What is Legal Transcription? Is it Right for Your Career?

Transcriptionists work behind the scenes to help nearly every type of business thrive. Whether the industry that appeals to you is automotive, medical, industrial, legal, scientific, or something else entirely, transcription offers the chance to work within it.

One specialized type of transcription that has caught your eye is legal, but is it right for you? Keep reading to find out what exactly legal transcription is, why you may not want to get into legal transcription, and what we think you should do instead.

What is Legal Transcription?  

Legal transcriptionists work with lawyers, courts, and other legal institutions to transcribe things like court proceedings, court hearings, trial recordings, testimonies, police interviews, interrogations, legal correspondence, and more.

Note that a legal transcriptionist is not a court reporter. A court reporter captures spoken word in real time using stenography equipment, while a legal transcriptionist creates transcribed documents from recorded audio.

Requirements of Legal Transcriptionists

A legal transcriptionist must have fast and accurate typing skills; a strong grasp of proper usage of spelling, grammar, and punctuation; and great listening skills. Legal transcriptionists should also have above-average computer and word-processing software skills.

The biggest barrier to entry in the legal transcription field is knowledge of legal proceedings and jargon. Often, some experience in a legal office or setting is required to get a job as a legal transcriptionist. If you do not have this experience, you can enroll in a training program at a community college or technical school to obtain a certificate and develop your expertise. Even if you have a background in the legal field, many roles will require you to do on-the-job training with legal professionals or office staff.

Complications of Working in Legal Transcription

The requirement of working knowledge of the justice system isn't the only complication for a transcriptionist specializing in legal transcription. While most transcriptionists are allowed to work from any location, legal transcriptionists may be asked to work onsite. Due to attorney-client confidentiality, the files needed to complete jobs are often not allowed to leave the premises of attorneys.

Why You Should Consider General Transcription Instead

Legal transcription has special education requirements and limits the flexibility available to you, so what should you do instead? Transcription is still a great career path, but specialization in the legal field can tie you down.

Instead of specializing in something like medical or legal transcription, become a general transcriptionist. General transcriptionists are employed by many clients across varying industries – they may transcribe a sermon one day and a sales presentation the next. This greatly increases the opportunity to land jobs and allows you to choose that jobs that interest you, as well as take greater control over your pricing rates and overall income.

Here’s the biggest perk of general transcription: you can get started much more quickly! A general transcriptionist does not require any additional specialized training or knowledge. Taking a transcription course and gaining the proper training can take as little as 2-4 months. The GT Boot Camp general transcription training program will give you all the necessary skills to help you learn transcription and the best tools to use, and it allows you to practice your skills with interactive tutorials and practice audio files. You’ll be ready to start your transcription career in no time!

Another crucial thing to note is that general transcription offers far more flexibility than legal transcription. There can be fewer typing speed requirements, longer turnaround times, and the issue of confidential files that need to stay in a specific office is nearly eliminated. A general transcriptionist has the benefit of working on what they want, when they want, and where they want. And because you make your own schedule, getting time off when you need it is a breeze.

If you’ve been considering a career change to legal transcription, reconsider! This is a great opportunity for many, but general transcription offers more perks with lower barriers to entry.

When you are ready to start gaining greater control over your time and income, consider enrolling in a transcription course that will teach you all you need to run your own transcription career. GT Boot Camp is a remote course that offers in-depth training on all aspects of general transcription.