Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers speech recognition software for lawyers (see article below), a proofreading add-on for Microsoft Word, a mobile scanner, an iPhone task manager, and a cloud collaboration system. Don't miss the next issue.
DRAFT LEGAL DOCUMENTS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND
A twenty-something generation y lawyer I know once expressed surprise that some lawyers prefer writing by voice rather than by keyboard. However, when I was a twenty-something summer associate I witnessed firsthand baby boomer lawyers who could write faster by voice than my generation X peers could touch type. With many baby boomers far from retirement, many gen xers suffering from wrist pain, and speech recognition technology improving more rapidly than keyboards and being integrated into smartphones, the interest level in writing by voice has skyrocketed — even among generation y lawyers.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 Legal … in One Sentence
Announced July 26, Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 Legal is the new version of the most popular speech recognition software.
The Killer Feature
Nuance offers several versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking at different price points. The Legal and other versions all share a new feature — up to a 20% accuracy improvement over the previous version out of the box. Overall, Nuance claims that version 12 can achieve 99% accuracy. As always, it becomes more accurate the more you use it, and as you correct it when it misunderstands you.
Dragon 12 Legal gets you up to speed faster because it recognizes legal terms without training. Also, you can import and share throughout your firm words and phrases that you use for certain clients or in your area of practice. The Legal version also automatically formats legal citations.
Other Notable Features
Also new — Smart Format Rules. Dragon 12 Legal can learn how you format specific words and phrases. For example, if you have a client named Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and you always italicize it, Dragon 12 Legal can spell and format it correctly every time you speak it into a document.
As longtime users know, Dragon NaturallySpeaking enables you to "control," not just dictate. In version 12, you can control Gmail in Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Also, Dragon 12 Legal can read text back to you with controls for speed, volume, rewind, and fast forward — as well as pause so that you can make edits on the fly.
Regarding input devices, Nuance has expanded support for wideband 16 KHz Bluetooth wireless headset microphones. Also, you can use the Dragon Remote Microphone app on your iPhone or Android smartphone over a WiFi network.
Other new features include an interactive tutorial, an improved Performance Assistant, faster corrections with more options presented, and new voice commands.
What Else Should You Know?
Dragon 12 Legal costs $799 with volume discounts available. Other options include the Professional Edition at $599, Premium Edition at $199, and Home Edition at $99. All of these new editions run on Windows. Learn more about Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 Legal.
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