Legal transcription software

What the best legal transcription software has to do

General transcription apps are built for meetings and podcasts. Legal work asks for more: privileged audio has to stay under your control, every word has to be checkable against the recording, and the result has to read like a record you can cite.

• Confidentiality you can see: where the audio is processed, shown on screen, with an offline option.
• Speakers told apart, so testimony reads as Q and A rather than a block of text.
• An editor for correcting against the audio, quickly and from the keyboard.
• A review step with a named reviewer and a signature.
• Export with page and line numbers in a court-style layout.

Scriven is built around those five things. The rest of this page explains each one.

Confidentiality and privilege

The ABA Model Rules ask lawyers to make reasonable efforts to prevent inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure of client information, and most states have adopted a version of that duty. Sending privileged audio to a service you cannot see into makes that harder to answer for. Scriven gives you two ways to keep control.

• Offline mode: the desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux transcribes and tells speakers apart on your own computer, with no upload. It tests the computer first and shows realistic speeds, so you know what to expect before you start.
• Region choice: in the cloud, you pick the United States, the EU (Germany), Singapore or Japan. Audio and transcript are processed and stored in that region only, and the region is shown on every screen.

For firms with stricter requirements, Enterprise adds a DPA, a BAA, self-hosted or air-gapped deployment, SSO and an audit log. How your jurisdiction's rules apply to a given tool is a question for your ethics counsel; this is not legal advice.

Review and sign

Every automatic transcript in Scriven is a draft until a person has checked it. The editor makes that check fast.

• Click any line to hear it; Space plays and pauses, J and L skip back and forward 3 seconds.
• Unsure words are flagged, so you listen where it matters.
• Press 1–9 to give a line to another speaker; ⌘B splits a turn and ⌘M merges two.
• ⌘↵ marks a line reviewed and moves to the next.

Every correction is marked with the reviewer's name. When the review is complete, the reviewer certifies the version, confirming every section was checked, and it is locked. That sign-off is your team's attestation about a working transcript. It is not a court reporter's certificate, and Scriven does not produce official or certified court records.

Page and line export

Export to PDF or Word with numbered pages and numbered lines, speaker labels and timestamps, laid out like a court transcript. Your team can cite a passage as page:line in a brief, a memo or a deposition digest.

Before a transcript goes to opposing counsel, an expert or a client, you can anonymise names and other details in it.

Use cases

• Depositions: a working transcript the same day, while you wait for the court reporter's certified transcript, or the transcript of an audio-recorded deposition.
• Hearings: transcribe your own recording of a hearing or an arbitration for preparation and notes. Where a transcript must be filed, order the official one from the court or the court reporter.
• Client calls and meetings: a searchable record of what was said and agreed, kept on your computer if you choose.
• Witness interviews: who said what, line by line, ready to compare against a later statement.
• Police interviews and body-camera footage: transcribe the recordings produced in discovery and check every line against the audio and video.

Recording-consent laws differ between states, and some require every party's consent before a call is recorded. Check the rules that apply before you record; this is general information, not legal advice.

How to transcribe audio for court preparation

1. Drop a recording above. The free demo transcribes the first 15 minutes with no account.
2. Set the number of speakers if you know it. Scriven tells them apart automatically.
3. Rename the speakers and correct the draft against the audio.
4. Review each line, sign, and export to PDF or Word with page and line numbers.

For full recordings, a free account gives you 60 cloud minutes a month, and the desktop app transcribes on your own computer.

Plans

• Free: 60 cloud minutes a month for one user, no card.
• Local: $29 per user per month for unlimited on-device transcription in the desktop app.
• Pro: $49 per user per month, adding 600 cloud minutes per seat, pooled across the team.
• Enterprise: quoted, with BAA, DPA, self-hosted or air-gapped deployment, SSO and an audit log.

An Android app records and uploads to your region, and you correct on the computer.

For solicitors and barristers in the UK

Scriven works the same way for UK practices: transcribe client conferences, witness interviews and police interview recordings disclosed under PACE Code E, offline on your own computer or in the EU (Germany) region. Official transcripts of court and tribunal hearings in England and Wales are still ordered from an approved transcription company using form EX107.