If you have excellent typing skills, an ear for typing out what you hear, and some legal knowledge, you can make your work from home dreams come true with these remote legal transcription jobs.
When it comes to work from home jobs, many shy away from anything with legal in the title. Instant thoughts of complicated language and expensive degrees come to mind, but that isn’t always the case. For example, legal transcription jobs can be done from home on your own schedule with a basic knowledge of the law.
When it comes to legal transcription, many work from home jobs need qualified individuals. Because it requires specific skills, there’s a high demand for workers. So, if you have a legal background or are willing to get some training, you can swoop into a booming industry full of remote work.
Here are some ideas on how to get started and companies with open legal transcription jobs available right now!
What is Legal Transcription?
In general transcription work, contractors listen to various video recordings and audio files and type what they hear verbatim into a Word document. There are many types of transcription: health (medical), insurance, corporate, and much more.
What do legal transcriptionists do? They work to transcribe information and sources into legal documents to become part of the legal record.
This can include items or events such as:
- Testimonies
- Trials and court proceedings
- Hearings
- Depositions
- Legal proceedings
- Legal pleadings
- Briefs
- Memorandums
- Statements
- Interrogations
- Witness interviews
- Meetings
- Phone calls
- Legal correspondence
Believe it or not, this field offers plenty of variety in the work. Every area of law needs legal transcriptionists!
That means that you can find an attorney in specialties such as criminal, family, real estate, corporate, personal injury, medical malpractice, insurance, collections and foreclosures, and worker’s compensation claims – just to name a few.
As a legal transcriber, you can work directly for legal professionals such as lawyers and paralegals in the private or public sectors (including federally-run departments). You may also work as a contractor for a service that law firms hire. This is the most common route for those new to legal transcription who do not yet have connections in the legal sector. Some transcribers also work directly in courtrooms, transcribing spoken word using short-hand on a stenotype machine. In this case, you’d be called a stenographer.
If you are interested in the law and don’t want to spend the time or money getting a law degree, there’s a legal transcription job out there for you.
Benefits of Legal Transcription Jobs
In addition to working in an area of the law you find interesting, there’s a lot to love about working as a legal transcriptionist. Here are some of the pros you can expect if you find a job in the field:
- Better pay. Compared to other transcription jobs, you will get the best compensation in the legal sector. Most other work-from-home jobs are close to minimum wage. However, since you need a particular skillset for legal transcription, it pays higher, with an average salary of $42,443 per year.
- Lots of jobs. Because of this special skill set, the legal sector is less competitive than other transcription jobs. Since there is a high demand, there isn’t a lack of work for qualified and experienced legal transcribers.
- Flexible scheduling. In addition to great pay and plenty of job offerings, freelance legal transcriptionists can set their own hours. They may need to meet deadlines, but as long as the work gets done on time, they can work when they want to.
- No customer service. Many full or part-time work-from-home jobs require you to be on the phone or do customer service. Legal transcription is almost entirely solo work that requires minimal communication with others (though you will need excellent listening skills!).
- Career growth. Because of the demand for experienced professionals in the legal field, having experience as a legal transcriptionist can open up other career paths in the legal sector.
What Do I Need to Qualify for Legal Transcription Jobs?
To qualify for a legal transcription job, you will need more skills and qualifications than general or even medical transcription work.
It’s an excellent opportunity for paralegals or legal assistants to work from home or earn extra income. Others can also do it without a legal background, but you may need to take some training beforehand. TranscribeAnywhere offers online training courses in general and legal transcription that can get you up to speed and ready to work as a marketable professional quickly.
The American Association of Electronic Reporters also offers a program to become a certified electronic transcriber (CET).
Since you’ll be working with legal documents, you need a general knowledge of legal terminology and familiarity with legal procedures and documentation. This entails understanding what you’re typing and knowing how to format it properly to create an accurate transcript.
A strong background in writing is important, ensuring a high language skill level. This includes excellent grammar, spelling, editing, and punctuation skills for the job. Since these are legal documents, they need to be accurate. A high level of attention to detail, accurate typing, and strong editing skills ensures everything is grammatically correct.
Other certification skills include a fast typing speed with few mistakes to ensure a minimal need for editing. You’ll likely need to complete an exam transcribing dictations to test your typing speed.
In terms of actual equipment, you need a reliable desktop or laptop computer, keyboard, transcription software (such as Express Scribe), word processing software (Microsoft Word is most common), and a high-speed internet connection. Familiarity with transcription software is a plus.
Most companies also encourage the use of noise-canceling headphones and a foot pedal to pause and rewind audio hands-free, therefore increasing your transcribing proficiency.
Can You Work as a Legal Transcriptionist Without Experience?
It’s not easy to break into legal transcription without any prior experience or training. Some companies don’t require any experience, but this is quite rare. Most want you to have a legal background or some training.
During the interview process, expect to be asked to take a typing test to verify your skillset. If a company hires you, you’ll likely need to pass a criminal background check.
Anyone looking for a side hustle and can only commit a few hours a week likely won’t find the time and effort spent on training to be worth it. In that case, sticking to general transcription before breaking into the legal sector is better. Then, once you have general transcription experience, many law offices offer on-site training.
But if you are looking for consistent part-time or full-time work, the higher legal transcriptionists’ salaries will make the extra training worth it.
Although there aren’t any official degrees for legal transcription, most community colleges offer specialized courses for legal transcription training. Note that you’ll need a high school diploma or GED equivalent to join those programs.
Or you can opt for something online like the TranscribeAnywhere course.
16 Legal Transcription Jobs to Work From Home
Ready to get started? Brush off your resume and spruce up your cover letter because these companies are hiring individuals right now. Take a close look at what makes each company unique and the qualifications needed to get hired, including training and confidentiality requirements.
