CLT Professional Ethics & Standards 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A legal transcriptionist discovers that a colleague has been sharing transcript excerpts on social media without client consent. What is the FIRST appropriate action?
- Report the behavior to the supervising attorney or compliance officer (Correct answer)
- Confront the colleague publicly to discourage the behavior
- Ignore it since it is the colleague's professional responsibility
- Post a disclaimer on behalf of the colleague
Correct answer: Report the behavior to the supervising attorney or compliance officer
Reporting to a supervising authority upholds professional standards and protects client confidentiality.
Question 2: Under professional ethics standards, a CLT must avoid 'conflict of interest.' Which scenario BEST illustrates this?
- Transcribing depositions for a law firm where your spouse is a named plaintiff (Correct answer)
- Working on multiple unrelated cases simultaneously
- Using a second monitor to increase transcription speed
- Requesting overtime pay for urgent turnarounds
Correct answer: Transcribing depositions for a law firm where your spouse is a named plaintiff
A personal relationship with a party in the case creates a direct conflict of interest that compromises impartiality.
Question 3: A CLT is asked to clean up an attorney's grammatically poor dictation before transcribing. What is the ethical response?
- Transcribe verbatim and note any unclear passages, then flag them for review (Correct answer)
- Correct all grammar errors to produce a more professional document
- Refuse the job since poor dictation is unacceptable
- Paraphrase the dictation to improve clarity
Correct answer: Transcribe verbatim and note any unclear passages, then flag them for review
Verbatim transcription preserves the legal record; alterations without authorization can constitute falsification.
Question 4: Which practice BEST supports the principle of data minimization in legal transcription?
- Retaining only transcripts required by contract and deleting all others on schedule (Correct answer)
- Keeping all client files indefinitely in case of future disputes
- Sharing files across the entire office network for easy access
- Saving drafts to personal cloud accounts for backup
Correct answer: Retaining only transcripts required by contract and deleting all others on schedule
Data minimization means retaining only necessary information for the required period and securely disposing of the rest.
Question 5: A transcriptionist is pressured by a client to omit a damaging admission from a deposition transcript. The CLT should:
- Refuse and explain that altering the legal record is unethical and potentially illegal (Correct answer)
- Omit it if the client provides written authorization
- Consult a colleague before deciding
- Omit it only if the attorney also agrees
Correct answer: Refuse and explain that altering the legal record is unethical and potentially illegal
Omitting material from a legal record—regardless of who requests it—constitutes falsification of evidence.
Question 6: A CLT receives a subpoena for transcripts belonging to a client. The CORRECT first step is to:
- Notify the client's attorney immediately and await legal guidance before producing any documents (Correct answer)
- Comply immediately and send all requested transcripts to the court
- Destroy the transcripts to protect client confidentiality
- Ignore the subpoena since the transcriptionist is not a party to the case
Correct answer: Notify the client's attorney immediately and await legal guidance before producing any documents
Legal counsel must be consulted before responding to a subpoena to protect privilege and ensure compliance.
Question 7: Which of the following BEST describes the duty of 'impartiality' for a certified legal transcriptionist?
- Producing an accurate record regardless of which party's testimony is being captured (Correct answer)
- Giving equal transcription time to both sides of a case
- Charging the same rate to all clients
- Avoiding any communication with attorneys during a project
Correct answer: Producing an accurate record regardless of which party's testimony is being captured
Impartiality means the transcript reflects exactly what was said without bias toward any party.
CLT Professional Ethics & Standards 2
A legal transcriptionist discovers that a colleague has been sharing transcript excerpts on social media without client consent.
What is the FIRST appropriate action?