Dictation app
The dictation app that hands back
a finished document.
Many dictation apps record you and pass the audio to someone else to type. Clerk& is a dictation app for barristers, solicitors and legal secretaries that does the rest: speak in your own words, and a ready-to-review fee note, attendance note or letter comes back in moments, in your own style.
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Dictation app, digital dictation, speech recognition
Three phrases people use for three different things. The difference decides what you get back.
What is a dictation app?
A dictation app records you speaking on your phone or computer so the words can be turned into a written document. Many legal dictation apps stop at the recording: they send the audio to a secretary or a typing service, who types it up. Some add speech recognition, which gives you a block of text, and a few now draft from templates. Clerk& is built around the last step: it transcribes what you say, tidies it, and returns a finished fee note, attendance note or letter in your own style, ready for you to review.
What is digital dictation?
Digital dictation is the modern replacement for the tape dictaphone: you record on a phone, a handheld recorder or a desktop app, and the recording is filed and routed electronically to whoever types it, instead of a cassette crossing the office. In Irish practices it usually means a workflow system that queues recordings for a legal secretary or an outsourced typist. The typing itself is usually done by a person.
What should a barrister or solicitor look for in a dictation app?
Four things. What comes back: audio for someone else to type, raw text, or a finished document. Where the recording goes: whether matter content stays in the EEA and whether it trains anyone's models. Whether it works away from the desk: in court corridors, on the train, with no signal. And whether it fits Irish practice: Irish names, firms, courts, neutral citations and your own fee-note and letter layout.
Is there a dictation app built for Irish legal practice?
Clerk& is built in Cork for barristers, solicitors and the people who run their practices. You speak to it the way you would brief a good secretary, and your words come back as a ready-to-review document in your own style. It runs on iPhone, Android, Windows and the web, records offline on the phone, and keeps all matter content in the EEA.
The options
Three kinds of dictation system sold in Ireland
The products named are examples of each kind, not a ranking.
Digital dictation workflow
Examples: BigHand, Diktamen, SpeechWrite 360
- Records on a phone, recorder or desktop
- Files and routes the audio to a secretary or typing service
- A person types the document; many add speech recognition
- You wait for the typist's queue
Speech recognition
Example: Dragon Legal Anywhere
- Turns speech into text as you talk
- Gives you text, not a laid-out document
- Formatting, headings and references are still yours to do
- Usually tied to a desktop and Word
Speech to document
Clerk&
- Speak in your own words, on any device
- Comes back as a finished fee note, attendance note or letter
- Laid out in your own style, ready to review
- Moments after you stop recording, any hour
Side by side
What each kind gives you
What comes back
- Clerk&
- A finished document in your own style
- Digital dictation workflow
- Audio for someone to type
- Speech recognition
- Text you then lay out
Who does the typing
- Clerk&
- Nobody: you review and send
- Digital dictation workflow
- A secretary or typing service
- Speech recognition
- You, correcting as you go
How long it takes
- Clerk&
- Moments after you stop recording
- Digital dictation workflow
- The typist's queue
- Speech recognition
- As fast as you dictate, plus formatting
Where you can use it
- Clerk&
- iPhone, Android, Windows and the web; the phone records offline
- Digital dictation workflow
- Phone or desk; typing happens elsewhere
- Speech recognition
- Mostly at a desk
What it costs
- Clerk&
- €69/user/month + VAT, 10 hours of recording included
- Digital dictation workflow
- Software licence, plus the typist's time or per-minute fee
- Speech recognition
- Software licence
General descriptions of each kind of system, checked 30 October 2026. Products differ and the lines are blurring: Philips SpeechLive, for example, sells a workflow plan (€18.90/user/month) and a Legal AI Assistant that returns structured, ready-to-review documents from templates (€49/user/month in 2026, €68.80 from 2027, both ex VAT, billed annually; speechlive.com/ie). Check a product's current features and price with its supplier.
Choosing
Four checks before you pick a dictation app
Ask to see what comes back
The deciding question. A recording, a transcript and a finished fee note are three different products. Ask for a real example from your own kind of work.
Ask where the recording goes
Privileged material deserves a straight answer: where is the audio processed and stored, does anything leave the EEA, does your content train anyone's models, and can you sign an Article 28 data-processing agreement.
Try it in the corridor, not the office
The best moment to record an attendance note is walking out of court. Check the app records with no signal and catches up when you are back in range.
Check it knows Irish practice
Irish surnames, the firms instructing you, courts, neutral citations and legal Latin should come back right, and your fee-note and letter layout should be yours, not a template.
Questions
Common questions
Which is the best dictation app for barristers in Ireland?
It depends on what you want back. If you have a secretary or a typing service and want to send them audio, a digital dictation workflow does that well. If you want text as you speak, speech recognition does that. If you want to speak once and get the finished document, ready to check and send, that is what Clerk& is for. The 14-day free trial is the fair test: run a real week of fee notes and attendance notes through it.
Is there a dictation app for solicitors and legal secretaries?
Yes. Clerk& works for solicitors and legal secretaries as well as barristers: the person speaking gets a ready-to-review letter, attendance note or file note back, and a secretary can review, correct and send it. Workspaces let counsel, solicitors, clerks and secretaries share the same documents.
Does a dictation app replace digital dictation software like a typing workflow?
Clerk& replaces the typing step, which is what most digital dictation systems exist to route. Instead of sending audio to a queue, you get the document back directly. The review step stays: a person checks every document before it goes out.
Does Clerk& work offline?
The iPhone and Android apps record offline and upload when you are back in range; the finished document comes back once the recording is processed. The web and Windows apps need a connection.
Where is my dictation stored?
All matter content is processed and stored in the EEA and is never used to train AI models. A signed Article 28 data-processing agreement is available. The one exception to EEA processing is narrow: a solicitor's name (never the document, client or matter) may be looked up on the web to find their firm's address.
What does it cost?
€69 per user per month plus VAT on the early-adopter rate (€99 standard), with 10 hours of recording included each month, and a 14-day free trial with no card needed.
Last reviewed 30 October 2026.
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