Course

My Brief Builder's Workshop course covers the specific Microsoft Word features attorneys and law office staff use to format legal briefs and other complex pleadings.

In Brief Builder's Workshop, I cover topics like:

This course provides you some targeted help with legal-specific features like Table of Authorities plus how to use other features like Table of Contents, page numbering and document sections within the specific context of producing a legal brief.

Here's a list of the lessons:

Because the lessons deal with a very specific context, chances are you've come here because you're right in the middle of an actual brief and need some targeted help with the formatting that comes with producing legal briefs.

This course covers the features that get little to no attention in the Microsoft Word manuals you buy in a bookstore or on other websites about Word. It's also focused specifically on how these features are used in a legal context.

All course content is based on the Windows-based version of Microsoft Word (sorry Mac users!) and covers versions 2010 through 2016 (a.k.a. the desktop version of Office 365). So whether you're up on the latest and greatest Word version or you've been putting off upgrading ... you're covered.

My Brief Builder's Workshop course covers the specific Microsoft Word features attorneys and law office staff use to format legal briefs and other complex pleadings.

In Brief Builder's Workshop, I cover topics like:

This course provides you some targeted help with legal-specific features like Table of Authorities plus how to use other features like Table of Contents, page numbering and document sections within the specific context of producing a legal brief.

Here's a list of the lessons:

Because the lessons deal with a very specific context, chances are you've come here because you're right in the middle of an actual brief and need some targeted help with the formatting that comes with producing legal briefs.

This course covers the features that get little to no attention in the Microsoft Word manuals you buy in a bookstore or on other websites about Word. It's also focused specifically on how these features are used in a legal context.

All course content is based on the Windows-based version of Microsoft Word (sorry Mac users!) and covers versions 2010 through 2016 (a.k.a. the desktop version of Office 365). So whether you're up on the latest and greatest Word version or you've been putting off upgrading ... you're covered.

Are you:

Whether you've worked with Microsoft Word for a while or are brand new to it, it could seem as though Word is designed to be intimidating. All those buttons across the top and dialog boxes and menus ... what are you supposed to do with all that?

And if you work in a law office, you probably spend a large percentage of your day sitting in front of a computer, and what time you don't spend sending emails is spent with Microsoft Word. After all, so much of legal practice involves creating and editing documents.

But just because you use something every day doesn’t mean you’re getting the most out of it. And with the way law practice is changing these days, you can’t afford to miss any opportunities to extract the maximum performance and productivity out of the tools you use every day.

Think about the last document you edited. How much time did you spend looking for certain features or struggling with the bad formatting that someone else put there?

Considering how much of your day is spent in front of Microsoft Word, and how important efficiency is becoming in law offices everywhere, doesn’t it make sense to learn how to use this tool well so that you can deal successfully with your ever-increasing workload?

Oh, you’ve tried to learn Microsoft Word on your own. You took that all-day training class your firm offered, only to be so overwhelmed you forgot most of it by the time you got back to your desk.

Or, you bought a book. But you’re too busy actually working to read a manual. Or maybe you’ve searched for help online, only to find confusing and conflicting instructions.

You see, traditional ways of learning how to use software set you up to fail. Classroom instruction dumps too much information on you all at once. Most software manuals are reference books for experienced users, not instructions for beginners.

And searching for help online? Forget it. Even a simple search brings back screen after screen of confusing (and often outright wrong) instructions.

You know you need to update your skills to do your job better. After all, it’s frustrating (and time-consuming) to struggle with even basic tasks in Microsoft Word. If only someone could take you by the hand and show you, step-by-step, how to make Microsoft Word do your bidding (and maybe even translate your WordPerfect tasks to Microsoft Word).

Fast forward a few years. After moving into software consulting and training, I found myself drawn back to working with law firms. And because I had so much Microsoft Word experience under my belt, I became the “go-to girl” for anyone still having trouble making the transition from WordPerfect (and trust me, a lot of folks are still struggling).

So I’ve seen (and heard) it all: the hair pulling, the fist pounding, and every other variation of “Word Rage.” I’ve been asked every question, seen every formatting foul-up, and performed major surgery on some seriously messed up Microsoft Word documents. (I’ve also stopped several people from throwing their computers out the window!)

Of course, being the “Word expert-in-residence” in a law firm, I get a lot of the same questions over and over again. So, to keep from repeating myself, and to save a little time, I started a blog of Microsoft Office tutorials. That way, I could often refer people to a specific blog post (often with video) when they had a question. It made my expertise available when I wasn’t.

But blogs are, well, … disorganized by their very nature. What you need is a systematic, step-by-step way to learn Microsoft Word.

