Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers document assembly software that is itself automated (see article below), an iPhone app that can trigger actions in other apps with one tap, a mobile scanner that weighs less than a pound, a cloud application for culling, reviewing, and producing discovery documents, and a free marketing service for lawyers. Don't miss the next issue.
THE AUTOMATION OF DOCUMENT AUTOMATION SOFTWARE
Document assembly software enables you to create legal documents faster and without embarrassing errors that can occur when recycling previous documents. Let's call this Document Assembly 1.0, which has existed for about 20 years (maybe longer). In version 2.0, your document assembly software itself needs to become more automated so that you can create new templates just as quickly as you can create documents from those templates.
Pathagoras 2013.1 … in One Sentence
Launched this week, Pathagoras 2013.1 is a document assembly add-on for Microsoft Word.
The Killer Feature
Pathagoras has two claims to fame — the ability to create document templates using simple plain text variables such as "[Client Name]" and "[Client Address]" rather than a scripting language, and the ability to work within the familiar environment of Microsoft Word.
The new version adds a third crowd pleaser — Instant Database. As you complete templates, Pathagoras automatically stores all your variables and related information in its own database. This makes it faster to create new templates and also to enter and reuse case-related information. The company has also improved its Create Variables and Create Options wizards to further expedite the creation of new templates.
The company claims that these new features significantly shorten the time needed to create templates (e.g., a motion and an accompanying affidavit). You simply use the plain text variables from other documents to create the new templates, and reuse the stored client data to fill in the variables.
"While we continue to add more useful features and significantly more value to the product, we have remained true to our plain text underpinnings," President and Chief Programmer of Pathagoras Roy Lasris told us. "Our latest version is easier to set up and use than ever before.
Other Notable Features
Continuing with its focus on speed, the new Quick Picks feature enables you to create a custom menu containing up to 12 of your most frequently-used Pathagoras functions.
Similarly, new tools facilitate the creation of MultiChoice Lists for your documents. For example, you can quickly create a MultiChoice List of all 50 states, counties in which you practice, names of judges, etc. for rapid entry into any document.
Your clients can lend a helping hand with document creation. From Pathagoras you can send them an email message with a fill-in-the-blanks form. After they complete and return it, you automatically import the information into Pathagoras' Instant Database, which makes this data available for use in documents created for their matters.
Other features include improved connectivity with Excel spreadsheets (including for mail merges), tools for optional and conditional clauses, calendar and math variables, a text expander for entering boilerplate text with just a few keystrokes, new search and replace tools that work with variables and across multiple documents, and a new tool that can identify inconsistent variables among your templates.
What Else Should You Know?
Pathagoras 2013.1 works with Microsoft Word 2003 and later versions. Pricing starts at $379 for the first license. Additional licenses cost $250. Volume discounts exist starting at $799 for three licenses. Learn more about Pathagoras 2013.1.
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