LitIQ -

Check out an Add-In for MS Word named LitIQ which is designed to help you spot errors in drafts of contracts and other legal documents. LitIQ focuses on performing an analysis of a document in three areas:

1. Detection of Ambiquities - the software will help locate terms in a document with multiple meanings, and spots unclear sentences.

2. Advanced Proofreading - LitIQ will detect formatting errors and inconsistent usage.

3. Style Guide - to find problematic language and suggest alternatives. This feature is based on the guidelines of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting by Ken Adams.

Let's take a look at how the LitIQ add-in works. After it's installed, a new tab named 'LitIQ' will appear on the Ribbon in Word. I'm going to use it to review a contract that I found on the web for an agency of the City of Seattle.

In this screen grab we see how the Advanced Proofreading tool has found two instances where the word 'consultant' may be used in a sense that is different from the definition it is given on the first page of the agreement.

The Ambiguity Detection feature generates a list of words which can have multiple interpretations - 'similar'; 'appropriate'; 'periodically'

The Style Guide notices that the word 'confirms' as used in a particular context can be misleading, and suggests the replacement, 'states'.

Smart Draw

I've used a number of applications to create diagrams for courtroom demonstratives, including Visio, TimeMap, PowerPoint, and MindMap. But I'm particularly impressed with the Smart Draw application for the detail of the templates it provides, and the types of template which may be useful for the litigation support professional.

The legal section not only includes various templates of crime scenes, traffic & accident diagrams, it also has autopsy reports, juvenile detention assessment forms, discovery procedure and trial preparation procedure charts, estate planning checklists, and many more diagrams specifically designed for the legal field. There is a large group for paralegal responsibilities and assignments.

There are numerous templates for different kinds of network systems.

Note the range of different icons for various kinds of servers.

There's also several options for organizational charts . . .

. . . and timelines.

There are a variety of other templates (fully editable with a range of schematic options) including PC System inventory forms; decision trees for company mergers and project management; and detailed anatomical illustrations.

A free, seven day trial version of Smart Draw can be downloaded. It operates as a SaaS application.

Recover Corrupt PDF Files

If you have a corrupt PDF file that you can't open, particularly one which gives you an error message like this:

. . . about a root object missing, you should be able to recover the PDF with PDF Recovery from Sysinfo Tools. See: http://www.sysinfotools.com/recovery/pdf-recovery.php . I have used it successfully to open a PDF file which gave me this same error message. The trial version will only recover every other page, but a license only costs $59.