To transcribe a court hearing recording, send the audio to the Potok bot on Telegram with timestamps and speaker labels on. Files up to 2 GB work. The text is a working draft: human review before any official use is required, and an official transcript is made by the court.
Transcribe a recording
Send your voice message, audio or video to @potok_now_bot on Telegram and the text comes back in the chat.
Open @potok_now_bot in Telegram
Files up to 2 GB · export to TXT, MD, DOCX, PDF, SRT and VTT · speaker labels and timestamps · about 30 languages
Key facts
- Human review before any official use is the rule: a draft transcript is a finding aid, not a certified record.
- Timestamps let a lawyer quote a point and send colleagues straight to the minute in the audio.
- Check whether you may record and handle the audio at all, because many courts restrict recording.
How to do it
- Check you may use the recording. Confirm the court, or the party who made it, allows its use. Rules differ widely.
- Open the bot. Open @potok_now_bot in Telegram and prepare the audio file.
- Switch on timestamps and speaker labels. Judge, counsel and witnesses will appear as Speaker 1, 2 and so on, never by name.
- Send the file. A hearing is long. Up to 2 GB fits, and Upload in the mini app handles a file near that size.
- Export DOCX. A Word file is easy to annotate, mark and share with colleagues.
- Replace labels with roles. Listen to the start of each voice and write Judge, Counsel, Witness in place of the numbers.
- Review every passage. Compare the text with the audio line by line, above all for names, dates, amounts and legal terms.
What the result looks like
[00:00] Speaker 1: The court is now in session. Counsel, you may proceed.
[00:06] Speaker 2: Thank you. I would like to call the first witness.
[00:11] Speaker 1: Please swear in the witness.
[00:15] Speaker 3: I swear to tell the truth.
Sample text written by us to show the layout of a transcript. It is not the output of the recognition engine and not a real recording.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Where it works | Telegram bot @potok_now_bot; large files go through the bot's mini app |
| File size | Up to 2 GB |
| Export | TXT, MD, DOCX, PDF, SRT, VTT |
| Speakers and time | Speaker labels and timestamps can be switched on |
| Languages | About 30 languages with good published results; a few more with warnings |
| Translation | The transcript is not translated into another language |
| Dictation | A separate Potok desktop app lets you dictate text into any program; it recognises Russian speech |
Common mistakes
| Mistake | What happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Quoting from the draft in a filing | A single wrong word can change what a witness said. | Quote only from text you have checked against the audio and the official record. |
| Trusting speaker numbers | Voices can swap labels when several people talk over each other. | Confirm the speaker at every quote you plan to use. |
| Skipping the check of legal terms | Rare terms and names of statutes may come out as common words. | Keep a list of the terms of the case and search the text for them. |
| Sharing the audio without checking confidentiality | Some hearings are closed or hold sealed details. | Check the confidentiality rules before you send or share any file. |
More
See the full list of languages, the tools and the glossary.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use the transcript as an official record?
No. It is a draft for your own work. Human review is needed before any official use, and an official transcript comes from the court.
Does the bot know who is the judge?
No. It labels voices as numbers. You replace them with roles after you listen.
Why switch on timestamps?
They help you cite the exact minute in the audio and let colleagues check it.
Can I send a long hearing?
Yes. Files up to 2 GB are accepted, and bigger ones go through the Upload button.
Is it fine to send any hearing audio?
Not always. Check whether the recording is allowed and whether the content is confidential first.
Sources
Each source was opened by hand on the date shown. Pages change, so open the source if a detail matters to you.
- Transcript (law) (Wikipedia), Wikipedia · checked
- Speaker diarisation (Wikipedia), Wikipedia · checked
Try it on your own recording
Send your voice message, audio or video to @potok_now_bot on Telegram and the text comes back in the chat.
Open @potok_now_bot in Telegram