Judged on legal practice, not features
The best note taking tools for lawyers
For legal work the deciding factors are not features, they are who can see that you are recording, whether the output is defensible, and consent. A bot that appears in a client call is visible to the client and to opposing counsel. A device on the table is visible too, but as an object rather than an attendee. Nothing here produces a certified transcript, and none of it substitutes for a court reporter where one is required.
§Our bias, stated. We make an AI pen and we sell it to lawyers, so read this with that in mind. The consent section below is the part worth your time whichever tool you choose — it applies equally to all of them, and getting it wrong is a bar complaint rather than a bad review. Every fact below was read off the vendor’s own site, checked on 15 September 2026. Products change — check theirs before you buy, and tell us if anything here has gone out of date.
The ranking
4 tools, in order, and why.
01 / Scriben — ours
AI pen · The room, offline
- Best for — Visible as an object rather than an attendee, and it records to the device until you sync — which is a clearer answer to “where has this been” than a cloud upload.
- Needs — Nothing running.
- Features — Up to 18 hours of offline recording and 400 hours of storage on the pen; speaker-aware transcript, summary, action items and approval-gated follow-up.
- Against it — iOS app only today, so an Android-only user is not served yet. It does not join video calls and has no live-transcription view while you talk.
02 / Fireflies.ai
Meeting assistant · Joins the call as a notetaker
- Best for — Joins the call as a named participant, so the client and opposing counsel both see it. That is a disclosure you make every time, which some practitioners prefer.
- Needs — A signed-in device.
- Features — Transcription, conversation intelligence and CRM sync for recorded calls.
- Against it — The notetaker is visible in the participant list, which changes how some rooms talk, and some organisations block bots outright.
03 / Otter.ai
Meeting assistant · Joins the call
- Best for — Same visibility as Fireflies, plus a live transcript you can follow during a long deposition prep session.
- Needs — A signed-in device.
- Features — A live transcript you can read while the call is running, plus summaries afterwards.
- Against it — It needs a call to join. A conversation across a desk with no meeting attached is invisible to it.
04 / Notta
Transcription app · Web meetings and uploads
- Best for — The way to transcribe files you already hold, such as a recorded interview handed over by a client.
- Needs — A signed-in device.
- Features — Transcribes web meetings and audio files you upload.
- Against it — It needs a call or a file. It does not capture a room on its own.
Side by side
The same facts, in a table.
- Scriben
- AI pen — The room, offline; needs nothing running. Up to 18 hours of offline recording and 400 hours of storage on the pen; speaker-aware transcript, summary, action items and approval-gated follow-up. Source: scriben.ai
- Fireflies.ai
- Meeting assistant — Joins the call as a notetaker; needs a signed-in device. Transcription, conversation intelligence and CRM sync for recorded calls. Source: fireflies.ai
- Otter.ai
- Meeting assistant — Joins the call; needs a signed-in device. A live transcript you can read while the call is running, plus summaries afterwards. Source: otter.ai
- Notta
- Transcription app — Web meetings and uploads; needs a signed-in device. Transcribes web meetings and audio files you upload. Source: notta.ai
All facts checked on 15 September 2026 against each vendor’s own published pages, in a browser. Third-party round-ups were not used as sources.
Before any of them
Consent is the part that is not optional.
Fourteen US states require every party to a conversation to agree before it is recorded, and where you and the other person are in different states, assume the stricter rule. Professional conduct rules add more on top, and for a lawyer that is the layer with teeth. This applies identically to every tool on this page — the choice of software does not change the obligation. Our guide to recording people lawfully sets out which rule applies where you are and the sentence to ask with. It is general information, not legal advice.
Where this comes from
We make one of these.
Scriben is a real ballpoint pen that records the room to its own storage for up to 18 hours, with no phone and no network, then turns the conversation into a transcript, a summary and the work that follows. The pen is $99. We have tried to rank this page as if we did not make it.