Legal Transcription Training Frequently Asked Questions
Per the Merriam-Webster dictionary, transcription is the act or process of making a written, printed, or typed copy of words that have been spoken.
- General
- Medical
- Legal
- Law Enforcement
Generally speaking, people who do well with transcription have the following characteristics:
- Excellent hearing
- Strong command of written and spoken English
- Able to sit and concentrate for long periods of time
- Fast typist or well-trained voice or steno software
- Good grammar and punctuation skills
- Quiet place, good lighting
- Comfortable desk and chair
- Stable high-speed Internet
- Desktop or laptop computer (PC preferred)
- Firewall and anti-virus
- External keyboard, mouse, speakers, headphones
- Digital transcriber and foot pedal
- Word processing software
- Quality training
We teach using Microsoft Word. However, in the workforce, any of the following can be used for legal transcription:
- LibreOffice or OpenOffice
- WordPerfect
- CAT court reporting software
- Voice-to-text; i.e., Dragon
All transcription taught by us is done at your own home.
It’s very flexible and allows you to work around your family’s schedule.
Night owl? Early riser? Fine!
You would be an independent contractor responsible for your own expenses and taxes.
The good news is that you won’t have many expenses.
We teach the following at this time:
- Legal Transcription & Editing in Word
- Editing in MAXScribe CAT software
- Law Enforcement Transcription
- Numerous auxiliary courses
- Some free courses
People with work history in any of these fields usually do quite well:
- Legal secretaries
- Paralegals
- Attorneys
- Proofreaders
- Scopists
- Teachers
- Authors
- 911 operators
- Medical transcribers
- General transcribers
- Law enforcement transcribers
- And many other people with no work history at all
You can, but our legal transcription training is designed for a Windows desktop or laptop. Boot Camp is available only on older Intel-based Macs and is not supported on newer Apple-silicon Macs.
50 words per minute, minimum.
70 words per minute or above, recommended.
Accuracy is important to clients. Speed is important to help you make more money for your time.
Test your typing speed with this free course. https://courses.learntotranscribe.com/p/how-fast-can-you-type
It’s all recorded and downloaded into your computer to transcribe at your home.
That varies, depending on how much time can be devoted to study each week.
Some students complete the training in 3-4 months.
Others take much longer due to their schedule or other commitments.
Our apprenticeship opportunity for our graduates is for U.S. citizens.
We do not hire anyone ourselves. Instead, we refer our graduates to various entities that partner with us.
Entities hire our graduates as paid apprentices generally for 30 days (or 10 projects in some cases).
Partners hiring our graduates have been vetted by us. They are honorable and professional.
That varies greatly due to many factors, so there is no solid answer for everyone.
Our graduates tell us that they earned in the mid-to-high $40,000 range their first year working.
Bear in mind that much of that time was also spent continuing to learn on the job.
Yes. Lots of people do exactly that for supplemental family income.
Others work full time supporting themselves and their family.
This is a great career to work from home in an honorable profession!
Very legit. Very real.
Almost all of our graduates have been offered work, with a pay increase, at the same entity where they did their apprenticeship.
If another entity is desired, we can give our graduates leads to apply for work.
Yes, we do offer a variety of short courses teaching a myriad of things.
Yes. We have lots of free mini courses that we rotate and offer throughout the year.
To find current courses, visit our Academy using this link.
Yes. Many of our courses offer CEUs from AAERT, depending on length of course.
Yes, we do. Many of our students reside outside of the United States.
However, some entities are required to hire only U.S. citizens.
We teach editing in Word as well as in CAT software called MAXScribe by Stenograph. (Traditional CAT scoping is done in CAT programs such as CaseCATalyst or Eclipse, and we do not teach that at this time.)
Yes, we do. We love our affiliates! Here’s the link for more information and to sign up!
Our courses are purchased through Teachable on enrollment using a major credit card. Private training can be purchased with PayPal or any major credit card.
Yes, on some courses from time to time, as well as occasional discount coupon codes for special sales. Just check our course menu page to see current payment plans or limited-time discounts.
- Visit our online Academy
- Do a one-time free enrollment into the Academy
- Choose your favorite courses
- Then enroll in each course separately