Dictate / For lawyers
Dictation software for lawyers on Mac
Dictate letters, attendance notes and emails at the speed you think. Your voice is transcribed on your own Mac, so client matters never pass through anyone else's server.
7 days free, then $49 once, lifetime license, no subscription · Apple Silicon Mac · macOS 14 Sonoma or later
Confidentiality by construction
Most modern dictation tools upload your audio and transcribe it in the cloud. For a lawyer, that turns every dictated sentence into client information held by a vendor, under a retention policy you didn't write.
Dictate never creates that copy. The speech model runs on your Mac's Neural Engine. While you hold the key, audio is recorded into memory; when you let go, it is transcribed, pasted at your cursor and discarded. It is never written to disk and never sent anywhere. Turn off Wi-Fi and it works the same, which is the simplest test you can run. The privacy page lists every connection the app ever makes, for you or your IT team to verify.
No vendor to vet for the dictation itself
Approving a cloud dictation service means questions about sub-processors, server location, retention and staff access. With Dictate, the answer for dictation is that there is no processor: no account, no upload, nothing stored on our side. The licence is checked on your Mac, too, so no server is ever asked whether you may dictate. Whether that satisfies your obligations is your call and your regulator's; this page describes the data flow, not the law.
After Dragon for Mac
Nuance no longer sells Dragon for Mac, and many firms that dictated with it moved to cloud tools or back to typing. Dictate is a lighter replacement for the core job: you hold a key, speak, and the text lands in Word, Outlook or your case management system in the browser. Outlook's own Dictate button sends your speech to Microsoft; how dictation in Outlook works. It doesn't use voice profiles or training sessions; the model works from the first dictation.
Names and terms it gets wrong can be fixed once with substitutions: a client name, a court, a Latin phrase it keeps mishearing. Filler words such as "um" are removed on your Mac as you go.
What it doesn't do
- No voice commands for formatting, corrections or navigating a document.
- No transcription of recorded files, meetings or a dictaphone; it transcribes you, live, while you hold the key.
- Text appears when you release the key. It also stays on your clipboard, like anything you copy.
- Not legal advice, and not a compliance certification. Mac only: Apple Silicon Mac · macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
Weighing a cloud service? See Dictate vs Wispr Flow, or read what on-device dictation means.
Questions
What dictation software can lawyers use on a Mac?
Lawyers on a Mac can use Apple's built-in Dictation, cloud tools such as Wispr Flow, or a local app such as Dictate, which transcribes on the Mac itself. Nuance no longer sells Dragon for Mac, so the old default is gone. Which suits you depends on how much client material you dictate and where you are comfortable sending it.
Does Dictate send client information to a server?
No. Your audio is transcribed on your Mac and discarded, and the text is pasted at your cursor; neither is uploaded. Nothing you dictate leaves the Mac.
Do I need a data processing agreement to use Dictate?
Not for dictation itself, because no third party receives what you say. We are not a processor of your dictation and hold none of it. This is a description of how the app works, not legal advice; your firm's rules and your regulator decide what you need.
Does it work in Word, Outlook and our case management system?
Yes, if the app accepts a paste. Dictate pastes at your cursor, so it works in Word, Outlook, Pages, Mail, and browser-based case management or billing systems. If a field refuses the paste, the text is still on your clipboard.
Can I dictate in more than one language?
Yes. Dictate detects which of its 21 European languages you are speaking, so you can draft a letter in English and a note in French without changing a setting.
Dictate your next attendance note
Apple Silicon Mac · macOS 14 Sonoma or later