How do you get legal transcription done for the best value – high level of accuracy at lower cost?

You will get different answers to this question from transcription companies based on their location, not based on the best solution for you. U.S. based legal transcription companies will always tell you that you need to get the transcription done in U.S. for the best value, whereas transcription companies based overseas will give you all the reasons why outsourcing your legal transcription overseas is the ONLY solution if you are looking for the best value.

The right answer is that it depends on your specific needs. It makes perfect sense to pay a higher legal transcription rate to U.S. based legal transcription companies for one-time or very infrequent transcription needs. On the other hand, getting it done overseas is the right answer if you have ongoing transcription requirements.

U.S. transcriptionists are used to the linguistic expressions and regional accents of America English. Thus they do not need any training to accurately transcribe your recording the very first time they transcribe for you. Transcriptionists based in other countries will need some training and will need to get used to specific accents and nuances before their output can match the quality of their American counterparts’ transcription. You will need to be patient for the first week or so while they are getting used to your language. Your patience for ongoing transcription work will be rewarded by huge cost savings given the much lower rates for transcription done overseas.

Here are the five things you need to know before you decide the legal transcription company for your law practice:

1. Where is the company headquartered? You should select a company headquartered in the U.S. so that you can talk to them over the phone and you know that they will understand the specific instructions for your project.
2. Where are the transcriptionists located? Your project should dictate where the transcription should be done, and not the location of transcriptionists. Knowing where the transcriptionists are based would help you determine whether the transcription company is the right fit for a specific project.
3. Is the staff knowledgeable? the legal transcription company staff should be able to understand your needs and be able to suggest the best solution.
4. Is the transcription company willing to back their work? Good transcription companies always back their work through guarantees of accuracy, turnaround time, and upfront cost estimates.
5. Who are the transcription company’s customers, and will they vouch for the company’s performance? Transcription companies’ websites generally list some clients and testimonials. Make sure that they can point to happy clients for projects similar to yours. Even if clients are happy with a company’s U.S. based transcriptionist, it does not mean that you can expect same performance from their overseas transcriptionists.