Capitalization: Titles, Legal and Medical Terminology, and more.

Updated: 09/11/24

When to capitalize what can be a fraught topic in transcription - there's grammatical norms (i.e. always capitalize proper nouns), but there's also differing opinions on what constitutes a proper noun when it to comes legal terminology, different usages of the same word, and other contexts that make you questions your grammatical prowess.

Here are some guidelines to clear up how to approach this. Keep in mind we haven't covered every possible context, but try to use these principles as a guiding force. Context-based choices usually have to do with specificity; if you are referring to a specific entity, you would probably capitalize the name. When something is more general, it's usually lower case. 

Let's dive into some examples.

Titles 

Agent, Detective, Deputy, Sheriff - capitalize these terms when talking about or addressing a person. However, if you are merely using them as a common noun, do not capitalize the word. For example:

• Your Honor 
• “The observant Detective Greensaw the other detective walking into the house.”
• “The detective on the case collected solid evidence.” 
• "Good to see you, Deputy Aceves."

Courts

References to different legal courts should be capitalized when the term is referring to a specific court, but not when used as a general term. When it’s used generally, you do not have to capitalize it.

• "The District Court of Appeals, like most district courts, is great." 
• "This Court said the reverse is true in the 1964 case of Smith versus Truitt." 
• "This is based on the Seventh Circuit opinion."

Participants in a case

Capitalize these terms when they refer to the specific parties partaking in the current action.

e.g. "Plaintiff Jones has never seen the Defendant before today."

• Appellee/Appellant 
• Counsel
• Defendant 
• Plaintiff

Legal Acts, Statutes, Codes and Laws

Capitalize acts when referring to a specific acts, codes, and statutes by name;

• the National Labor Relations Act
• the 1959 Code
• Motion of Compel
• Motion to Produce Documents 

Exhibits 

Always capitalize the word "Exhibit" followed by the exhibit identifier (number or letter):

• Exhibit Numbers: "Exhibit 1", "Exhibit 2", etc.
• Exhibit Letters: "Exhibit A", "Exhibit B", etc.
• Combined Identifiers: "Exhibit 1A", "Exhibit 2B", etc.

When referring to specific pages within an exhibit, the word "Page" should generally be capitalized:

• “See Exhibit A, Page 3.”

When referring to titles within an exhibit, capitalize official titles or specific references:

• "When you look at Financial Records of 2024 within Exhibit 3, you will see a common trend."
• "Please turn your attention to the Incident Report on Page 2."

When referring to specific Photographs from exhibits in a transcript, the word "Photograph" should be capitalized when it is part of a formal reference to a specific Photograph within an Exhibit:

• "Refer to Photograph 3 for further details."
• "As shown in Exhibit C, Photograph 7 captures the scene clearly."

When referring to specific Lines within a document, the word "Line" should be capitalized if it is part of a formal reference:

• "Please turn to Line 15 for the relevant text."
• "See the highlighted section in Exhibit D, Line 23."

Unsure about capitalizing a legal term? When in doubt, capitalize it.

• Defendant/Plaintiff (always)
• District Court (always)
• Court (as in, "this Court says..." always)
• Counsel
• Circuit
• Appellee/Appellant
• Motion to Compel

Capitalization rule for Interruptions

When a speaker is interrupted by either themselves or another speaker there are a couple rules to remember. If it is the start of a new sentence, the first word should be capitalized and the remaining stutters or continuation of the sentence should be lowercase. If it is in the middle of a sentence then all the words should be lowercase unless the word is a proper noun.

Beginning of the sentence:

Middle of the sentence:

Medical Terminology

When transcribing medication names, brand names should be capitalized, while generic names and classes/types of medication should be lowercase:

Brand names vs. Generic names

• Advil and Motrin = ibuprofen
• Tylenol = acetaminophen
• Lipitor = atorvastatin
• Amoxil = amoxicillin and penicillin
• Humira = adalimumab
• Synthroid = levothyroxine
• Glucophage = metformin
• Prilosec = omeprazole
• Zithromax and Zmax = azithromycin
• Ventolin, Proventil, and Proair = albuterol
• Jantoven = warfarin
• Vicodin, Lorcet, and Lortab = hydrocodone and acetaminophen 
• Zoloft = sertraline

Medication classes and types (lower case)

• antidepressants
• vasodilators
• anesthetics
• beta-blockers
• antifungals
• antiemetics