The Evolution of Dictation: How a New Generation of Lawyers Talks their Way to Greater Efficiencies

04
Nov
2013

Eric Wangler

The days when attorneys kept dictation recorders and a microphone on their credenza are gone. Some attorneys have abandoned dictation completely, but others are taking an updated approach. While young lawyers tend to be much better at typing and managing documents than their contemporaries were just a generation ago, they are also using their mobile devices and their voices to be more productive. For many, fresh ways of giving dictation have become a key component of an active law practice.

A variety of forces have driven dictation to evolve and improve. Today, law firms and attorneys are combining their voices with new technology to reduce overhead, operate more efficiently, enhance customer service, and improve billable hours. As voice productivity technology continues to grow and adapt, lawyers can expect even better changes in the future.

The Evolution of Dictation

In terms of its status on the cutting edge, dictation has ebbed and flowed.

The Past

Dictation machines once represented the latest and greatest technology - the iPhones of their day. They were clunky and immobile devices that led to uncontrolled workflow. Those initial machines evolved into portable dictation devices which used cassette tapes. Attorneys would tend to let those tapes accumulate until the pile got too big or until they desperately needed something which was stored somewhere on one the tapes - then they would drop an entire box of cassettes on their assistants' desks. They would need all of them transcribed immediately, or have their assistant listen to entire tapes for a particular 30-second snippet of information.

Since assistants were constantly interrupted with other pressing tasks, attorneys never knew when they could expect their transcriptions back. Creating and tracking a reliable workflow was virtually impossible, and assistants were frustrated, too, by the pressure and lack of predictability.

As machines broke down and tapes fell apart, and as word processing became easier, many attorneys turned away from dictation completely.

The Present

With the advent of smartphones and voice recognition software, many attorneys have embraced technology and workflows, bringing new dimensions to traditional dictation. Today's voice productivity technology is far easier and more flexible than ever before.

With affordable, intuitive tools, attorneys can improve workflow by sending digital files to assistants as soon as an individual task is completed. They can also track the status of projects in order to gauge which tasks have been completed, helping attorneys ensure that they have the information they need and that client deadlines are being met.

Attorneys can also use voice productivity technology to minimize the effort of painful activities and to work more efficiently. For example, many attorneys often delay entering hours into their time and billing system, and when they finally turn to the task, so much time has passed that they often can't remember accurately how they should bill. This results in lost revenue. With the right technology, though, attorneys can quickly and easily dictate their hours as soon as they finish a meeting or task. They can then send that information to their assistants to enter directly into the time and billing system. This approach proves particularly efficient for attorneys when they are out of the office, allowing them to dictate time and billing information dynamically, as tasks are completed, thus ensuring better time capture.

The same approach can work for expenses. For example, attorneys can snap a picture of a receipt, dictate information about the expense and then email the files directly to their assistant to process.

Voice productivity technology providers are also developing systems and programs that integrate more smoothly with existing software and systems. By utilizing voice productivity technology which works seamlessly with templates or content management systems, firms can make processes much more efficient.

With voice recognition software, lawyers can convert their recorded notes and comments into documents far more quickly than assistants can transcribe them. Even when assistants need to spend time correcting and editing the documents, it is still much faster than typing them out. Attorneys have easy access to those documents with tablets and smartphones when they are out of the office.

Additionally, from an IT perspective, current dictation approaches are far more cost effective than tapes and recorders. Voice productivity technology and recognition software can be as easy as an app on a smartphone, and can bring far more value than dictation tools, which serve only one use. Many software programs are intuitive and can reside in the cloud, which significantly minimizes the need for training, support and storage.

The Future

Looking ahead, attorneys and law firms can anticipate that voice productivity technology will become even more integrated with all aspects of their IT ecosystems, including document creation and delivery, time and billing software, and CMS. More apps will become voice-enabled, allowing attorneys and staff to work as fast as they can talk, rather than only as fast as they type. Attorneys can anticipate billing their time directly into the system with just a few words.

Attorneys will be even less tied to the office. As the legal industry continues to transition from analog to digital, and from digital to mobile, more apps will be geared for attorneys on the move. Attorneys will no longer have to be married to their keyboards. Those attorneys who still prefer to hold on to their keyboards will find greater efficiencies through voice-enabled technology.

Attorneys will also find new, creative ways to use technology in unanticipated ways. After all, when smartphones first rolled out, no one could have predicted that construction law attorneys would use their phones to take pictures at sites, dictate notes, and send them back to the office, where their required documents would be waiting when the attorneys returned.

For attorneys and IT staff seeking to enhance voice productivity tools now and into the future, the key is ease of use. Any new technology must be intuitive and consistent with current workflows. Hardware and software that is disruptive or difficult will almost certainly be ignored or poorly utilized.

Some attorneys may continue to shun dictation as old-fashioned or unnecessary. However, even the most cutting-edge technology can help improve one of the most basic legal skills - that of speaking logically, coherently and compellingly. Typing words into a document, then going back later to cut and paste into the proper order, won't increase an attorney's skill in this area - but using their voices will, and voice productivity technology will help.