Well, it's Sunday Morning, so it must be time for a good political debate
To begin, I would challenge your assumption that there's a difference
between PCs and Macs. Well, yes, I suppose there is, but it tends to be
largely "price" and "colour". There's no such thing as a "cheap" Mac, and
they tend to be white...
Other than that, there is no difference these days. You can install Windows
on a Mac, or Mac OS X on a PC. Both will work just the same as they would
on their target hardware.
A Mac is simply another "personal computer". Which I use because the
engineering tends to be a little better and the software tends to be a
little more reliable.
You do have a point: Mac Word 2008 is missing much of the power and
features of Word 2003/2004 and has only some of the features of Word 2007.
We have high hopes for the next version...
However: This does not affect the area of Legal Pleading templates at all.
In Word 2008, templates that do not require VBA and Form Fields look and
work just the same.
I have never understood why people have difficulties with Legal Pleading
templates, because compared to some of the templates I make and sell, they
appear to be very simple documents.
However: Every Jurisdiction, and every Court within that jurisdiction,
tends to have its own specific requirements for the presentation of
pleadings. Admittedly, many are very similar, but most have at least some
minor variations.
Computerised lawyers (my land-lady Jacqui is one such...) tend to buy an
entire "Library" of legal forms that are pre-coded to work with the practice
management software in use. Jacqui uses Butterworths' I believe, and the
entire DVD-full plugs into the LEAP Practice Management software she uses.
She then enters the client's name and address and the software plugs it in
throughout whichever forms she requires for that matter.
In most cases, the forms in question are simply Word "documents", and thus,
they work just fine with either Mac Word or PC Word.
Outside the USA, this matter becomes more simple: the legal system, or large
parts of it, tends to be "national", so you can make a single library of
forms for all of the lawyers in a country. In the USA, specific courts have
specific requirements, meaning the size of the available market for a
particular template can be as small as one city: not enough sales to fund
the work required to create the library.
Of course, you would not be asking the question if you already had a
fully-computerised practice management system set up, so I assume that you
require only one template for a single matter.
Probably the quickest way to get one is to ring one of your local lawyers
and ask for one. It shouldn't be expensive: I would charge you about $500
to make one, but my fees are like a plumber's
It's also surprisingly easy to make your own. The two difficult bits are
finding out the requirements of the court in which you wish to file, and
learning to make Word templates.
We can teach you the "templates" bit in here.
Let ME begin by suggesting that you do not need (or want...) a template at
all
That's because Microsoft uses the word "template" in a very
specific manner when speaking about Microsoft Word: it means a file that is
a repository of styles and computer code (macros) which are intended to be
used within an attached document.
Microsoft Word 2008 has no ability to run macros, and lawyers tend not to
use styles. So the need for a "template" is so low it's usually not worth
making one.
However, what you tend to need for a "Pleading" is a very precise layout
that must fit the requirements of the court. You can get that in a
"document", and you already know how to build and work with "documents".
We will need to give you a little coaching in how to position elements
reliably on a page, and on the use of document properties, fields, and
cross-references.
So: We're here to help. You need to come back to us with the precise
requirements for a Legal Pleading for the court you want to file in. If the
reason you wanted a template is that you don't have these requirements, well
that is an issue, and the template would not have solved it for you unless
you can manage to find a template for the specific court you require.
Hope this helps
Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
I love my Mac, but it is inferior in the area of templates. I need a legal
pleading template for word 2008 for Mac. PCs are much better at this stuff
than Macs, but not enough to make me switch. Any help out there? Thank.
--
Don't wait for your answer, click here:
http://www.word.mvps.org/
Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.
John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:
[email protected]