Solve brief formatting problems with
Brief Builder's Workshop


Learn how to meet your court's exacting brief formatting requirements without tearing your hair out!

Are you:

  • Frustrated by seemingly arbitrary court brief formatting requirements?
  • Stuck trying to figure out how to translate those requirements into "how to do this in Word"?
  • Under the gun to get it all out the door NOW?

Legal brief formatting requirements can be maddening! And to add insult to injury, courts don't typically provide any guidance on how to actually make Word do what they require you to do. As far as they're concerned, that's your job.

Frustrated woman crumpling paper

Couple that with the tight deadlines you're typically under, and it quickly becomes a situation that makes you want to stand up and scream!

You can't risk having your brief rejected or flagged by the court for formatting issues. So you need help ... now.

How I can help you

I'm Deborah Savadra, and I've worked as a legal assistant, paralegal, and software trainer for over 20 years. I've not only created lots of legal briefs myself, I've helped others with problems they've had with things like Table of Authorities, Table of Contents, footnote formatting, consistent headings and subheadings, etc.

While every court has its own unique requirements (so much for "standards," right?), in my experience those requirements tend to cluster around a few key features in Microsoft Word. Master those, and you can produce a well-formatted brief for any court!

Let me help you with your brief formatting challenges now!

I'm Deborah Savadra, and I've worked as a legal assistant, paralegal, and software trainer for over 20 years. I've not only created lots of legal documents myself, I've helped others at their desks by solving problems they had with their own documents, problems that could be solved with just a bit more skill with Microsoft Word.

Since the Great Recession of 2008, I've been subject to the same conditions as you: staff reductions forcing fewer people to take on more work, increasing client demands for discounts, flat fees, and other alternative billing arrangements, and law firms changing (and, in some cases, failing outright) because of the New Legal Normal. I've watched co-workers walk past my desk, belongings in a box, because the firm I worked for decided that they required less staff, and those of us who were left found ourselves buried under the increased workload.

As all of this change has been happening around me, I've found myself in a "survival of the fittest" environment. I've been asked to take on more and more work, so I've been forced to develop techniques to shortcut my document creation/editing process. Over time, I've assembled an arsenal of these techniques that slash my turnaround time in Microsoft Word.

And now, I'd like to share them with you.