Nelson Thomas, Attorney
Dolin, Thomas & Solomom LLP – Rochester
How do you put a value on immediate turnaround of documentation? Nelson believes having the ability to correct and see as you go along is priceless!
Nelson Thomas utilizes speech recognition primarily for e-mail, letters and briefs as well as documenting phone conversations. He truly feels the training approach used by Achieve Results, which is customized for each user, and their workflow was highly effective and wholeheartedly recommends it.
Dolin, Thomas and Solomon LLP began using Speech Recognition with Patrick Solomon as the first user in the office. Achieve Results provided a demo which allowed him to ask questions, soon after he received Speech Recognition Essentials Training by Achieve Results. After positive feedback from Patrick and observing Pat's use the software, Nelson decided it would be an effective tool for him also. Nelson states "the software is amazing" and is surprised it can keep up with the speed of dictation that he issues. He is pleased by how easily it learns acronyms and abbreviations after a simple training step. As a result of the productivity improvements realized by using Speech Recognition software their firm has gone from two secretaries to zero, one left through attrition and the other one was promoted to a paralegal.Nelson occasionally utilizes a receptionist for some very basic administrative tasks such as adding addresses to his letters. A paralegal will add table of contents and table of authorities to finalize the document. One of the biggest benefits he feels is the "immediate turnaround", especially when there are no staff present, such as late nights and weekends. He highly values his effectiveness not having to wait for a first draft to come back from transcription, which he would then have to issue the corrections for. He felt this had been extremely time-consuming. How to put value on the immediate turnaround? The ability to review and edit as you go along.... priceless!!
He remembers having to go out of town but needed to create a document at 10 o'clock at night for the next morning. He dictated of 5 - 6 page memo, making numerous modifications and layout to the document. Even though he is a fast typist he could not have got that done nor could he have gotten traditional transcription back to meet his deadline. Although Nelson is a very fast typist the speed of document creation using speech recognition is significantly faster than typing and there is no need to worry about spelling. He fully agrees that even the fastest typist is forced to slow down his/her thought process to the pace at which they can type, which dramatically reduces their output. He loves to refine his document by easily going back to view and enhance as he goes. He is amazed how well Dragon NaturallySpeaking works behind the scenes and integrates with other programs. He mainly uses it with Word and Outlook but also uses it in their time and billing software called AMICUS. He states, "all attorneys hate the process of keeping track of their time, utilizing speech recognition makes it painless". Since he is more thorough with his description of his activities which will appear on the invoice to the client they are much more likely to pay the invoice without dispute and do so in a timely manner. Additionally he frequently refers to his notes he has made in the billing system to remind them of the facts surrounding his various activities on each case.
Nelson states, "all attorneys are bombarded with endless devices and gadgets that claim to save time and money, but feels Speech Recognition is all and more than that."
J. Nelson Thomas
Dolin, Thomas & Solomon LLP
The Employment Attorneys
www.theemploymentattorneys.com
Bio:
Nelson Thomas is one of the founding partners of Dolin, Thomas & Solomon LLP. He has more than a decade's experience in employment law litigation and counsel. Mr. Thomas litigates a range of matters from complex employment class action lawsuits to litigation involving all types of individual workplace disputes, ranging from claims of illegal termination and harassment, to actions to recover unpaid benefits. His practice also includes negotiating severance packages, and advising on contractual issues, as well as clients' rights in the workplace. He has spoken and written widely on these topics. While his practice today primarily focuses on representing employees, he has represented numerous employers - from large international companies to local entrepreneurial start-ups, a depth of experience that gives him an edge in litigating cases for employees.
In 1999, the judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York awarded Mr. Thomas the Special Service Award for "his excellence in the vigorous representation of his clients." In 2002, he received the 40 Under 40 Award, which honors leaders who have made a significant contribution to the Rochester community.
Mr. Thomas resides in the City of Rochester with his wife, Mary Gail Mercurio, MD., and their son, Andrew, and daughter, Anna.
Education
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J.D., University of Virginia Law School, 1993
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B.A., Emory University, 1990, summa cum laude
Public Service (current and recent)
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Harley School Board of Trustees
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Upstate New York Representative of The University of Virginia Law School Foundation
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Volunteer attorney for Volunteer Legal Services
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Mock Trial Coach for the Monroe County Bar Association
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Professional Advisory Committee, Self Help for Hard of Hearing People