Lawyers write every day. Yet how you express yourself in writing is as important as what you say. Many clients are under duress and need to “hear” the tone of your words when they read. Remember, when working with consumer clients, the average reading level of the U.S. population is 9th grade. Readability is of utmost importance. Several applications can…
No matter how often you write there is always room for improvement. Correct word choice, sentence structure, and impeccable grammar are requirements. Structure, flow, meaning, and intent are vital to cognition. Your writing should be clear and unambiguous. There are tips and tools to help you write more effectively. Writing for the Reader A recent MIT study examined why legal…
Editing your own documents, blog posts, social media posts, and email is difficult. In addition to editing for spelling and grammar, you need to review word choice, consistency, citation formatting and more. Is your writing clear and free of errors that could distract your reader? It is difficult to effectively edit your own words because you know what you meant!…
Microsoft 365 subscribers enjoy new features constantly appearing in the Office applications. Through the subscription, Microsoft Word has downloaded and installed software for Mac and Windows, as well as a browser version. Each version is a little different. New features frequently appear in the browser version before the installed software. Here are some new features and functions that have recently…
Every week subscribers receive the ICYMI enewsletter from the NCBA Center for Practice Management. The newsletter highlights tips, tools, trends and techniques to help your law practice. Following are a few popular quick tips from the past issues of the newsletter. How to Help Others Pronounce Your Name Correctly on LinkedIn If your name is frequently mispronounced, you can help…
Online document collaboration means that instead of emailing documents back and forth to multiple parties you can now send a link and people can edit the document in a browser window – no software necessary! However, while Word Online and Google Docs do maintain versions, they do not show tracked changes. So, how do you take advantage of online editing…
Every week subscribers receive the ICYMI enewsletter from the NCBA Center for Practice Management. The newsletter highlights tips, tools, trends, and techniques to help your law practice. The following are a few popular links from the past issues of the newsletter. How to Create a Fillable Form in Microsoft Word (9/8/2023) If you haven’t embraced document assembly tools but would like to…
The last post on a blog for the year is often one of reflection. Here we will highlight the posts from 2019 with the greatest number of views. Happy New Year and looking forward to sharing more law practice management and technology improvements, tips, and suggestions in the year to come! 1. Control (Microsoft) Word Microsoft Word is a powerful…
Every week subscribers receive the ICYMI enewsletter from the NCBA Center for Practice Management. The newsletter highlights tips, tools, trends, and techniques to help your law practice. Following are a few popular links from the past issues of the newsletter. Judge Disparaged Lawyer, Apparently Unaware of Livestream: ‘Can You Imagine Waking Up Next to Her Every Day?’ (January 21, 2022) We have…
In the early 2000s many lawyers were horrified to find that their documents could reveal more than they meant to share. In addition to forgetting to remove comments and track changes, Microsoft and PDF documents have file properties that reveal everything from author to editing times to file location. There are many ethics opinions that address metadata, including NC 2009…