Eleven US states have two-party consent recording laws. If you live in California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington, Connecticut, or Oregon, every party on a recorded conversation has to consent before the record button goes on.

This catches a surprising number of founders, journalists, and researchers off-guard. They assume the federal one-party consent rule applies everywhere, record an interview or product call, and find themselves on the wrong side of a state statute that can carry both civil damages and criminal penalties.

The minimum-viable script

Before any recording starts, say:

"I'm recording this conversation. Do I have your consent to record?"

Wait for an explicit "yes" or "I consent." A nod or silence is not consent. The audible "yes" is what makes the recording lawful in two-party-consent states. It's also what protects you in any later dispute.

Mixed-state calls

If you're in a one-party state but the other party is in a two-party state, the stricter rule applies. Federal courts have repeatedly held the location of the recorded party governs. Default to asking even when you're in California talking to someone in New York — if a court later weighs in, you want the recording to hold up.

Writing it into the workflow

For research interviews and customer calls, build consent into the intake:

  1. The booking form has a clear line: "This call will be recorded for transcription and review."
  2. The first 30 seconds of the recording captures explicit verbal consent.
  3. Both pieces of evidence are saved with the file metadata.

For depositions and court work, your court reporter or attorney handles consent through the formal record. For field interviews, the verbal consent on tape is your evidence.

What our team does on transcripts

When we receive a recording for transcription, we don't ask for consent documentation — that's your job. But we do flag if the file appears to start mid-conversation without an audible consent moment, so you have a chance to verify before you rely on the transcript in a sensitive context.

For court-certified transcripts, we include a chain-of-custody log: file hash, upload time, who handled it, and a list of any edit decisions. That log is part of the certification packet that supports admissibility.

Bottom line

Pick up two-party consent as a default habit. The cost of saying "I'm recording, do I have your consent?" is one second of awkwardness. The cost of skipping it can be a lawsuit, a tossed transcript, or in some states, a misdemeanor. Not worth it.