This class is designed by lawyers, for lawyers & legal support staff!
Mastering Microsoft Word in the Law Office
6 CLE (NLS) - On Demand Seminar
The course materials cover Word versions 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and 365 for Windows. However, if you are a Mac user, we also have a separate manual for Word for Mac 2019, 2021, and 365 which you can download and use to follow along. Word for Windows and Word for Mac have slightly different interfaces, but they are capable of most of the same things with some minor exceptions.
Sample documents will be available for download in advance so you may follow along with the exercises we will go over in class. The seminar will be taught using Word 365 for Windows.
As an ancillary benefit of attending the training, you will also be entitled to FREE Word technical support for the 3-days immediately following the seminar you attend (rendered via email, phone, and web meeting where appropriate).
If you have specific Word frustrations, bring them to the class and raise them during the discussion. If the instructor doesn’t have time to answer them during the presentation, he’ll make sure you get an answer afterward.
Feel free to email your questions in advance of the program to questions@iclef.org We will do our best to incorporate your submitted questions into the program.
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What People are Saying About Barron and His Program
This was the most useful CLE that I have ever taken. – Megan
Very Informative. Great Seminar for All Levels. – Lisa
This Training Class was Outstanding! Lots of Materials. – Margie
The Most Practical and Useful CLE I have Taken! Thx ICLEF!!! – Gabriel
Presenter was Knowledgeable and Very Entertaining. Great Course! – Diane
Excellent. Excited about how this program can make my life easier. – Ellen
One of the Most Useful and Entertaining Classes I Have Ever Taken. – Gus
Super Engaging, funny, and Knowledgeable. – Julie
Great Content, Well Done! – Charles
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TOPICS:
Customizing Word for a Law Office
- Customizing Word's interface for a legal user
- Permanently fix Word's default formatting (font, paragraph & section) to something appropriate for legal documents
- Role of the default template (Normal.dotm) and how to customize it
- Fixing Word's programmatical default settings - the key to making Word usable in a legal environment
Security Issues for Legal Users
- Metadata removal, encrypting documents, email encryption options, meeting confidentiality duties under the Rule of Professional Conduct 1.6
- Why .doc files should be avoided in favor of .docx and how to convert them.
- How to de-corrupt documents
Editing & Proofing
- How to view 2 sections of the same document simultaneously
- Long document navigation tools
- Different methods for text blocking
- Cut, copy & paste - how to strip off unwanted formatting, using Word's multiple clipboards.
- Advanced find, find & replace and the go-to function.
- Proofing - spellcheck, autocorrect, grammar check & thesaurus.
Font and Paragraph Formatting in Legal Documents
- Explanation of Word's tripartite approach to formatting (font, paragraph & section)
- How to transfer preferred formatting onto text formatted incorrectly.
- How to strip formatting from wayward text, controlling the formatting defaults for a particular document
- Font formatting
- Inserting symbols and assigning shortcut keys to them
- Nonbreaking spaces & hyphens - how to insert them and when they’re appropriate.
- Paragraph formatting
- Alignment
- Line spacing
- Automatic paragraph spacing - why it’s critical.
- Avoiding inappropriate/awkward page breaks by holding headings, text and paragraphs together
- Tabs - types, how they are used, best practices for signature lines.
- Indents - shifting text left or right while maintaining proper alignment.
Headers & Footers, and Page Numbering (Section Formatting)
- Section (whole document) formatting attributes
- Complex page numbering (start over, stop in the middle of a document, switching from Romanettes to Arabic in the same document, etc.) in an example appellate brief.
Automatic Paragraph Numbering and Cross References
- Automatic paragraph numbering - bullets, single level numbering and multi-level list numbering
- Paragraph cross references which automatically update.
Introduction to Word's Styles Feature
- This is by far the most important feature of Word: Why you must learn to control them, what they are & how they work, how to control them.
- How to open and customize the Styles Pane in Word
- Copying styles from one document to another, using the style organizer, style inspector and apply styles pane.
- How to customize styles
- How to create an automatic table of contents using styles
Document Automation Techniques
- Macros
- AutoText
- Optional to cover if time permits - Mail merge.
Redlining and Protecting Work Product
- Comments
- Tracking proposed changes
- Comparing documents to produce a redline.
Tables of Authority (Time permitting)
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NATIONAL SPEAKER:
Barron K. Henley, Esq.
Affinity Consulting Group, LLC, Columbus OH
Barron K. Henley, Esq. is one of the founding partners of Affinity Consulting Group, a legal technology consulting firm focused on automating and streamlining law firms and legal departments. He earned his B.S./B.A. (marketing and economics) and J.D. from The Ohio State University and is a member of the American, Ohio and Columbus Bar Associations, and the Worthington Estate Planning Council. He is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of Ohio Supreme Court Commission on Technology and the Courts, and a member of both the ABA Law Practice Management and the Real Property Trust and Estate Law ("RPTE") Sections. He's also a former member of RPTE Futures Task Force, a former Board Member for the ABA TECHSHOW, and the former Chair of the Ohio State Bar Association Law Office Automation & Technology Committee. Mr. Henley heads Affinity’s document assembly/automation and software training departments. Barron is also an expert in launching new law firms, overhauling existing firms, and documenting and re-engineering law firm processes. Finally, Barron teaches continuing legal education (CLE) classes throughout the U.S. and Canada covering a wide variety of topics related to law practice management, technology, and ethics.
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Mastering Microsoft Word in the Law Office
6 CLE (NLS) - On Demand Seminar
ICLEF • Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum, Indianapolis, IN • Premier Indiana CLE