Simple Changes To Everyday Programs To Help Lawyers

Some shortcuts and tips on how to use the most common law office software tools better.

scream at computer legal technology tech angry upset associate woman lawyerWe use these tools every day, but most of us still stumble and do things that are inefficient or clumsy. Here are some shortcuts and tips on how to use the most common law office software tools better.

Word

A few months ago, I discussed how to make beautiful pleadings and why it’s important. Here are a few shortcuts. When you open Word, your default is not set to the local rules of court formatting. It’s set to Calibri 11 point font (trivia: a point is 1/72 of an inch. 72 point font is 1 inch printed out) and 1.08 line spacing. Those defaults are in stored in a template file. You can change that template file though to Times New Roman (or a significantly similar font) 12 point, double space/exactly 24 space so your text lines up in your pleadings all the time. Here’s how:

  • Open Word
  • Go to C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\roaming\microsoft\templates
  • Find the Normal.dotm file
  • Make changes as you see fit
  • Save your changes

While you are in there, here are a few other things to do. Create styles for things you format most. At the tip of your screen, there’s a section for styles. It’s the key to having uniformly beautiful documents. Click the little drop-down arrow at the bottom right corner to open up the menu and create a new style.

 

styles 2

Sponsored

For example, you probably don’t write your letters double-spaced, unless you are a 4th grader. You probably want your letters single spaced. So, create a style for letter text. Create a style for top level headings in your pleadings, sub headings, and maybe sub sub headings. Create a style for block quotes and pleading body text. Just create these styles, but don’t worry about customizing them yet.

Once you have them all created, now you can style them. Type some random text. Apply the formats you want. For example, for letter text, make it single space, but add some additional line spacing in between paragraphs. Once you have the font and spacing options you want, highlight the text you just formatted and from your style menu, right click on the style you created for letter text and choose “Update [xx style] to match selection.” That will customize your style to match the section you have highlighted.

styles 3

Do the same for block quotes (justified text, single space, maybe 10 point font), Heading 1 (Bold, Outline numbering with Roman numerals), Heading 2 (bold, outline numbering with capital letters), etc. until you have all of the formatting styles you want.

Now, when you are typing a document, be it a letter or a pleading, you can format the document easily and uniformly with just a few clicks. It’s important to note that the table of contents feature in Word only works if you use heading styles. You can’t just type some words and bold them and put a Roman numeral in front of it. You have to use styles or it won’t show up in the table of contents.

Sponsored

PowerPoint

Let me blow your mind a little bit. PowerPoint is a fantastic presentation tool. It’s just that no one knows how to use it right because we all use it in the way Microsoft intended us to use it. Confused? Whenever you create a new slide in PowerPoint, it gives you the following format:

ppt

Title at the top, then a text box below for you to add your bullet points to drive it home. Here’s what you do.

  • For every slide, click on the dotted-line boundary of the title box. Your cursor will turn into a four arrow star and the box will have a solid line around it instead of dotted lines.
  • Press Delete
  • Do the same for the text box on the bottom with bullet points.

Your slide is now a blank canvas. This is what you want. You can insert text boxes or graphics into your slides, but don’t stick to the format of “title followed by bullet point list” because it is almost always the worst format for an engaging presentation. Instead, think about putting full-screen pictures with one or two words on a slide, or maybe use the insert shapes button to draw a simple timeline. Sticking to the original script is an absolute sure way to bore your audience.

Adobe

The last hint is super simple. In adobe, Go to the Edit menu and drop down to Preferences. From there, click on General from the selection on the left and choose “single-key accelerators.” This lets you use shortcut keys. This is particularly helpful if you are using Adobe in

adobe

This lets you use shortcut keys. This is particularly helpful if you are using Adobe in trial. Now, just press the “Z” key and you have the zoom tool. Press the “U” key to choose your highlighter. So, you can zoom in on a portion of a document and highlight it without having to fuss around in the menus and finding the right tool.

Just the Beginning

I’ll post some more tips later in a part 2. In the meantime, let me know if there are any tips or shortcuts that you use in your practice.


Jeff Bennion is a solo practitioner at the Law Office of Jeff Bennion. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of San Diego’s plaintiffs’ trial lawyers association, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. He is also the Education Chair and Executive Committee member of the State Bar of California’s Law Practice Management and Technology section. He is a member of the Advisory Council and instructor at UCSD’s Litigation Technology Management program. His opinions are his own. Follow him on Twitter here or on Facebook here, or contact him by email at jeff@trial.technology.

CRM Banner