With Digital Court Reporting, there are a number of steps required to produce the final transcript that’s filed with the court.
- First, the recording devices have to be set up and checked.
- Then the digital reporter has to take ample notes during the proceeding.
- Finally, the transcriptionist (also called a typist) has to transcribe what is said from the audio file into a written transcript.
That last transcription step is often one of the big bottlenecks in the process because the typists have to listen to the entire proceeding and maintain complete focus to transcribe everything. Visit Winstein and get a personal injury lawyer now.
Until recently, digital transcription with Artificial Intelligence was not accurate enough to be useful. Transcripts are expected to be at least 99% accurate with not only what was said, but who said them.
As we’ve discussed in other blogs, the internet is full of funny memes showing very humorous transactions that occurred because Google, Siri, Alexa, or Bixby did not understand what was being said.
That makes for good internet fodder, but not good court transcripts. While, AI is rapidly becoming more reliable, and we may indeed see less and less demand for virtual transcriptionists, it is far from being a solution.
What AI can do currently is to help speed up the process of transcription and remove the bottleneck. AI transcription still must be reviewed by a human typist, then double-checked by AI and a human typist again in order to create an impeccable transcript.
The Rise of AI in Legal Transcription
Artificial intelligence has made significant progress in speech recognition and automated transcription in recent years. AI tools can now process large volumes of audio quickly and generate draft transcripts in a fraction of the time it would take a human.
However, the legal industry has extremely high standards for accuracy. Court transcripts are expected to be near-perfect, often requiring 99% accuracy or higher, including correct speaker attribution, punctuation, legal terminology, and contextual meaning.
Even small errors in a transcript can lead to confusion, misinterpretation of testimony, or disputes during litigation.
Why AI Alone Is Not Enough (Yet)
While AI transcription has improved, it still struggles in real-world legal environments.
Courtrooms and depositions often include overlapping speech, varied accents, technical terminology, low audio quality, and interruptions. These conditions make it difficult for automated systems to consistently produce reliable results.
Most legal professionals are familiar with examples of voice assistants misunderstanding simple commands. While these mistakes may be humorous in everyday life, they are unacceptable in legal documentation where precision is critical.
For this reason, AI cannot yet operate as a standalone solution for certified legal transcripts.
The Human + AI Hybrid Model in Transcription
Rather than replacing transcriptionists, AI is currently best used as a support tool.
In modern digital court reporting workflows, AI is often used to generate a rough draft transcript quickly. This draft is then reviewed, corrected, and refined by a skilled human transcriptionist who ensures accuracy, proper formatting, and correct speaker identification.
In many cases, the process may include multiple layers of review, combining AI-assisted transcription with human proofreading and quality control. This hybrid approach significantly reduces turnaround time while maintaining the accuracy required for legal proceedings.
The Future of Digital Court Reporting
AI will continue to evolve and play a larger role in transcription workflows. It will likely reduce manual workload, improve efficiency, and help eliminate bottlenecks in transcript production.
However, the role of trained transcriptionists and court reporting professionals remains essential. Human oversight ensures that transcripts meet strict legal standards and accurately reflect what occurred during a proceeding.
At DLE legal, we are proud to stay on the cutting edge of technology, even as we remain a small and accessible firm for our clients. We are investing resources into researching AI processes that will supplement (not replace) our typists so that we can continue to exceed our client’s expectations for both speed and accuracy of their proceeding transcripts.
