If
you’re
as
old
as
I
am,
you
remember
when
drafting
a
document
meant
scribbling
illegibly
on
a
yellow
legal
pad,
then
typing
your
chicken
scratch
up
on
an
electric
typewriter
and
eventually
a
PC
or
Mac.
Over
time,
as
most
of
us
acclimated
to
technology,
we
slowly
and
sometimes
reluctantly
trained
ourselves
to
draft
directly
at
the
keyboard
which
became
the
default
mechanism
to
create
work
product.
This
isn’t
a
nostalgia
play
but
rather,
an
example
of
how
technology
rewires
how
we
work.
And
we’re
on
the
cusp
of
the
same
shift
again.
Only
this
time
the
jump
isn’t
from
paper
to
keyboard
but
keyboard
to
voice.
And
while
you
may
be
thinking
that
you’ll
never
surrender
the
written
word,
there
are
compelling
reasons
why
solos
and
smalls
should
make
voice
their
drafting
tool
of
choice
in
an
AI
age.
Voice
Has
Come
a
Long
Way
Although
dictation
has
been
around
for
at
least
a
century
(first
through
human
scribes,
then
through
more
rudimentary
tools
like
Dragon
Dictation),
it
wasn’t
until
recently
that
AI-powered
transcription
was
truly
ready
for
prime
time.
Modern
speech
recognition
systems
routinely
hit
90%
accuracy
in
quiet
conditions
with
decent
microphones,
and
newer
models
continue
to
improve.
At
the
same
time,
the
underlying
voice
AI
market
is
expected
to
climb
from
about
$3.14
billion
in
2024
to
a
projected
$47.5
billion
by
2034,
which
reflects
the
fact
that
businesses
are
actually
deploying
these
tools
at
scale.
So
if
your
last
experience
with
dictation
was
a
clunky
desktop
program
that
mangled
half
your
sentences,
it’s
time
to
take
a
second
look.
The
Speed
Advantage
Everyone
Already
Knows
About
Let’s
start
with
the
obvious
advantage
of
voice:
it’s
faster
than
typing.
A
Stanford
study
found
that
speaking
is
3x
faster
than
typing
-or
150
words
per
minute
for
speech
versus
40
words
per
minute
for
the
average
typist.
Even
professional
typists
cap
out
around
65-75
words
per
minute.
Do
the
math:
A
500-word
client
email
takes
12.5
minutes
to
type
but
only
4
minutes
to
dictate
which
represents
a
68%
time
savings.
For
busy
solo
and
small
firm
practitioners,
the
time
saved
can
add
up
to
10+
hours
back
per
week.
Voice
also
saves
time
by
letting
you
work
while
you’re
doing
something
else.
Instead
of
leaving
court,
climbing
into
your
car,
and
trying
to
thumb
out
a
few
cryptic
notes
on
your
phone
in
the
parking
lot,
you
can
hit
record
and
dictate
a
full
summary
of
the
hearing
while
you
drive.
By
the
time
you
walk
back
into
your
office,
that
stream-of-consciousness
recap
has
already
been
transcribed
into
a
written
summary,
ready
to
drop
into
your
file,
your
practice
management
system,
or
a
draft
motion.
For
solos
and
small
firms,
that
kind
of
“found
time”
between
locations
is
often
the
only
place
you
can
reclaim
an
hour
from
an
already
overscheduled
day.
A
Better
Way
to
Tackle
the
Blank
Page
Speech
is
also
more
effective
in
tackling
the
blank-page
problem.
I
don’t
know
about
you
but
for
me,
the
conventional
advice
to
“just
write
anything”
to
overcome
writer’s
block
never
worked.
Even
a
minute
of
staring
at
the
resulting
clunky
text
was
too
demoralizing.
But
when
you
talk
instead
of
type,
you
can
freely
think
out
loud,
wander,
and
circle
back.
AI
can
capture
your
ramblings,
clean
up
the
tangents,
and
tighten
the
structure
so
that
by
the
time
you
see
it
on
the
screen,
it
already
looks
like
a
real
draft
instead
of
a
mess
you
have
to
rescue.
