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Frequently Asked Questions - ACI FAQs
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+ FAQs on Medical Transcription Course
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+ FAQs on Legal Transcription Course
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FAQ ABOUT LEGAL TRANSCRIPTION - If you cannot find the answers to your questions
here, please
contact us.
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1. Can
you give me a general background on Legal Transcription?
2. How can I tell if being a Legal Transcriptionist is for me?
3. Is Legal Transcription easy to learn?
4. Do I need any previous education or experience?
5. How much do Legal Transcriptionists earn?
6. Who will I be working for?
7. How long
will the ACI Legal Transcription Course take
to finish?
8. Do I need to have my own
personal computer (PC) to take up the course? What if I cannot afford to own
one?
9. Do I need
to have internet connection?
10. After
successfully completing the ACI Legal
Transcription Course, what proof will I have to show for it?
11. How much
will I spend to take the ACI Legal
Transcription Course?
12.
What benefit will I get from the certificates that
ACI-ITD
issues to its graduates (certificate of completion and transcript of records
) ?
13. If
I enroll in the ACI
Home-based Professional LT course and I go abroad before I have finished the
course, can I continue taking the course?
14. While
taking up the ACI Professional LT course, it would be normal for me to have
academic and/or technical questions and concerns. Who will I contact or
consult for this?
15. Will
I not need to buy expensive hard bound books and other reference materials?
16. Does
IT Dynamics offer a guarantee hire program like the other classroom setting
courses that claim to have a guarantee hire program?
17. What
are the long term prospects in terms of demand for a Legal Transcriptionist
skills in the Philippines and abroad?
18. Some
people say that the actual classroom setting is actually better and easier for
me to learn and is a more effective method of training in order to become a
Legal Transcriptionist , how true is this?
19. After
finishing the ACI LT Course and I prefer to do
home based Legal Transcription work, can I do so right away?
20. Does
IT Dynamics offer start-up consultancy services and training to interested
parties who may want to set up their own Legal Transcription
Company/facility?
1.
Can you give me a general background on Legal Transcription?
Virtually
everything that takes place in the civil and criminal court systems requires
hard copy documentation. The information is either dictated or recorded in the
courtroom or at deposition hearings, as well as in law offices in less
official settings. This data may include testimonies, pleadings,
interrogatories (questions and answers), reviews of administrative hearings
and the like. The process used for operations is the same as that in the
medical transcription industry.
Utilizing
legal transcription services is hugely beneficial to both the attorney and to
consumers at large as specifically delegated and supervised legally
substantive work is performed and distributed. Also, as attorneys realize that
their own productivity and cost efficiency is maximized through utilizing
paralegal services and legal transcription services, demand will increase and
new opportunities will arise for those offering these services. While the
exact size of the industry is not known, according to the findings of National
Federation of Paralegals Associations (NFPA), the demand for paralegals and
legal transcriptionists is increasing rapidly and it is estimated that by
2005, there will be a need for between 150,000 and 176,000 paralegals in the
US.
The main
users of these services are attorneys and law firms, courts, public defenders'
and prosecutors' offices, public utility companies, publicly funded legal
service projects and community legal service programms. The other users would
be corporate legal departments, insurance companies, financial institutions,
real estate and title agencies, state and federal government agencies.
The scope
of work may include drafting and filing legal documents, calendaring and
tracking important deadlines, assisting attorneys to prepare for trials,
documenting relevant facts and information pertaining to a lawsuit, using
computers and related software and other reference material to research and
document law and to prepare the documents used. Legal transcriptionists may
become so proficient that they can actually undertake paralegal duties as
well.
2. How can I tell if being a Legal Transcriptionist is
for me?
There is of course no sure fire way of determining if the
LegaI Transcription field or becoming a Legal Transcriptionist
will suit you fine.
However, there are a few indicators you may want
to consider. If you have at least average typing
skills and can learn and retain what you've learned
perhaps becoming a Legal Transcriptionist could be for you, aside form the
possibility of being able to work at home . Although, there are other
considerations, like more independence of time, greater freedom of schedules
and others that make legal and/or similar transcription work nowadays
quite attractive, profitable and worthwhile field.
3. Is Legal Transcription easy to learn?
With the ACI Professional Legal Transcription course
you will learn how to step by step transcribe with our unique
learning system that includes transcription sessions.
