Technology

Today's Tech: A Lawyer And Dragon Dictate (Also, Thanks For Nothing)

What is Dragon Dictate, and how can you use it to make your practice more efficient?

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Digital TechnologyToday I’m going to share how a personal injury lawyer uses Dragon Dictate software to increase his efficiency and save costs.

But first, I’d like to extend my overwhelming expression of gratitude to the commentariat for proving, once again, that you never fail to disappoint. In my last column, as soon as I typed the words “I also welcome feedback … in the comments,” I had a sinking feeling that I’d committed the equivalent of posting “test post please ignore” on Reddit. And sure enough, by soliciting feedback in the comments, I received none. If nothing else, dear readers, you’re a predictable bunch.

Moving on to today’s topic: Dragon Dictate, which is speech-to-text software. While it’s been around for years, lawyers have only recently begun to use it in their practices, in part because the technology has advanced and is now much more user-friendly.

That was certainly the case for Houston personal injury attorney, Greg Baumgartner, who is undoubtedly one of my favorite interviewees thus far, for reasons you’ll soon learn about at the end of this post. According to Greg, although he gave Dragon Dictate a test drive a number of years ago, it wasn’t until recently that it met his firm’s needs: “Years ago, when I first tried an early version of Dragon, I did not find it a satisfactory tool for communicating. Later on, I tried a newer version of Dragon on a computer with much more RAM and was delighted with the results. More recent updates to the Dragon lineup have proven even better.”

Dragon appealed to Greg since he knew that the software had the potential to improve his firm’s productivity and, as a solo, increasing efficiency while reducing overhead costs simply made sense; Dragon seemed liked a good way to move toward that goal.

“I tried Dragon because I am a poor typist and needed something to help me communicate accurately and quickly. Dragon works great for correspondence, email, and documents. We have even found Dragon to be good for dictation in lieu of sending audio files for transcription,” he explains. “People speak at a much higher speed than most people can type. Being able to dictate a memorandum in a few minutes as opposed to typing the information has proven invaluable to our firm. Additionally, more typing-intensive items such as a blog post can be done in a fraction of the time.”

Greg uses Dragon for a variety different types of documents and finds that using Dragon for speech-to-text dictation and then handing the draft document off to his paralegal saves time. “I use Dragon to dictate email, notes, memos, faxes, blog posts, and general correspondence and also to dictate pleadings to be formatted by a legal assistant.” He continues: “One method we utilize is to dictate to an email to be put into final version by a paralegal. We have found that superior to sending an audio file and it’s much easier to do.”

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According to Greg, it’s a technology worth exploring, even for lawyers who are reluctant to embrace technology: “There is no doubt that I am much more efficient using Dragon than not. Most attorneys I’ve spoken to are afraid of technology and the ‘learning curve.’ Dragon is extremely easy to use and you can be up and running in less than an hour. Most attorneys who are used to dictating will be shocked how fast and accurate Dragon actually is.”

For those lawyers interested in exploring Dragon for use in their law firms, he offers the following recommendations: “Buy the latest version of the software and consider an upgraded headset. There is nothing wrong with the headset that comes with the software but for bit more money you can get a much better microphone. If you upgrade your microphone to a wired one, go with one that has a USB connector. And I would recommend a minimum of 16 MB of RAM for anyone contemplating using the software.”

Greg believes that it’s important for lawyers to explore and learn about new technologies, since there are so many benefits to be had. “Many people choose not to try new technology because of fear of the unknown,” he explains. “Take the leap and if it works out, great, and if it doesn’t, at least you have tried to expand your horizons. There’s an old saying, ‘you can build a house with a hammer or nail gun.’ Why not choose the nail gun?”

And finally, Greg shared how he tracks technology changes in the legal field: “I try to keep abreast of technology from other attorneys who are active in the legal technology market. Certainly, Niki Black would be one of those.”

Talk about wise advice. No wonder he’s one of my favorite interviewees. The man’s an absolute genius.

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And, as always, if you or an attorney you know is using technology in a creative or unusual way in your law firm, drop me an email at niki.black@mycase.com. I’m always looking for new attorneys — or judges — to feature in this column.

Niki BlackNicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, web-based law practice management software. She’s been blogging since 2005, has written a weekly column for the Daily Record since 2007, is the author of Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York. She’s easily distracted by the potential of bright and shiny tech gadgets, along with good food and wine. You can follow her on Twitter at@nikiblack and she can be reached at niki.black@mycase.com.

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