Legal Transcription and Where to Work Remotely

Have you been contemplating working from home as a legal transcriptionist?

Did you once work as a legal administrative assistant, legal assistant or paralegal?

Would you like to find a way to work from home doing legal transcription?

Well, then this article may be of interest to you.

One of the most popular ways to make money working from home is as a transcriptionist. The two challenges to working at home as a transcriptionist are deciding which type of transcription you want to do and then getting started with it online with or without experience.

What Are The Four Types of Transcription and How Do They Differ?

The four types of transcription are:

General
Legal
Medical
Technical

I will briefly go over then four types and then focus on legal transcription.

General transcription refers to general correspondence such as letters, memos, and meetings from businesses such as banks, financial institutions, schools, and utility companies.

Legal transcription refers to transcription that would be used in law offices or courtrooms. Most of the terminology is in Latin.

Medical transcription would be transcription for doctor’s offices, hospitals or clinical settings. These terms can also be Latin, but not necessarily as they refer to human anatomy, modalities, medications, and procedures.

Technical transcription refers to transcription for computers and other high tech specialties to compile text books and instructions.

What is Particularly Appealing About Legal Transcription?

Legal transcription is for those who have an interest in law or have maybe served in the past in the legal field. Sometimes a legal transcriptionist is called a scopist even though they are NOT the same thing.

A scopist is the one who receives the transcription—usually from a court reporter—and becomes the editor and proofreader. The role of a scopist is getting the document to as close to perfect as possible.

How Can Someone Get into Legal Transcription?

There are certainly courses out there as well as finding a company willing to take a chance on a beginner. Also, if you have a legal background and believe that you can type fast enough to make it worth your time, then you can also try to venture out into an already established company (see below) or “hang your own freelance shingle” on Guru, Freelancer, Upwork or Amazon Mechanical.

What Are These 5 Companies That Hire Legal Transcriptionists?

They are:

Cambridge Transcriptionists – For those of you who are experienced and would like more of a challenge when it comes to legal transcription, Cambridge Transcriptionists might be a good fit for you. You are invited to send your cover letter, resume, and transcription examples to their recruiters. From there you can take the necessary steps towards becoming a part-time employee either online or offline.

Daily Transcription – This company is for full- or part-time transcribers in the legal, medical or general transcribing genres. They only hire US residents and income will vary by client and experience even though they will take a chance on less experienced transcribers. You can check to see what their current equipment needs are to become a transcriber.

StenTel – For this company, you must have legal or insurance experience to apply. The money will vary based on experience and quality of work. This work-from-home transcribing company only hires US workers to fulfill the role of independent contractor. The pay is twice a month.

Tigerfish – This company is for both general and legal transcription, and they do accept beginners! The pay is ½ cents a word, and pay will depend upon how fast you can type. Once you sign up using the application form, download the style guide to study for the test. Pay for beginners ranges from $6 to $9 an actual hour. Pay is paid via PayPal every two weeks.

Ubiqus – This company was founded in 1991 in France as a way to meet the medical, general, and legal transcription needs of the industries. Transcribers make between $15 to $25 an actual hour, and they are open to beginning transcribers. You must take a test to qualify, and sometimes the work is not very steady. It appears that they pay via PayPal once a month.

My Coaching Two Cents’ Worth

If this is something that you would like to try, then do so. Sometimes you have to try a couple of things to find something that you like. Sometimes you also have to try a couple of things before you find something that seems to be a good fit for your own freelance career or independent livelihood. However, if you have an administrative background or clerical background, then this might be a good fit for you.

This is just one of many ideas for working at home or starting that “second career” after 50 livelihood. When thinking about more traditional freelance work, transcription and data entry always seem to come up as popular choices.