Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Re: Is taking notes considered ''recording'' a conversation?

Your answer is a resoundingly unsatisfying IT DEPENDS. In general, a recording is an exact transcription of a sound event (like a meeting); it's generally done with a tape recorder or other sound-recording device. If you were transcribing the meeting (similar to what a court reporter does, and a court transcript includes all the um's and ah's and stutters and verbal tics that the reporter hears), I suppose that could be considered "recording."

Taking notes that summarize or encapsulate a meeting is not generally considered to be a "recording." However, if a company has a policy against any recording of meetings, including notes, then note-taking could possibly be considered "recording" for the purposes of that policy.

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Re: Is taking notes considered ''recording'' a conversation?

Assuming that the company policy is in writing and was given to you, and further assuming any breach of it would be adjudicated in NYS applying NY law, then I do not believe you violate the intent of that policy by taking hand-written notes of a company conference call. Other considerations also apply, so the facts must be reviewed more thoroughly before a legal opinion could be rendered.

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