The IT Nerd

I have a few customers who are lawyers here in Canada. The thing with lawyers is that they want their technology to work as well as possible and not radically change the way they work. If that doesn’t happen, let’s say they get very cranky. Take it from me, that’s not a good thing. An example of technology that most Canadian lawyers use every day is the LexisNexis Quicklaw service which allows them to search through case law so that they can do things like develop arguments to use in court. Up until now, this had to be done as a separate task. But now there’s a product that integrates this into Microsoft Office so it’s simply part of their workflow. Quicklaw For Microsoft Office was launched last week and it brings the following features to the table:

• Search All, Background and Suggest: Access relevant information without leaving a document or email message through text recognition capabilities, identifying citations, legal entities and terms of art.
• Check Cited Docs and Get Cited Docs: Use Get Cited Docs within the context of a document and pull citations into a side-by-side pane in a “virtual stack” of cited cases. Through text analysis, legal citations found in the document are highlighted. Case content can also be accessed and validated simply by clicking the citation.
• Cases, Forms and Precedents: Access links to relevant cases, forms and precedents for topics of interest within Microsoft Word documents. During transactional drafting, legal professionals can work with greater confidence and efficiency by accessing forms and precedents.
• PDF Converter and Pinning: Users can easily convert PDFs into Microsoft Word documents so they can tap into the full functionality of Quicklaw for Microsoft Office and begin research and analysis. Pinning can be used to quickly save documents, links and notes for future reference.
• Quicklaw Browser and History Map: The Quicklaw Browser creates a one-click, seamless bridge between research and Quicklaw for Microsoft Office to enable deeper research within a document. Through the History Map feature, users can create an easy-to-follow graphic depiction of steps taken and documents accessed during the research process that can be used as personal or shared reference.

Here’s another key feature. Quicklaw For Microsoft Office appears as a tab within the ribbon toolbar of applications such as Microsoft Word and Outook so that it saves lawyers time and integrates into their workflow painlessly. All of this going to give lawyers the ability to, be more productive, increase their billable case load, or even leave the office early.

I had the opportunity to speak to Pamela Thompson who is there Director of Product Development at LexisNexis Canada last week and there were two things that I should mention. First is the fact that there are “feet on the street” so to speak to help firms get Quicklaw for Microsoft Office up and running as well as supporting it. That’s a good thing as I’ve always said that support often determines if a product succeeds or fails. The second thing was that they really took a lot of time working with Microsoft, and getting advice from users to make this product work as well as it does. When you put in that much effort to take the time to listen to users and to work with Microsoft, you’re going to get top shelf results.

If you want to have a look at what Quicklaw For Microsoft Office can do for you, here’s a video for your viewing pleasure:

By the way, if you’re a lawyer in the US, you shouldn’t feel left out. Lexus For Microsoft Office brings these features to the table for the American legal community.