Speech recognition software for lawyers with dyslexia

Around 1 in 10 people in the UK have some form of dyslexia and, statistically, a proportion of those people will be legal professionals.

Due to the nature of such jobs, any issues with reading and writing can pose a significant challenge for lawyers, not least because of the stigma. Take dyslexic lawyer Tom McGovern, for example, who, not too long ago, was admonished in court for reading notes from his phone.

But, much like in the healthcare sector, help is at hand. Speech recognition software can give a great deal of support to legal professionals, primarily via automated transcriptions.

In today’s blog, we’ll be looking at the ways in which speech recognition software like Nuance Dragon Legal Anywhere (DLA) can help those working in the legal sector.

What is Nuance Dragon Legal Anywhere?

Dragon Legal Anywhere is a speech recognition platform designed, as you’ve probably guessed from the name, specifically for the legal sector. Just like Nuance’s other platforms, DLA’s tentpole feature is automated transcriptions; users can speak entire sentences aloud, and their words will appear on-screen. This can save hours every day for any legal professional, and for those with dyslexia, it can be monumental.

Ways that Dragon Legal Anywhere can help lawyers with dyslexia

Let’s take a look at some of the specific ways in which DLA can help those with dyslexia in the legal sector:

• Professionals working in this sector are constantly having to create legal documents manually, and for lawyers with dyslexia, this can take far longer than necessary. Any issues they have with typing and spelling can be completely avoided with DLA’s automated transcriptions, be it for memos, contracts, briefs- anything.
• As well as creating legal documentation, lawyers spend a lot of their work day writing, and reading, emails. With DLA they can not only transcribe entire emails with their voice, but they can also use voice commands to navigate between their emails, create a new email draft, and add recipients. This ensures timely, professional communication- and since DLA’s transcriptions are 99% accurate, the emails will be error-free as well.
• Legal professionals will take their own notes during just about every meeting they attend. For those with dyslexia, any attempt at notetaking could make it far harder to concentrate on the meeting itself. DLA can automatically transcribe entire meetings, allowing lawyers to stay fully focused on the matters at hand.
• The aforementioned voice commands can also make it far easier for legal professionals to manage their scheduling; they can update their digital calendar, add attendees to appointments, reschedule meetings, and add recurring events, all with a few words. Customised voice commands mean that for just about everything you would ordinarily do by typing and clicking, you can instead do with your voice. 
• Once they’ve dictated their document, lawyers can also use DLA’s text-to-speech feature, rather than having to manually proofread. DLA will read out everything that’s been dictated, allowing users to listen out for any errors- and if there are errors, they can correct these using voice commands.

Conclusion: speech recognition software for lawyers with dyslexia

Speech recognition software, particularly software designed for the legal sector, can save lawyers a great deal of time in notetaking and admin. This tech can be massively beneficial even if you don’t have dyslexia- but if you do, DLA could alleviate many of the challenges you face in your work life, and enable you to perform with efficiency, and confidence.

Think voice to text speech recognition software could help your legal practice? Book a consultation today.