In an age where the vast majority of barristers are proficient typists, it may be thought that the practice of dictating written work has largely died out. However, many barristers prefer to dictate work for their secretaries or assistants to type up, some use virtual typist services, and others use speech recognition software to type their work as they speak.

I was a confirmed self-typist until a broken hand suddenly rendered me unable to type, forcing me to explore alternatives quickly. While my typing hiatus was thankfully short-lived, in the immediate aftermath of my diagnosis, I dipped my toe into the unfamiliar seas of speech recognition software, only to flee back to the safe harbour of DIY typing as soon as my clunky plaster cast was replaced with a more streamlined splint. During that brief period, I tried out Microsoft Word’s Dictate function, mainly because it required no financial outlay or installation and was sitting on the toolbar of Word. I found it useful for typing emails but fairly painful for drafting advices, as it failed to recognise legal terms, for example, repeatedly typing ‘plating’ when I dictated the word ‘pleading’. I suspect I was neither patient nor persistent enough with it, as other barristers have told me that they use it quite successfully in the course of their work.

One barrister told me that she only needed to use Word’s Dictate for a few minutes before it recognised almost every word with no mistakes. This was not my experience, but it may depend on the particular words being dictated. Its major benefit is its ease of use and access, as in addition to being available free with Word packages that most barristers already likely have, it requires only the click of a button to turn on and off. It is reportedly weaker with chronologies, as either the technology is not advanced enough to jump between rows and columns or it requires a degree of user expertise in order to do so.

Another common product used by barristers I spoke to for the purposes of this article is Nuance: Dragon in various forms. Nuance offers a generalist product called Dragon Professional 16, which retails for $999 (with a 30-day money back guarantee), and its legal product, Dragon Legal Anywhere, which is on sale at the time of writing for $1,399 for a 12-month subscription, including training and technical support. One barrister consulted for this article has used Dragon Professional for many years and has found that the quality of product has improved greatly over recent years.

It appears that barristers successfully use either product, and while Dragon Legal Anywhere was specifically developed for legal professionals and is marketed as having ‘a powerful legal vocabulary’, I query whether it is worth the additional price tag. One barrister has reported that the software recognises legal terms that Dragon Professional and Word Dictate will not, but she would need to use it much more often than she presently does to justify the cost. Retailer Voice X Communications offers a free 14-day trial of the product, so barristers can sample it for themselves before committing to the subscription. It is designed to run on Microsoft Windows, and while it appears that it is possible to run it on a Mac, its Australian retailer suggests contacting its support team for advice and options.

Barristers who choose to use voice recognition software – in addition to those nursing injuries – reported that they find it useful for tasks which do not require significant brain work, for example, the insertion of long quotes, legislation, or background factual information into advices and submissions. However, each of the barristers consulted said that they did not use the software very often, despite its utility. With the uptake in the use of two screens, enabling the ability to cut and paste from one document into another document without flicking between screens, and the use of PDF conversion software, the situations where dictation by voice recognition software may provide a useful shortcut may be more limited than they once were, at least for a competent typist. BN