Attested French and English legal transcripts for Canada and the United States, prepared to the rule in s. 530.1(g) of the Criminal Code: everything said, in the official language in which it was said.
Official stenographerCertified transcripts for Quebec courts, by an official stenographer→The name states the work: oral evidence becomes, through the transcript, the record of proceedings.
Before the courts of Quebec and the federal courts, anyone may use English or French (Constitution Act, 1867, s. 133; Official Languages Act, s. 14). Hearings, examinations and interviews are recorded, as are intercepts and emergency calls. We transcribe from the recording.
EnglishFrenchCrosstalkInaudible
Specimen · file 2024-QC-0482 · recording 2 of 3 · 48 kHz · 24-bit · segments numbered by transcript line.What we take in
The recording
Testimony under oath
Hearings
Recorded evidence
For a trial held in the accused’s language, the Criminal Code sets out what the record must contain: everything said, in the official language in which it was said; the interpretation, transcribed separately; and the exhibits, in the language in which they were tendered. We apply that standard to every file, in every forum.
SPECIMEN · LEXORAL · page 1 of 2
The transcript is what counsel cite, what the trial judge relies on and what the court of appeal reads. The rules it must meet depend on the forum: Quebec, the rest of Canada, the United States, or several at once.
Principal courts
Civil law · both languages of record
The texts
Leading case
A.G. (Quebec) v. Blaikie, [1979] 2 S.C.R. 1016Section 133 binds the courts of Quebec.
Legal transcription in Quebec →Common law and federal · the accused’s language
The texts
Leading case
R. v. Beaulac, [1999] 1 S.C.R. 768The choice of language belongs to the accused, whatever their fluency in the other.
What paragraph 530.1(g) requires →Federal and state · the recording governs
The texts
Leading case
United States v. Chavez, 976 F.3d 1178 (10th Cir. 2020)A translated transcript goes in alongside the recording, not instead of it.
French recordings as evidence →Cross-border · one sitting, two records
The texts
Leading case
Re Friction Division Products, (1986), 56 O.R. (2d) 722
Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, 542 U.S. 241 (2004)
Cross-border, Canada and the United States →Recordings accepted from anywhere in Canada or the United States · remote intake · no travel chargeMontréal · Québec · Laval · Longueuil · Gatineau · Sherbrooke · Trois-Rivières · Ottawa · Kanata · Toronto · Moncton
NextWho reads it: counsel, tribunals, institutions↓Any proceeding in which testimony is given in French, in English, or in both.
I · At the counsel tables
II · On the bench
III · In the room
The gold dot at the centre is the clerk’s table, where the record is kept.
Send the recording, or a link to it, to secure@lexoral.org. We acknowledge receipt the same working day and confirm a firm price once the audio has been reviewed.
Please include
Brian Fino · Raymond Carby-SamuelsThe practitioners who sign your transcripts