I am often asked about using the iPhone to take dictation, and when this happens next, I plan to refer to this recent post by Ernie Svenson. I have never really used dictation, even when I started my law practice over 15 years ago and it was the norm for attorneys, because I am a good typist and I know my way around Microsoft Word. Thus, I have never been able to say much on the topic. The only dictation that I do on my iPhone is that I dictate short e-mails and have them transcribed using the amazing and free Dragon Dictation app that I reviewed late last year. I love Dragon Dictation, but you are not going to use that app to dictate even a section of a brief, let alone a whole brief; that app works best for just a few sentences.
Earlier this year I reviewed SpeakWrite, an iPhone app and service that will transcribe what you record on your iPhone, and I know that many lawyers love that service. Keep in mind, however, that you need to pay for every word that you have transcribed.
If you would prefer to have the computer handle dictation instead of paying a person to do it, the best iPhone solution appears to be to record your voice using an iPhone app and then transfer the recording over to your computer so that a robust program (like Dragon NaturallySpeaking on the PC or MacSpeech Scribe on the Mac) can turn what you said into a brief, letter, etc. New Orleans attorney Ernie Svenson recently described his solution which uses the $9.99 Dictamus iPhone app and the $149 MacSpeech program on his Mac. Svenson points out that it is handy to use your iPhone to do the recording because you are always going to have your iPhone with you, unlike a dedicated recorder or a headset connected to your computer.
If you are interested in learning more about using your iPhone to handle your dictation, check out Svenson's good article on his Ernie the Attorney website to read about how he is doing it.