The course is streamlined, comprehensive and user friendly. You
will learn to enter the legal field and do a variety of things. It is designed
to teach the functions and processes of institutions in legal system, roles
and issues in the field, and selected specialties of law.
Students will need a good
English dictionary and a Legal dictionary would be helpful, though you can
find most of the terms they will need on the Internet search engines. Students
will find this course fun and informative and even if they never pursue a
career in the law fields, it's great information for them and their family and
friends since law impacts every aspect of our daily lives.
4. Do I need any previous education or experience?
You need no previous legal experience.
You must be able to read, write and understand directions to begin the course.
As you progress, you will need to develop some typing skills. If you don't
currently know how to type, part of the course includes a handy but
comprehensive typing tutorial .
5. How much do Legal Transcriptionists earn?
A
legal transcriptionist in the United States
of America (USA) earns anywhere
between
$15-$25 an hour which works out to 6-10 cents per
line or $1.5-$3 per page. Proficient transcriptionists
can achieve productivity anywhere up to 300
lines per hour. Companies charge between $23 to $34 per
hour, which is approximately equal to 10
minutes of dictation. Legal transcription
services are usually paid on par with medical transcription services.
However, the rates mentioned here could vary
depending on the
state one is in and the specific type of
service.
6. Who will I be working for?
Legal Transcriptionists work directly for lawyers,
court reporters, law offices, transcribing service
companies and other transcription service
contractors/providers etc.. . Or you may opt to venture into business for
yourself and put up your own legal transcription company, perhaps at a micro
level to begin with and join the huge BPO bandwagon.
7.
How long will the ACI Legal Transcription Course
take to finish?
The
course is designed to be self-paced. Completion time depends on the individual student’s effort.
On the average, students complete the course in 3 months or slightly more.
Remember, this depends entirely on how many hours a student is able to commit
to the course. Some students have passed the course faster and some have
taken longer. Completion time will depend on the amount of time
the students can dedicate to the course and the
abilities of each student; it is after all
a self paced program.
8.
Do I need to have my own personal computer (PC) to take up the course? What if
I cannot afford to own one?
Yes,
you need your own PC; and the good news is,
if you cannot afford to
buy one, IT Dynamics and
some of its sub-licensees/area franchisees offer
an affordable own-a-computer plan for as
low as Php3,835.00 – Cash, and Php4,250.00 – Installment (60-day
term) for a Pentium II refurbished complete unit, which includes CPU,
Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse & Pad (with 3 months warranty). For installment, make
a downpayment of Php2,000.00 and the balance of Php2,250.00 will
be payable in 2 months at Php1,125.00 (30 days
apart).
9.
Do I need to have internet connection?
For the Modular hard copy
version of the course (which is what is available in the meantime) internet
connection is not necessary. Eventually, for those who may opt to take the on
line version, having your own internet connection is advisable.
10. After successfully completing the ACI
Legal Transcription Course, what proof will I have to show for it?
ACI through
IT Dynamics will issue you a Certificate
of Completion and Transcript
of Records (TOR) .
11. How much will I spend to take the ACI
Legal Transcription Course?
An
on-line and/or home-based Legal Transcription
Course in the US can easily
cost close to or
over a thousand US dollars. However, due to IT
Dynamics’ desire to support the
Philippine Government’s (TESDA’s) jobs creation program, for the benefit
of the Filipino people, we are offering the ACI Home-based
Legal Transcription Course (Modular systems - with 5 modules and 3
CDs) for a low cash price of Php16,150.00. For installment payments
(add 5% to the cash price) for a net total price of Php 16,957.50;
for low down payment Php3,000.00 and the balance payable on three (3)
to four (4) equal payments
12.
What benefit will I get from the certificates that
ACI-ITD
issues to its graduates (certificate of completion
and transcript of records
) ?
The certificate of
completion that ITD-ACI issues is proof
that an enrollee/trainee has taken up the ACI Professional Legal Transcription course. The Transcript of Records (TOR) that
ACI-ITD issues is an indicator of the
trainee's grades/rating on the exercises given in
the modules together with the results of the proficiency
test that will be administered at the end of
the course.
13. If
I enroll in the ACI
Home-based Professional LT course and I go abroad before I have finished the
course, can I continue taking the course?
Yes, you can continue
taking up the course. You can bring with you the modules, or download your
modules/exercises at the on-line version of the course (when available). This
is one of the obvious advantages of distance learning; and with the advent of
internet technology there really are no geographical boundaries that can set
one back from becoming a Professional LT.
