each of his/her clients are given high quality service. And what is the one way that this can be possible? Well, if you guessed Digital Dictation then give yourself a pat on the back! With Digital Dictation becoming a rising star in the legal world, it is safe to say that it is not being confined to only one industry. It is being used everywhere by anyone and everyone.

Any type of product or service has been subject to improvements, and at present offer dramatic levels of functionality, design, efficiency and clarity. At present Digital Dictation software can produce your words as text rapidly and efficiently as any skillful typist. Flexibility for auditory editing is another advantage, that cannot be forgotten!

Tablet computers and smart phones are some products that use Digital Dictation, and would be a priceless tool for any lawyer. It does not matter whether you are driving for a court case, walking around a courthouse, prior to a motion, or attending meetings, you can take Digital Dictation wherever you go and have the ability to record important notes! Since information can be transferred quite easily from one device to another, you have the ability to transfer data from your mobile phone to your computer desktop in no time!

The invaluable service that Dictation software can offer the legal industry is huge! Think of the legal industry as any other regular supply chain. Digital dictation can offer to reduce some steps, when creating material related to litigation. For example, if Digital Dictation did not exist, a lawyer would have to create a draft and record his/her notes or dictate to a secretary. Next step would be for the secretary to write it and provide the document to the lawyer for approval. Then the lawyer might come up with additional notes and adjustments, which will have to be typed again by the secretary.

Now imagine this same process with the use of Digital Dictation. Instead of the secretary recording, transcribing, editing and recording again (all in separate steps), the lawyer can eliminate these steps and do it all at once! This will assist the lawyer to be more effective and cut down a large amount of time. Cost for the client will also reduce, since only a few hours are spent to provide the same level of service and results!

Adopting Digital Dictation software can be quite valuable to any law firm. Progressive, resourceful and savvy are some words that come to mind, when imagining any law firm, that would employ this software! These could also be the very characteristics that a client might be looking for, when looking to recruit a lawyer for representation. Needless to say that this technology has its’ advantages and have proven to be quite useful in the legal industry. It is only a matter of time now until Digital Dictation software pops up in every other major industry and needless to say we will all be waiting (quite eagerly) until that time arrives! 

1 comment:

  1. It's these technological innovations that the law industry needs to succeed into today's digitally savvy world. I was also talking to a colleague about why law firms aren't embracing social media the way other business sectors are. It can play a huge role in bolstering successful law firm marketing tactics.

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