From lawyers to solicitors; there is no shortage of individuals who may require professional legal transcription services. When first embarking on your career in the industry you may think that it is a good idea to try and take care of this side of your business yourself. However, transcription is extremely time consuming and it will be extremely inefficient to go down this route. Thus, finding a professional company for this service is a much better solution. But, how do you find the best business for you?
Ability to handle a high volume of tasks
The first thing you need to do is to make sure the company has the capacity to handle any volume of transcription tasks you require. There are going to be periods when this is running slow for you and other periods whereby you have an extensive amount of transcription on your hands. You need a company who can handle this and provide you with the amount you require no matter what. You should also look into the amount of time it will take them to get the transcription back to you.
Experience in law
In addition to this, you should lookout for a business who has experience specifically in legal transcription. This is important when you consider the unique terminology used in this industry. Thus, they should have expertise in everything from immigration, to medical negligence, to parliamentary proceedings, to litigation, and much, much more. This will provide you with the confidence that they will be able to transcribe anything you provide them with. If you’re working in a very specific or sensitive section of the law, for example, if you have a team of sexual abuse lawyers working on some horrific cases, you need to make sure that the company has experience with legal firms like yours before.
Flexibility regarding dictation and written formats
Aside from the points that have been mentioned, they must have the capacity to transcribe a wealth of different dictation formats and written formants. The best companies will have experience in everything from disciplinary hearings, to PACE tapes, to leases, to tribunals, to instructions to counsel, to wills, and much, much more. If you deal with a specific area of law then you will evidently want to be certain that the company can accommodate this.
Cost of service
And finally, how much do the company charge? After all, you need to make sure you are being cost-efficient. Most of the best businesses charge a set fee per audio minute based on the turnaround required. Therefore there are some key variables which need to be taken into account. You will obviously need to make sure you can afford the service being provided.
So there you have it: everything you need to consider when looking for the best legal transcription company for your needs. We hope that the checklist that has been provided will help you to locate the best professionals for the job.