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.