14.
While taking up the ACI Professional LT course, it would be normal for me to
have academic and/or technical questions and concerns. Who will I contact or
consult for this?
For
all academic and/or technical concerns you
can send an e-mail to atechsupport@itdynamicsphil.com
or go to the A-Tech Support link and submit your concerns.
The team will get back to you ASAP.
15.
Will I not need to buy expensive hard bound books and other reference
materials?
You can buy hard bound
books and other reference materials if you choose to, but it is not required
and/or necessary. We provide to all ACI
trainees/enrollees a listing of the usable internet websites for their
reference.
16.
Does IT Dynamics offer a guarantee hire program like the other classroom
setting courses that claim to have a guarantee hire program?
In
all honesty (given the literal meaning of
the term “guarantee hire program,”) there is no such thing
as a guarantee hire program. All guarantees for hiring are premised and are
on condition that the trainee/student, after taking
up the training course is
capable and qualified to do the job. What this
therefore simply means is that, first of all the
LT trainee/applicant must be qualified to do LT
work.
The
situation of an ACI LT trainee/student is the same as in other courses, wherein if the student
does not pass the academic requirements then he/or she is not allowed to take
up the board exam (if the course requires a board exam by the PRC). No
company will hire a flunker. In our case, what an ACI LT graduate can
avail of is the inclusion of the successful ACI
graduate in what is called the ACI
JOB HUNTERS SUPPORT PROGRAM. This is a service offered
by ACI-USA
to its successful graduates wherein the names and other credentials
of the successful graduates are included in ACI’s
mailing list and sent out (electronically) on a monthly basis for a period
of one (1) year to the different LT companies, LT service providers, Law
Offices and other offices/institutions that may be in need of Legal Transcription
services. This is done so that the qualified ACI graduates
may develop their own direct contacts, and if qualified,
do home-based LT work and/or put up their own micro-LT company.
17.
What are the long term prospects in terms
of demand for a Legal
Transcriptionist skills in the Philippines and abroad?
While the
exact size of the industry is not known, according to the findings of National
Federation of Paralegals Associations (NFPA), the demand for paralegals and
legal transcriptionists is increasing rapidly and it is estimated that by
2005, there will be a need for between 150,000 and 176,000 paralegals in the
US.
18.
Some people say that the actual classroom setting is actually better and
easier for me to learn and is a more effective method of training in order to
become a Legal Transcriptionist , how true is this?
At
the moment (June 2006) we do not know of
any classroom type/setting that offers Legal transcription
training, nor have we heard of any on-line and/or
distance learning course on Legal Transcription
that is being
offered at a reasonable price like the ACI
LT Course. However, admittedly, distance and/or home-based learning is not
for everyone and may not necessarily be applicable to all types of
courses/training (for more information on this please refer to the Resources
link). What one must remember with regard to Legal Transcription
training is that LT IS A SKILL, therefore, in fact one can develop and learn
the skills whether one is in the office, at home or elsewhere, provided that
learning has to be done in front of a computer/PC supported by a proven and
affective distance learning modules.
Proof
of this is, when
you do your own research and check out the internet,
you will notice that aside from ACI,
there are a lot of other home
based/on line distance learning LT courses being offered in the United
States, which has for so many years, been a proven and affective method in
training LTs. If the Americans have found and proven that distance learning is
as good or even better than classroom setting, are we Filipinos supposed to be
any different from them and not welcome and take advantage of the benefits of on-line/distance
learning? What one should perhaps ask is if the
particular LT curriculum has been proven and effective.
In our case, we are proud to say
that the ACI Professional Legal Transcription
Home Based/On-Line Learning course curriculum, that is part of the ACI
Learning Systems, has been proven to be effective both locally and abroad.
19.
After finishing the ACI LT Course and I prefer to do home based Legal Transcription
work, can I do so right away?
Yes and No. Yes,
you can venture into home-based LT work if you happen to be qualified and
you have the right hardware (PC), have the
right software, etc. No you
must not do home - based legal transcription
work if you are not that good with your LT
skills, do not have the necessary infrastructure (fast internet connection,
the right PC, etc…)
20.
Does IT Dynamics offer start-up consultancy
services and training to
interested parties who may want to set up their
own Legal Transcription
Company/facility?
IT
Dynamics, in joint effort with its affiliate
LT companies, offers start-up
consultancy services
to interested parties. For more details please
check out the Business
Opportunities link.
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