Power
Up!
Are you using
the power codes your word processor offers? If not, you and your secretary
are wasting a lot of time doing things your computer can do for you. My favorite
is cross reference. This feature allows you to insert a code for an internal
paragraph reference rather than typing the number. After editing there is
no need to check or change internal references. You must use automatic paragraph
numbering with this feature since in both programs the code refers to the
automatic number.
Word
The feature in
Word is a field code referencing the automatic paragraph number. Click on
Tools/Reference/Cross-reference where you want to insert the reference and
a screen appears which lists all of the paragraphs in the document by number.
Click on the paragraph you want to reference and click "Insert."
The upper right hand window allows you to specify how the code appears and
will even automatically insert "above" or "below" after
the reference. To regenerate the codes, either right click in the code then
click on "Update reference," or select the whole document (Ctl A)
then hit F9.
WordPerfect.
The feature in WordPerfect is a paired code which requires you to insert a
code at the reference and another code at the number being referred to. Click
on Tools/Reference/Cross Reference and a context specific toolbar will appear.
Select what you want to reference in the reference drop-down menu, and then
name the reference in the target window. Place your cursor at the location
of the reference and click on "Mark Reference." Now place your cursor
after the automatic paragraph number code you want to reference and click
on "Mark Target." A question mark will appear where you've marked
the reference until you generate the references using the generate button
on the toolbar.
Deal
Rooms and Extranets for Fun and Profit
Let’s
take a walk down transactional memory lane and review the evolution of deal-making
and the revolution of the not too distant future. It’s a tale of ever-increasing
demands on our time and ability to produce because of the technological tools
available to us.
The Distant
Past
Remember
the 70’s when the only way to make a deal was to meet with the other lawyer
in the same room, mark up the documents by hand as you negotiated them, and
hand them off to a secretary who went to her Selectric
to type the changes? Federal Express as it called itself then,
had just come into existence and it was all the rage. Instead of having to
mail documents out of town you could be sure of getting them there tomorrow
for only $18. And your only written contact with
the world outside your firm came with the mail (or the Federal Express delivery
man).
The More Recent
Past
Next
came the 80’s when the fax machine became popular.
We couldn’t imagine how we lived without it. Now we could mark up the documents
with a pen and fax them to the other lawyer. The documents were probably on
a computer now so at least the secretary didn’t have to retype anything. And
now a steady stream of faxes came across our desks in addition to the daily
mail, and in the thermal beginning they had the shape of a paper towel roll
and faded out with time.
The Present
With
the 90’s came the Internet and e-mail and Type A lawyers could finally indulge
our need for instant gratification. E-mail could put anything on someone else’s
desk instantly, and we could make our own changes to a document, run the red-liner
and e-mail them to the other lawyer. Endless negotiations
without ever having to get on a plane. No more fuzzy faxes, and executable
documents could be anywhere in the world in a flash
What!
You’re still e-mailing your documents to the other lawyer? How old-fashioned.
Welcome to the 21st century. Soon you’ll be using deal rooms and
extranets, the next wave in technological deal making.
The Future
What
are deal rooms and extranets? Like everything else in the world of technology
they’ve proliferated and now come in all sizes and shapes. A deal room is
a Web hosted site where you can upload and store documents. The site is password
protected and allows you to create different “rooms” for different deals granting
privileges to others to view, download, upload and modify documents. Often
the site provides version control and notifies users when new documents have
been posted. You pay a fee to make use of the site. The more space you want,
the more you pay.
An
extranet is a software-based deal room which a law firm can run from its own
servers but it is Web based so anyone with access to the Internet can make
use of it. Typically it includes the same features
as external Web-hosted deal rooms, but in addition can integrate with the
law firm’s document management system, permitting uploading directly from
the system or even linking to documents within the document management system directly. Many permit threaded discussions
by participants, and some offer instant messaging. Extranets are described
as collaborative networks because they facilitate sharing documents and information,
and negotiating and closing a deal. With the electronic signatures acts in
place, it is now possible to draft, revise, negotiate and even execute documents
entirely in a secure on-line environment.
What’s
the advantage of a deal room or extranet over simply e-mailing documents?
Ever done a deal with a lot of lawyers and clients in which multiple drafts
of many documents were being e-mailed to all
of the parties? Chances are you lost track of what the current version of
a document was, or whether it had been transmitted to all who needed to see
it, and keeping track of which document is which when they come with DMS assigned
catchy names like “987QW!.doc” is all but impossible.
Deal rooms and extranets solve all of the organizational problems by allowing
storage of everything in one place.
Check
out some of the deal rooms and vendors which sell extranet software. And be
ready for the revolution. One of these days soon the deal room is going to
be like the fax. Anyone without it will be deemed a dinosaur.
·
CynOps from TyMetrix - http://www.cynops.com/collaborative.htm
·
Merrill e-Collaborate - http://www.e-collaborate.com/
·
RecordsCenter - http://www.recordscenter.com/public_web/index.asp
·
T-Lex – http://www.tlex.com/promo/pages/about.lasso
·
eRoom - http://www.eroom.com/
·
LawCommerce.com - http://www.lawcommerce.com/
·
NetDocuments - http://www.netdocuments.com/
·
LextraNet - http://www.legalintranet.com/lextranet/home/home.htm
·
DealPlanner - http://www.dealplanner.com/
·
DealCentral - http://www.casecentral.com/cc/dc_about
·
Elite Encompass - http://www.eliteis.com/solutions/prod_encompass.asp
