A new tool in the organization

Tanguy Cara passed the CAPA (Certificate of Aptitude for Legal Profession) at the Marseilles bar school, after his master’s in business law. At the same time, he also obtained a university diploma in mediation and was admitted to the Grasse bar. He then set up his law firm Cara, with his associate Mrs. Hakimi, along with Marion P, the legal secretary. Thanks to his years of experience, he is a well-established lawyer to notice the changes that new tools bring to an organization.

"I've gone through several stages of organizational development, because I set up the practice myself. Little by little, I learned to manage my work with or without a secretary. But now with Philips SpeechLive, it's yet another complementary step. I'm not saying that the solution replaces human touch or a secretary. But for me, it's an efficient gain.”

Real teamwork (or not)

The legal professionals at Cara use SpeechLive in collaboration with the secretarial department. Marion P, the legal secretary, is equipped with a Philips foot pedal which facilitates the transcription of dictations she receives from the firm's lawyers and allows her to keep her hands free for continuous typing. 

"With a secretary, you have to dictate slowly. But now I give Marion, first version of the transcription derived from Philips SpeechLive speech recognition, and she only has to edit it using the audio file." 
Lawyers also have the option of working without secretarial assistance.

Mrs. Hakimi uses live speech recognition to reply to e-mails, and T. Cara uses it for annotations in his files: "I dictate directly when it's something shorter, that doesn't need to be reviewed by Marion. I use it every day. It makes our lives’ much easier.”

Greater effectiveness

Mr. Cara says that it's still too early to measure the impact that the adoption of this new technology is having on the firm, but assures he's already experienced more productivity and efficiency at work: "I think it's actually a positive gain in effectiveness. For instance, it used to take me an hour and a half to type a 4-page formal notice, but now it's done in 5 minutes. It's really an efficient tool, but I'll have to do the math at the end of the year.”

The smartphone application is also very helpful for legal professionals, offering the possibility to work anytime, anywhere. The lawyer explains how he uses the mobile app: "The fact that I can dictate from my cell phone is super helpful! I use it when I'm on road between two appointments with my headphones on when I'm thinking about something, or when I'm coming back from a hearing, in the car or at home when I have an urgent file to dictate. On my iPhone, I just have to open the Philips SpeechLive mobile app and it's done."