Word LX™ Enterprise Features Improve Document Quality and Boost Efficiency at Lenczner Slaght

Implementing Word LX Enterprise

In 2011, the firm implemented Word LX Enterprise (Word LX hereafter) to help advance their document creation and workflow processes, and the results have been tremendous. We spoke with Tracy Fadlallah, the firm’s Learning and Development Specialist who was involved in the evaluation and implementation of Word LX at the firm to understand how it has transformed their document creation processes.

When Word LX was first demonstrated to Lenczner Slaght, not everyone understood what they were looking at nor did they immediately recognize its potential benefits. Tracy’s reaction, however, was much different. “I was literally amazed that a product like this existed for law firms. I had experience building templates from scratch as well as developing macros for Microsoft Word. When I saw the ability to integrate our firm standards, the range of features, and how everything was centralized on one ribbon, I was sold”, said Ms. Fadlallah. Tracy is now responsible for, among many other things, ensuring that the firm’s staff and lawyers are adopting the solution and taking full advantage of its features and capabilities.

Standardization = Consistency = Efficiency

Promoting consistency and best practices with document creation is very important for Lenczner Slaght and they understand the inefficiencies that can result from manual or direct formatting. As a result, the firm enforces the use of styles to ensure their documents are structured and formatted properly. Word LX has helped the firm achieve this goal by providing styles and numbering schemes that are common in legal documents which are far more useful than what Microsoft Word provides as a default.

Like most Infoware customers, Lenczner Slaght went a step further by implementing a customized set of styles and numbering schemes for their firm. “We have a style setup for everything, they’re customized and they look the way we want. For example, indent styles, header styles, quotes and references are standardized and they have the proper fonts, size and spacing,” said Tracy.

With these standards in place, the firm’s documents look and feel the same, but what is even more beneficial is that the tools and features for applying these styles are simple to use. This means that everyone is using the tools to create more consistent documents and they are saving time in the process.

“Having custom styles and numbering schemes is very important to our firm, but the big benefit of Word LX is how simple it makes these types of formatting tasks for the average user. With just a click of a button, a paragraph looks the way you need it to look and the right numbering scheme is applied,” said Tracy.

Word LX™ “One Click” Features Get the Job Done Faster

While standardizing processes and improving document consistency were key objectives in implementing Word LX, the firm’s lawyers and staff have embraced the solution’s wide range of tools which save them time and make formatting documents far easier. We asked Tracy to describe some of their favorite Word LX features and explain why they are so valuable. “Microsoft Word isn’t always intuitive, but Word LX makes it simple by putting all the features you need at your fingertips. Complex formatting tasks that would normally take several steps can literally be completed in one mouse click.”

Updating Document Information On the Fly

The Update Data feature is one tool that is frequently used to quickly update elements in an existing document. For example, if an assistant is creating a letter for a specific lawyer but then learns it is supposed to be sent by a different lawyer, they would normally have to manually update the lawyer’s name, email, phone number, fax, and the particulars of their closing. With the Update Data tool, all the assistant needs to do is select the new lawyer and they are done. Word LX stores all of the information for every lawyer in the firm which allows this information and other elements to be automatically updated. Document changes like these are very common and according to Tracy, this feature saves their users a lot of time and effort and improves accuracy by eliminating manual errors.

Formatting Tables is No Longer Required

Normally, the default formatting in a table does not match the rest of your document, and manual formatting is required. The Table feature in Word LX eliminates this as firm-approved fonts, spacing and styles are built into the tool. To generate a table, users simply need to click the Table button and enter their content. This feature can also be used to automatically re-format a table from an external document. With one click, the table is re-formatted with the firm’s styles. When working against deadlines, features like these help ensure that documents get completed on time, while maintaining consistency.

Applying and Removing Watermarks in One Click

Sometimes the simplest of tasks are more difficult that they should be. Word LX provides tools for easily inserting and removing Watermarks. Inserting and removing these in and out of documents is very basic, but removing a watermark from another firm’s document is not so simple. Word LX has a button for that, which not only saves time, but also frustration.

Combining Two Documents

Before Lenczner Slaght had Word LX, Tracy would get support calls when documents with different layouts needed to be combined together. To do this manually would require several steps that included creating a section break, changing the section break layout to landscape, adjusting the margins, and copying the back page and pasting it in. Additional time would be required to clean things up so that the document was formatted properly. These types of support requests are a thing of the past as Word LX has a feature button that can combine two documents with different layouts in one click. “What Infoware has done with Word LX is identified so many common pain points associated with creating and formatting legal documents, and developed ways to automate those tasks – it’s totally priceless,” said Tracy.

Fast Forward to the Future

Word LX has helped Lenczner Slaght enhance the quality and consistency of their documents and helped them address the demands of the market. Clients are demanding more, and law firms need to adjust. In a world where there are fewer assistants per lawyer and more is being demanded from support staff, solutions like Word LX are a difference maker. The firm continues to rely on Word LX as an important component of their document workflow process. As Tracy Fadlallah says, “Word LX is there for us when we need it. It’s like an old friend.”