The wide variety of legal transcription work includes criminal law, corporate law, family law, real estate law, workers’ compensation claims and defense, collections and foreclosures, personal injury, insurance defense and medical malpractice.
Legal transcriptionists transcribe legal documents such as court proceedings, court hearings, trial recordings, recorded depositions, testimonies, depositions, pleadings, briefs, interviews, interrogations, statements and confessions, meetings, phone calls, dictated notes, legal correspondence, police interviews and more.
Here are just some of the reasons why legal transcription is a great career option.
- High demand. Government, businesses, private and public sectors need to maintain legal records. Also, the large number of lawsuits and lawyers has increased the need for legal transcription.
- Better pay. Legal transcription pays better than medical and general transcription today.
- Less competitive. Legal transcription is less competitive because it requires more skills and more training than general transcription,
- Additional work opportunities. Having legal training and knowing legal terminology and formats will help you get additional general and business transcription jobs. For example, insurance companies and law enforcement (e.g. police departments) prefer transcriptionists who are familiar with legal and/or medical terminology. You can also get academic transcription work that involves legal topics.
- Work from home. Many legal transcriptionists work from home.
Skills you'll need to become a legal transcriptionist
Although you don't need a certification or formal training to become a legal transcriptionist, you do need specialized knowledge and be able to transcribe legal documents accurately.
- Legal transcriptionists need a solid understanding of legal terms and need to be familiar with legal procedures and documentation. They need to be able to prepare documents according to statutory requirements and must be able to comprehend the content of the dictated material they are transcribing.
- A good command of the English language and excellent listening, grammar and punctuation skills are essential.
- Legal transcriptionists need to have a decent typing speed and the speed requirements for legal transcription are typically higher than for general transcription.
- Accuracy is crucial when dealing with legal transcription and legal cases. Accurate transcription also involves editing and proofreading. Legal transcriptionists much check spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Many transcription companies will have you take a transcription test to prove your skills.
How do you learn legal transcription?
You may not need to take a legal transcription course if you have some other legal training or background.
If you don't have a legal background or legal experience, taking a specialized legal transcription course is the best way to acquire the skills you'll need to become a legal transcriptionist. Taking a good course will also expand your employment options and can give you more opportunities to get a wide variety of transcription jobs.
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