Voice
Preserves
Authenticity
Voice
also
preserves
authenticity.
It
can
also
help
us
communicate
our
clients’
position
more
effectively.
Increasingly,
clients
are
relying
on
AI
to
summarize
their
case
when
they
reach
out
for
help
—
which
can
flatten
their
unique
voice.
But
giving
clients
a
tool
—
like
an
AI
chatbot
or
a
transcribed
intake
interview
—
can
capture
your
clients’
exact
language
verbatim,
and
make
their
story
more
authentic.
As
for
lawyers,
you
can
deploy
the
idioms
and
cadence
you
want
to
preserve
in
your
writing
and
instruct
AI
to
retain
your
unique
voice
even
as
it
cleans
up
the
grammatical
errors
and
verbal
tics.
For
all
of
its
benefits,
voice
won’t
work
for
every
scenario
—
particularly
for
the
kind
of
complicated
precision
writing
required
for
an
appellate
brief,
a
multi-footnote
law
review
article,
or
a
contract
for
a
billion-dollar
transaction.
Still,
there
are
a
myriad
of
other
use
cases
such
as
demand
letters
and
settlement
negotiation
narratives,
internal
memos,
and
case
strategy
and
client
communications.
And
yes,
you’ll
need
to
edit
and
refine
—
but
you
have
to
do
that
with
any
writing.
Tips
to
Implement
Voice
So,
if
you’ve
made
the
decision
to
use
voice,
the
next
question
is:
what
should
you
use
to
capture
it?
Wispr
Flow
has
emerged
as
a
quiet
gold
standard
among
AI‑savvy
lawyers,
thanks
to
its
powerful
engine,
strong
accuracy,
and
seamless
integrations
into
legal
workflows.
Google
Docs
Voice
Typing
is
also
surprisingly
good
for
something
that’s
free
and
already
sitting
in
most
lawyers’
toolkits.
And
nearly
every
major
AI
platform
you’re
already
using
—
Perplexity,
Claude,
ChatGPT
—
now
offers
some
kind
of
built-in
voice
recording
mode,
so
you
can
talk
through
an
issue
and
get
a
cleaned-up
transcript
or
draft
back
instead
of
staring
down
a
blank
page.
The
same
ethics
cautions
that
apply
to
every
other
use
of
AI
govern
here.
Choose
a
platform
that
doesn’t
train
on
your
recordings,
uses
strong
security,
and
gives
you
control
over
retention.
If
you’re
recording
or
transcribing
client
conversations,
always
obtain
informed
consent.
Voice
is
not
just
a
new
input
method;
it’s
a
way
for
solos
and
small
firms
to
move
faster
while
still
retaining
authenticity.
When
you
combine
modern
transcription
with
light
AI
cleanup,
you
get
drafts
that
keep
your
authentic
voice
and
your
clients’
real
stories,
while
reclaiming
hours
you
can’t
afford
to
waste
at
the
keyboard.
If
you’re
serious
about
staying
human
in
an
AI-driven
market,
making
voice
your
choice
is
one
of
the
simplest,
highest-leverage
moves
you
can
make.
Carolyn
Elefant
is
one
of
the
country’s
most
recognized
advocates
for
solo
and
small
firm
lawyers.
She
founded
MyShingle.com
in
2002,
the
longest-running
blog
for
solo
practitioners,
where
she
has
published
thousands
of
articles,
resources,
and
guides
on
starting,
running,
and
growing
independent
law
practices.
She
is
the
author
of
Solo
by
Choice,
widely
regarded
as
the
definitive
handbook
for
launching
and
sustaining
a
law
practice,
and
has
spoken
at
countless
bar
events
and
legal
conferences
on
technology,
innovation,
and
regulatory
reform
that
impacts
solos
and
smalls.
Elefant
also
develops
practical
tools
like
the AI
Teach-In to
help
small
firms
adopt
AI
and
she
consistently
champions
reforms
to
level
the
playing
field
for
independent
lawyers.
Alongside
this
work,
she
runs
the
Law
Offices
of
Carolyn
Elefant,
a
national
energy
and
regulatory
practice
that
handles
selective
complex,
high-stakes
matters.