Uses of Legal Transcriptions for Law Firms
Practicing law is more than attending corporate meetings on a daily basis and walking through court hearings one after another. These are just the tip of the iceberg for common law firms. Even the big screen depicts it as the legal profession often associated with hard labors over mountains of paper works – may it be for drafting settlements or reading transcripts for an upcoming case.
By definition, legal transcripts are any spoken legal proceedings or dictions converted into text format. However simple that may seem, these documents play a big role in a variety of industries. Here are some few practices where legal transcriptions come in handy for law firms:
1. Reviewing depositions. All matters in need of a legal resolution start with a deposition. Depositions are vital for it serves as the stage where parties gather all the necessary information to win a case or to settle a corporate dilemma. These include sworn testaments by individuals involved in the issue. These interrogations are often captured through audio or video recordings. After being mindful of asking the right questions, law practitioners then need to thoroughly analyze the collected data to build a case. If there’s time to spare, they can rewind the recordings to capture details they may have missed during the witness examination. However, since law practitioners are busy people in general, they should opt for an alternative that provides a faster and more accurate route on note taking and reviewing — deposition transcripts. With everything typed out, identifying key notes, dates, and evidences have never been easier!
2. Preparing for trials. Anything can happen in a courtroom. With both parties playing their best cards to a judge or jury, it is only reasonable to study everything to prepare for the next proceeding. A rebuttal in court may branch to a brand new lead and a fresh set of evidences — paving new strategies in potentially winning a case. Legal transcripts help to easily pinpoint facts and take note of new ones mentioned during the trial. Unless you’re confident in your memory recall skills, having a written version of the proceeding might just save you from missing out on one tiny detail that could turn the tables and result to your victory in court.
3. Taking note of company meetings and conferences. Law firms are no exception from meeting marathons, whether it be to clients or within the organization. Moreover, there are local and international legal conferences being organized here and there that could widen a practitioner’s understanding and appreciation of the field. Transcripts are an effective and efficient method of keeping important records, reviewing meeting notes at leisure, and catching up on missed conferences that are beneficial to the company and its members.
4. Archiving. Much like any other industry, change is constant in the field of law. Deals may be tweaked, dismissed cases may be reopened, and legal advice may be altered. When instances like this happen, an archive saves the firm from going back to square one and redoing everything. Documents such as previous deposition transcripts and old meeting notes can be reevaluated to come up with another resolution.
In a way, legal transcriptions are written evidences of a law firm’s day-to-day activity. With every documented court hearing, client meeting, or company-wide assembly, transcripts are guilty in making filing and searching for particulars easy-breezy.
