LAW PRACTICE TIPS
Making Your Practice More 'Grande' with Grande Macros
By Jim Calloway, Director, OBA Management Assistance Program
Since the February issue of the bar journal is a family law-themed issue, it only makes sense to highlight a software product that many family lawyers use daily and consider a vital part of their daily professional lives - Doug Loudenback's Grande Macros version 5.5. However, before we can continue, we must present two disclaimers.
Disclaimer No. 1: The Oklahoma Bar Association is the exclusive marketing agent for the Grande Macros and is compensated for that service. Some might think that would affect my opinion of the product.
Disclaimer No. 2: The Grande Macros only work with Corel WordPerfect, not Microsoft Word. You do not need to waste your breath or e-mail trying to convince Mr. Loudenback to do programming for MS Word. It will not happen. The Grande Macros version 5.5 only works with WordPerfect 10, 9 and most versions of 8. More on that later.
Lawyers were early adaptors of computers for one main reason - to produce documents more efficiently. More than one observer has noted that the use of computers in the law office has resulted in more documents and longer documents rather than the often-discussed paperless office. Hopefully there has been a corresponding increase in the quality of our legal documents. But many law firms still struggle with perfecting their methods of document preparation and assembly. If George Jetson were a lawyer, he would be able to pick up a microphone and say, "I need the closing documents on the Spacely Sprockets acquisition and the dissolution of marriage pleadings prepared for Mrs. Skyhawk." Then, the papers would appear in the printer tray.
Well, no law firm has reached that point. The technology is not there. But even more importantly, the practice of law is not just about completing forms. While there is a lot of routine work in preparation of legal documents, every client's case is unique and the lawyer's judgment in drafting documents to meet these precise needs will never be replaced by machines, at least hopefully not in our lifetimes.
Nevertheless, there is a benefit to both the client and the law firm to streamline the document production process as much as possible.
Doug Loudenback's Grande Macros do just that. We know that many lawyers purchased the Grande Macros solely to use the great macro that calculates child support and prepares the form. But there are many equally powerful features.
But before we cover the features of the Grande Macros further, let's answer that question that many of our readers have on their mind right now.
YES. Version 5.5 of the Grande Macros covers the recent changes to Oklahoma family law that went into effect last November. This includes the change of case style, the change of party identification, the automatic temporary injunction, new summons form, Summary of Support Order, parenting coordinator and the new "parental relocation" language.
It is important to understand, however, the difference between macros and form documents. The GM are not forms. The GM actually assemble your documents based on your answers to queries that appear on your computer screen. There is no form document to look at until the macro process is finished. The result is a standard WordPerfect document that is editable like any other document that you have prepared. It can then be changed, printed and saved.
The great benefit of the GM is speed of use. Even a relatively slow typist can use the macros to quickly prepare documents because the typing is minimized to just the particulars of the case. For example, in preparing a petition, you will be queried for number of children of the marriage. If you select 0, that step is completed. If you indicate that there are children, then you will be asked the name, gender, birth date, residence history and other information for each child. It is much quicker to complete the variable information and let the computer insert them where needed than to go to a form document and manually move between the blanks to insert information.
Those of us who have been using the GM for years quickly adapt to each new version. But for those who are brand new users, it may take a short time to install the software and familiarize yourself with the way the product works. Although you will probably find that you can draft your first petition in about 10 - 15 minutes after installation and customization is complete.
It is frankly hard to discuss the GM without sounding like a paid commercial for the software. It is very easy to use. Running the main GM produces a menu with over 20 non-family law specific choices on the left and over 25 family law specific choices on the right. Double clicking on the task you desire runs that particular macro. For example, clicking on the choice Divorce Quit Claim Deed generates a box where you select the gender of the grantor, type in both party's names, the case number and select the county. Then the macro runs and creates the complete deed. The only remaining task is to type in the legal description, save and print just like you would with any document.
If you want a help menu for one of the choices, just click on the question mark next to it.
The GM are also very inexpensive. A mere $120 is the cost. ($60 is the upgrade price from version 4 or 5.) The license allows you to install the GM on all the secretaries and lawyers computers. This is a true bargain. An order form accompanies this article. Just photocopy the page with the order form, and send it in with your check payable to the OBA Management Assistance Program.
