Legal transcription includes verbatim and non-verbatim transcription. In verbatim transcripts, the text reflects each and every utterance of the speakers. This is important for witness interviews, lie detector tests, and wire tapped conversations as it provides the attorney with a clear idea of what is being said. These transcripts often provide critical evidence in a case as they can reveal the emotions of the speaker such as anger, surprise and hesitation.
Verbatim is further classified into strict verbatim and intelligent verbatim with ‘strict’ replicating every single sound, utterance and pause, and ‘intelligent’ excluding irrelevant sounds and words like ‘uh’ and ‘um’. Unnecessary use of fillers and starters like ‘yeah’ and ‘ok’ are also excluded in intelligent verbatim.
Legal professionals looking for verbatim transcripts need to remember that good audio is important. Good recordings depend on voice clarity and the absence of echoes and background noises and disturbances. With good audio, a professional legal transcription company can provide legal transcripts with up to 99% accuracy. In fact, the choice of the legal transcription service provider is crucial. A reliable company with trained legal transcriptionists on staff can assure error-free verbatim transcripts. Well-versed in legal jargon and terminology, professional transcriptionists can provide accurate legal verbatim transcripts in client-specific turnaround time.
