6 ways lawyers can save time with speech recognition

Professionals working in the legal sector are no strangers to long hours, nor to piles of endless paperwork. Admin can consume a significant chunk of their working lives.

With the help of speech recognition software, though, legal professionals can save several hours every week on manual paperwork, giving them far more time for work that’s actually billable.

But how might this look, on any given work day? In today’s blog, we’ll be looking at six ways that lawyers can save time with a speech recognition platform like Nuance Dragon Legal Anywhere.

Automate transcriptions and spend less time on documentation

For years, manual transcription and notetaking have been some of the most time-consuming tasks for legal professionals. Whether it’s taking manual notes during meetings or transcribing recordings after the fact, it’s always going to take longer when you have to type it all out yourself.

With speech recognition software, lawyers can dramatically cut down on the time they spend on paperwork, and convert that time into billable hours. It’s simply a case of clicking where you’d normally type, and speaking your thoughts aloud instead. Your words will quickly appear in your document (or your spreadsheet, or any application that’s compatible with Dragon Legal Anywhere), and with a very high degree of accuracy. This can save legal professionals hours every week on admin, and even if they need to fix a few mistakes in the transcription, these can be rectified with their voice as well.

Speech recognition reduces the need for outsourced transcription services

Despite the rise of speech recognition software in recent years, many law firms are still outsourcing their transcriptions to third party services. While these services can certainly be handy in specific contexts (if a firm receives a significant number of audio recordings for a case, for example), speech recognition software can greatly reduce a firm’s reliance on them. Most transcriptions can be handled in-house, making considerable savings compared to outsourced services.

Keep case files up to date without disruptions

Lawyers are constantly handling multiple cases at once, each with its own stack of paperwork. Speech recognition software makes updating case files far easier. By dictating notes immediately after (or during) every meeting related to the case, they can ensure that all their documentation is up to date, and accurate.

Streamline legal research

Another fundamental but time-consuming aspect of many legal jobs is case research. Part of what can make this work take up so much of a legal professional’s day is the need to be constantly switching between reading and typing. With Dragon Legal Anywhere, you can (for all intents and purposes) do both at the same time.

Remote dictation through the cloud

Legal professionals aren’t always working at their desks. With Dragon Legal Anywhere, they can work from just about anywhere. Since the platform operates via the cloud and is compatible with most smartphones, lawyers are able to dictate notes wherever they might happen to be working, and can pick up where they left off on their desktop without missing a beat.

Minimise errors with legal vocab

One of the main concerns legal professionals tend to have about speech recognition software is accuracy, particularly when considering the complexity of certain legal terms. But Dragon Legal Anywhere is trained on a vast catalogue of terminology specific to the legal sector, greatly reducing the risk of transcription errors.

Conclusion: 6 ways lawyers can save time with speech recognition

Speech recognition software is more than just a convenience; it’s a powerful tool for legal professionals looking to save time on admin, and convert that time into billable hours. Whether they’re automating transcriptions or drafting legal documents with just their voice, Dragon Legal Anywhere lets lawyers work smarter, and work harder.

We help organisations reduce the time and cost of producing correspondence via speech recognition software, information workflow apps, and digital dictation hardware & software. Think we could help your business? Book a consultation today.