It is better than nothing, but an actual recording would be a way more solid proof.

Not necessarily. With a recording you need to take the good with the bad. Recordings can become toxic as you can’t get rid of them when the shit hits the fan. There are people who record their entire working day on their phones or Apple Watches and get themselves into trouble… do you know that the guy in your conference call was in Maryland? Did you say something dumb? You’re always going to run afoul of something in doing that.

With contemporaneous notes, you control the editorial aspects of it and have no legal risk in most situations. If you know you are exposed to some sort of problem, email yourself to make discovery easy. Otherwise, keep a handwritten journal.

> With contemporaneous notes, you control the editorial aspects of it

This is what makes it weak. You show me your beautifull contemporaneous notes which show that you are a saint and you are dealing with the devil and I will assume that you left out the bits undermining your viewpoint.

> and have no legal risk in most situations

This is acknowledged by the very thread you are responding to. They said they wish every conversation were 1 party consent. The very fact that they are wishing for this means they understand that they might have legal liability now.

Also not a lawyer, but you should strive to document "contemporaneous notes" as substitute for a recording. A good way to do this is to document the conversation as soon as it happened, with a clear timeline, and email it to yourself.

And in many circumstances, email it to them! Say "These are my notes of our meeting, please let me know if there is anything that needs correcting."

This is one of the most important things I've learned in my career- after a meeting where any kind of requirements are decided upon, just write up a synopsis and email it to all parties and say "Here's what we decided, let me know if I got anything wrong."

99 times out of 100 it's immediately forgotten but there have been a few times when I've been really really glad to have a contemporaneous record of a meeting.

Depends on state, I live in a 1-party consent state.

Thus, I record all my interviews so I can review them later... and use them if I find a need to.

Remember: always assume you're being recorded.

Even if it's illegal the court of public option makes it's own rulings, and even if you 'win' legally you could still be ruined.

I wonder if an automated stenographer would be legal even when recording isn’t. (A device that listens to the conversation and writes down the transcript automatically without recording anything.)

it depends where you live.