TortFeasor said:
Is there a better way to set up legal pleadings?
Yes, IMO. Start by creating a good caption, in a table, mostly without
borders. You can create different sized ones for different numbers of
parties and store them as AutoText Entries. If you want side rules (I do),
create those. I used the pleading wizard to learn how these are constructed.
If you want line numbering (which I skip) you are very restricted in your
line and paragraph spacing. Your line spacing must be fixed.
Put these elements together in a basic template. I mark the different
elements of the pleading with bookmarks to make it easy to use vba to
replace them. My template contains numbering styles set up along the
suggestions made by Dave Rado in these newsgroups after reviewing John
McGhie's article about numbering on the MVP FAQ site.
Headers and footers make extensive use of the StyleRef field to pull in
information from the body of the document (party names, case number,
pleading title). AutoText includes a jurat for an affidavit as well as
notarization signature lines.
I use the basic template to create more specific form templates. Those
templates are repositories of text, really, because an AutoNew macro in them
pulls the various elements of the basic template from that template
including caption, styles, headers and footers.
AutoNew macro determines whether the template being used is the basic
template or one of the text containers. If it is one of the text containers,
then the pulling in takes place. By default, the AutoNew macro finishes by
attaching the new document to the basic template. That way, when I make
changes (adding macros, toolbars, etc.) that are of general use in all
pleadings, I have them available without specifically adding them to each
form. They are only available in templates that were based on the original,
though, rather than in letters, reports, or exhibits that are being prepared
(as they would be if I put the changes into a global template).
I think the pleading wizard was developed to meet the pleading requirements
of a particular jurisdiction, although I don't know which one. It results in
pleadings that look like they are produced on a typewriter on pre-printed
paper. My pleadings look a lot better, but my jurisdiction does not have the
requirements that others do. They look (and to a large extent, still are)
hand-crafted. They use my client's name and proper address titles
throughout. They are gender-specific where appropriate. In the case of a
criminal discovery demand, I have most of the body set in two columns. This
makes it much easier to read and also reduces the page count. It probably
wouldn't pass muster in the jurisdiction for which the pleading wizard was
designed.
Setting up templates this way is a long-term process, not a way to get
something to court tomorrow. On the other hand, now, years into the system,
I can generate a complex motion in limine in half an hour, rather than the
three to four hours it had taken previously. (This time excludes research.)
Base documents such as a notice of retainer or authorization for appearance
take about five minutes time and I can generate them myself without
secretarial assistance.
I would strongly recommend reviewing
<URL:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm>
as well as the ABA book "How to Create a System for the Law Office" which
may be out of print.
Learn how styles and AutoText work. Look at the AutoTextList field for
choosing optional text.
My standard pleadings are merge forms, merged with an Excel database. Excel
because I need more than the 22 fields a Word table can handle. Not Access
because I don't have time to put together a good database, although I think
I would benefit from doing it. I am a sole practitioner and my bread and
butter is not in learning computers but in getting work out for my clients.
In a group practice, a relational database would be well worth the extra
up-front time involved. Long-term, it is worth that time in mine as well; I
just haven't been willing to devote that time, yet.
I just "graduated" to utilizing a UserForm in one of my pleadings (that same
discovery demand) which allows me to insert text for three different types
of case into the generic demand.
--
Charles Kenyon
See the MVP FAQ: <URL:
http://www.mvps.org/word/> which is awesome!
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