Legal transcription job market is unique and there is little competition and plenty of jobs. Legal transcriptionists are widely used by large corporations, private practice attorneys, governmental departments (such as court system), insurance companies and banks that all have a need for more accurate legal records.
Legal transcriptionists listen to dictations, such as count hearings, testimonies, interrogations and pleadings, and type them into documents that are edited and turn them into easily understood records. Those records are extremely useful for lawyers for research purpose and to win a case.
While looking for legal transcriptionists, many companies require individuals to have a strong working knowledge of legal procedures and terminology, these skills are necessary in addition to the skills required for general transcription, and usually companies prefer the individuals who have prior experience in the legal field.
If you want to become a legal transcriptionist, but have no prior experience in both legal and transcription fields, you might want to get into general transcription first, at the mean time get legal transcription training (which is preferred by many employers) to prepare you for legal transcription work.
Regarding training, many community colleges offer associate degree or certification courses in legal transcription. In addition to college course, many employers will allow individuals to train on the job. While working as a general transcriptionist, you can express your interest in legal transcription, and you might get such training opportunity and eventually get into legal transcription.
Here are some companies that offer legal transcription jobs (and general transcription jobs):
CyberDictate – cyberdictate.com
Neal R. Gross – nealrgross.com
SpeakWrite – speak-write.com
TASK Document Services – usetask.com
Ubiqus – ubiqus.com
A person starting a legal transcription job has to be aware of the legal terminologies as a single word mistake or a single verbatim left have created blunders in many cases.
Hi Lia, Thanks for the comment and info! Best regards!
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that http://www.speakwrite.com is currently not hiring. I just checked their website.