1. Allegis
Allegis mostly hires for insurance transcription jobs, but they do legal work, too. They hire entry-level and experienced transcriptionists. Their transcriptionists are all independent contractors, ensuring you have the flexibility you crave. This company also hires US-based quality assurance specialists to ensure that transcriptions are accurate.
- Allegis transcription receives an above-average 3.9-star rating on Indeed.
2. Alphabet Secretarial Services
Alphabet Secretarial Services hires transcription workers for general, academic, corporate, medical, and legal work. While they are UK-based, you can work worldwide. Just remember that spelling is UK English.
You need to have previous transcription experience, and they require English to be your first language. The application process has several parts, including the application, a grammar exercise, a transcription exercise, and the signing of a confidentiality agreement.
- Alphabet Secretarial Services receives a 5-star rating on RaveCapture.
3. Cambridge Transcriptions
Founded in 1989, Cambridge Transcriptions provides transcription services in the medical, entertainment, corporate, insurance, financial, and legal fields. They hire part-time workers both remotely and on-site. They employ experienced transcriptionists only, requiring at least one year of transcription or court reporting experience.
4. VECRA, Inc.
If you’re looking for full-time work as a legal transcriptionist, check out VECRA. Applicants must have a high school diploma or GED and five years of experience in the profession. Several shifts are available so you can work hours that fit your life and schedule.
- VECRA, Inc. receives a 1.6-star rating on Glassdoor, with employees complaining about poor communication. Read through the reviews before you apply.
5. VIQ
VIQ acquired Net Transcripts, a market leader in police and law enforcement transcription work. The demand for work is high, offering the ability to work as much or as little as you want. A fast and accurate WPM and a year of general transcription experience are necessary.
6. SpeakWrite
SpeakWrite hires experienced legal transcriptionists who live in the US or Canada. They hire for general transcription with a minimum of one year of experience. For their legal transcription jobs, you need at least one year of recent experience in a law office. Applicants must pass a typing test with an average of 60 WPM and 90% accuracy. The pay is average, but the work is plentiful.
7. Tigerfish
Tigerfish is another transcription company that accepts beginners. However, you must be a US citizen or legal resident and live in the US. You’ll also need to pass their initial test. Accuracy is more important than speed. Their work includes law enforcement, interviews, documentaries, presentations, and focus groups.
8. Acolad
Acolad, formally Ubiqus, is quite friendly to anyone who has related experience in secretarial work, writing work, etc. They offer all kinds of transcription services and other summary work in many areas, including medical, finance, education, and legal.
If applying for legal transcription work, previous experience as a legal employee is needed. For those who can do same-day or next-day work, you will get tons of work coming your way.
9. eScribers
eScribers hires transcriptionists with various levels of experience, including beginners. In addition to transcribers, the company employs court reporters. As one of the largest legal transcription companies, their pay is highly competitive, includes periodic bonuses, and transcriptionists get paid weekly.
10. QuickTate
QuickTate hires independent contractors to transcribe phone messages, notes, letters, legal files, medical files, recordings of phone calls, and more. You must have excellent spelling and grammar, pass a criminal background check, provide three references, and have prior transcribing experience. QuickTate does not hire beginner transcriptionists.
11. Transcription for Everyone
Transcription for Everyone hires transcribers and editors in various sectors. Depending on your interests and experience, they will assign you work that is right for you. This helps increase turnaround time and reduce audio difficulty for their transcriptionists. They offer opportunities for growth for both transcribers and editors.
12. Kendall Creek Communications
Specializing in legal transcription, Kendall Creek Communications allows you to select work you would be interested in based on the posted rate and available work. You get to choose how much or how little work you want to do. Once you’ve signed on for a project, you can work directly with the client to complete the job.
13. Jamison Professional Services
Jamison Professional Services offers both medical and legal transcription jobs. Their legal transcriptionists’ salaries are very competitive, requiring two years of experience and a minimum typing speed of 65 WPM with 95% accuracy. In order to be hired, applicants must pass government clearance screening, which includes (but isn’t limited to) a background check.
14. Ditto Transcripts
Ditto Transcripts provides transcription services across fields, including medical, law enforcement, business, legal, and general transcription in the United States.
The company offers full-time transcriptionist work, as well as independent contractor positions. To work for them, you’ll need to pass an initiation test.
Their legal transcribers are paid $0.80 to $1.10 per minute, with the possibility of higher rates for fast turnaround. For example, the company has paid as much as $5 per minute for overnight court transcripts.
15. TranscribeMe
TranscribeMe offers remote transcription jobs for freelancers around the world. Part of their draw is that there is no experience required to sign up – just internet access.
After you pass their entrance exam and receive certification, you’ll be offered a steady stream of work. You can work as much or as little as you’d like, picking up assignments based on your schedule. The only requirement is to complete at least one assignment per month.
TranscribeMe does offer legal transcription services, though there is no specialty legal team. In other words, all legal assignments are offered the general rate of $15 per audio hour. Employees are paid via direct deposit to their Paypal accounts.
16. DailyTranscription
You can find a legal transcriptionist job through DailyTranscription, offering 1-5 hours of work per week – perfect for a side hustle. Independent contractors earn between $75-$120 per hour of audio. While these rates are higher than many competitors, they come with a recommended experience level of 2-3 years and a minimum typing speed of 50 WPM.
Last Words About Legal Transcription Work
For the right person, legal transcription may be the perfect work from home job. Although the initial learning curve can be steep, once you understand the legal terms and formatting, it’s easy to listen and breeze through transcriptions. If you have any further questions about transcription jobs, leave them in the comments below.
Interested in more work from home law jobs? Check out this post on the 9 best work from home legal jobs!
Originally published March 14, 2022. Content updated August 2024.
