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!
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.
ReplyDelete