Monday, May 14, 2001		Article

Converting court proceedings into text
By Sumesh Raizada

THE advancement in the field of Information Technology has come as a boon for India as far as career opportunities are concerned. India with its vast English and computer literate population has become a major location for outsourcing jobs from countries like the USA, UK and Canada.

Though extremely important, yet there is not enough qualified manpower available in these countries for catering to the demand of specialised computer jobs. Besides it is relatively expensive to hire persons in the domestic market and then outsource work to other countries like India or Mexico. We are already aware of call centres or MT centres coming up all over the country and employing thousands of young graduates for the job that require round-the-clock operations. The concept of medical transcription has now been diversified and expanded into other applications that have further generated lucrative job opportunities. One of them is legal transcription. The technology involved is more or less the same though its area and coverage of operation is much different and vast.

Legal transcription or LT as it may be called, basically involves conversion of court proceedings, hearings, judgments and petitions into text form. The voice data is digitally converted and analysed in the form of written reports or electronic documents. These are stored in the form of hard copy or on a disk for record and future references. The transcribed text contents are sent back to the person concerned, department, agency or firm through floppy disk, e-mail, fax or printed copies. The professionals involved in the task of transcription of legal proceedings or data are called legal transcriptionists. They are computer literate and have fairly good command over spoken and written English. Since this job is mostly outsourced through Western countries, like the USA or Canada, a person interested in pursuing it as a career should be thoroughly conversant with the spoken and written dialect of the respective language of these countries.

Legal transcriptionists prepare legal documents from the dictated or verbal information provided by the attorneys, judges and legal experts. Besides their duties also include drafting of important legal documents, preparing back-up files or electronic data for future reference. They also assist attorneys in preparing arguments by providing them relevant facts and information from the previous lawsuits and judgements stored in their computers. A legal transcriptionist, with the help of specialised software, organises documents and reference materials. Many times these professionals become so proficient in their job that they can themselves take up supporting legal activities.

Most of the firms earlier engaged in medical transcription have now diversified to legal transcription. These firms have the advantage of having required infrastructure and expertise for transcription jobs. Besides, there are several software and Web-based companies that provide such services. These firms are engaged in providing legal consultancy and database for the interested clients. Career opportunities therefore exist in abundance for transcriptionists in these firms. Also, trained and experienced professionals can start on their own as freelance legal transcriptionists. Such persons work for law firms, attorneys or courts and can operate from their residence.

In India, there are not many institutes that may offer a formal degree or diploma in legal transcription. Those, that exist, are mainly subsidiary or joint venture of US firms. Some of these institutions are Organization American Transcription Campus, KITCO and NIMT. They also offer business opportunity for professionals who, after getting trained, can become franchisee at other locations and promote legal transcription. Investment to the tune of 4 to 5 lakhs or more is required depending upon the scope of operations. However, if this investment is properly utilised, an entrepreneur cannot only earn handsomely but can also provide employment to several other legal transcriptionists. In some cases firms, which are dealing in legal transcription, conduct short-term courses for prospective transcriptionists. Those trained are later absorbed as a trainee. Some other Indian firms that are engaged in legal transcription are TransIndia Online that not only provides legal transcription services but also develop software for client specific jobs, Drishti Infotech and Asyst solutions. A Chennai-based firm, Anand Chromates, offers legal transcription services in areas like personal injury, real estate, matrimonial, summons and complaint, malpractice, etc. Another firm called Omega also offers transcription services with the help of latest IT tools and techniques.

A person going in for this career may or may not be a law student. However, for achieving success, an individual should be fully conversant with the legal terminology and various laws and regulations prevalent in various countries. Also, he must be a patient and a good listener. A legal transcriptionist must be adept at working over stretched timings so as to meet the targeted schedules.

Many US-based institutes conduct diploma courses in legal transcription. PCDI or Professionals Career Development Institute, Georgia, offers correspondence diploma course recognised by the US Department of Education. The module covers contract law, commercial papers, domestic relations, criminal law, trial, legal research, grammar, proof reading, wills, litigation, etc. Students work on exercises from legal files, prepare transcripts with the help of audio and visual aids. Faculty includes experts from the practicing legal field. A learner also gets an excellent exposure of working with the practicing lawyers, court reporters and judicial administrators. A California-based West Valley College conduct program on court reporting that is extremely beneficial for those going in for legal transcriptionist career. Those graduating from this program can work for insurance companies and courts. Meditech is another institute that organises distance-learning course on legal transcription.

The legal transcriptionist usually works in a typical hierarchy, depending upon the level of expertise and experience they gain. The job begins as a trainee, then senior transcriptionist, after that proof-readers, then sub-editors, editors and finally supervisors. The remuneration might begin with Rs.5000 per month and may go up to Rs. 30,000 per month. This career is also relevant for those who are looking for freelancer job and want to work independently. However for them it will be extremely necessary to maintain quality of transcription and thereby build goodwill among the clients.

Legal transcriptionists, besides their routine tasks, can also work for different Web sites that are engaged in the legal research work. They provide consultancy to clients, individuals or organisations on matter related to company law, litigation, industrial disputes, accident or claims. Many times persons do not want to go to the courts to avoid publicity or due to delay in judgements. These persons consult legal researcher who work independently or through legal firms. Earnings could range anywhere between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10,000 or even more.