I've started from the absolute beginning with this course, because:

1. I don't want to make any assumptions about what skill and knowledge level you're currently at; and
2. You'd be surprised how many time-saving tricks you can pick up by truly understanding how Word works from the ground up

So here's exactly what you'll be learning in this course:

This course covers Microsoft Word version 2010 through 2016 (a.k.a. the desktop version of Office 365) for Microsoft Windows. (Sorry Mac users; I don't have corresponding instructions for the Mac versions of Word.)

Basic Word Skills for Legal Professionals contains 27 bite-sized lessons perfect for incremental, at-your-own-pace learning. After all, this sort of bit-by-bit instruction mimics the way you naturally learn a new skill. After all, you didn’t start speaking in full sentences as a baby, did you? You started by imitating the sounds you heard your parents make. Then you gradually started forming whole words. Eventually, you strung those words into sentences.

That’s the way most people learn things – step-by-step. And that’s how Basic Word Skills for Legal Professionals works, too. It presents you with one simple building block, then another, then another. With each lesson, you’re building your Microsoft Word skills gradually, naturally, and painlessly.

These lessons are fully illustrated, with short videos strategically placed within each lesson to show you step-by-step how to use the feature(s) being covered. Each lesson covers just one set of skills. No information overload here!

Contrast that with the way most legal professionals receive training. They corral you into a conference room, race through a webinar or in-person training presentation that dumps a ton of information on you, then send you back to your desk with the absurd expectation that that's going to make you more productive!

Listen to what another student has to say about the course:

If you've ever looked at the cost of taking a basic Word course at your local community college or at a software training center, you'll probably find that it's over $100. Plus, you're probably going to be required to be in their facility at certain dates or times to take the training.

With this course, you can learn in your own environment, practice at your own pace, and decide exactly what skills you want to learn when.

I don’t want you to pay $27 (US) for this course if you’re not absolutely convinced it will help you.

That’s why I offer a 60-day money-back guarantee. During that time, you could review all 27 lessons from the course. If you decide with 60 days of purchase that this course didn't improve your skill level and make you more productive, all you have to do is email me, and I'll process a refund, no questions asked!

Click the button below to add this course to your cart, then click it again to go to checkout. You'll choose your login user ID and password and give me the email address you want your periodic reminder emails to go to. Your purchase receipt will contain a link to your first lesson and instructions on logging in and navigating around the courseware.

What do you have to lose? Click the Add to Cart button below now!

My Brief Builder's Workshop course covers the specific Microsoft Word features attorneys and law office staff use to format legal briefs and other complex pleadings.

In Brief Builder's Workshop, I cover topics like:

This course provides you some targeted help with legal-specific features like Table of Authorities plus how to use other features like Table of Contents, page numbering and document sections within the specific context of producing a legal brief.

Here's a list of the lessons:

Because the lessons deal with a very specific context, chances are you've come here because you're right in the middle of an actual brief and need some targeted help with the formatting that comes with producing legal briefs.

This course covers the features that get little to no attention in the Microsoft Word manuals you buy in a bookstore or on other websites about Word. It's also focused specifically on how these features are used in a legal context.

All course content is based on the Windows-based version of Microsoft Word (sorry Mac users!) and covers versions 2010 through 2016 (a.k.a. the desktop version of Office 365). So whether you're up on the latest and greatest Word version or you've been putting off upgrading ... you're covered.

"My text never quite lines up exactly with the numbers on the pleading paper. What's the trick??"

"PLEASE work on the pleadings template! I'm sure I and many others would pay bonuses for your guidance."

"Pleading paper instructions would be fantastic! I mostly work in California state and federal courts, and ... while I'd love to be able to start [templates] from scratch I don't know how. Any help you could give would be terrific, thank you!!"

"I wish WORD was like WordPerfect in that we could just add the pleading format into the document after the document is completed. Anyway, if you could help me figure this out it would be great."

There's good news ... and better news

The good news is, I've heard your pleas and have put together a two-part tutorial, complete with video and text/screenshot instruction, on how to find, use, and modify pleading paper templates.

In the course, I not only show you the different types of pleading paper templates (there are two basic types that are very different from one another), but also how to work with them and even modify them to make them your own. I even show you the trick for keeping your text and the numbering in perfect sync!

Lesson #1 of the course even provides you with links to download the following templates (some of which are no longer available on Microsoft's site):

This course is for those who want to learn how to use and, if necessary, modify the existing standard templates and for those who want to create their own for future use.

Want in on the action? Just click the Checkout button below to purchase!