But we do suggest that you consider making this purchase right now because there will be a price increase on March 15, 2003.
You can get more information and see more screen shots of the Grande Macros by going to www.dougloudenback.com and clicking on any of the choices at top under Grande Macros. An order form can be printed from the site as well.
We hear almost nothing but superlatives when we get feedback from our GM users. A few months ago when there were a couple of delays in launching the new version, our phones rang constantly. Doug Loudenback is so confident that you will like it, there is a 10-day money back guarantee.
And then, of course, there is the benefit of never having to do a child support calculation by hand (or calculator) again.
More Document Assembly Options
The substantive documents prepared by the program are family law documents, such as petition, answer, counterclaim, interrogatories, guardian ad litem motion and order, habeas corpus pleadings and various other motions and orders. But, there are also many macros that can be used with any type of case.
There are macros that prepare summons, subpoenas, attorney signature blocks, certificates of mailing, cover sheets, deposition notices, motions to enter, appearances, over a dozen routine transmittal letters and many more. Obviously, you could record or learn to program many of these macros yourself. But how much time would you invest in the process? We suggest that the answer is "more than $120 worth."
One of the operations that many law offices use every single day is the case caption macro. Now there are choices for the old and new types of case caption in family law, but the macro can still be used to create the traditional case style in seconds any time someone is drafting a pleading.
If you wish, the GM will also allow you to set up a WordPerfect style for your office letterhead.
The set of letters and pleadings for appeals to the Oklahoma Supreme Court justifies the purchase price alone for those who do appellate work.
A court clerks macro that allows you to look up the name and address for any of our court clerks and have it typed into a document. It can also be used to prepare a three page document of the contact information for all court clerks.
More 'Cool' Features
Doug has programmed macros that do much more than document assembly, however.
Grande Math is a pop-up calculator that does math operations and date calculations. The date calculator is very nice, distinguishing between dates and "lawyer dates" with a pop-up version of 12 O.S. 2006 for quick reference. Typing some hypothetical dates into the Qdro calculator yielded this result: "264 months employed ; 226 months married; 226 months employed during marriage; 38 months employed before marriage."
There are full-color maps of each county. There is a mileage calculator measuring distance between various county seat cities. There is a Zip Code lookup macro.
Family Law Library
As they say in the infomercials, but wait there's more!
Doug Loudenback has also included the free Adobe Acrobat Reader and many of his superb papers on family law issues all in a brand new PDF searchable library.
Here are some sample titles:
Child Custody and Visitation Anthology - revised in version 5.5 - This 83-page PDF file discusses virtually every Oklahoma appellate decision from about 1950 through February 2001 concerning all aspects of parental custody and visitation.
Child Data Anthology - new in v5.5 - This 137-page PDF file includes virtually every state, and many federal, statutes concerning child oral and/or written data, everything from wiretap to educational records to whatever.
Child Support in 2002 - new in v5.5 - This 44-page PDF covers everything from how to "do" computations to a thorough discussion of Oklahoma cases on child support computation issues from the onset of Child Support Guidelines through June 2002.
The searchable PDF library also includes Internal Revenue Service form 8332, all of Title 43 of the Oklahoma Statutes and other selected statutes, Supreme Court Rules and many additional CLE papers besides those listed above. There are also some great articles on customizing WordPerfect.
So what's the catch?
Well, there are a few catches actually. You have to agree not to use the GM to produce pro se documents. This is a tool for lawyers and is sold only to OBA members. Do-it-yourselfers should look elsewhere.
As we mentioned, the GM only work with WordPerfect, not Microsoft Word. The GM will not work with version 7 or prior of WordPerfect. (Your practice management advisor would wonder why anyone is still using WP 7 or prior.)
The program does work with WordPerfect 9, 10 and most versions of WP 8 and will work with WP11 it is released. (WordPerfect 8 users should read our caveat below. Others may skip it.) In fact, we know of some law firms that have switched to Microsoft Word, but still keep Word Perfect on their machines just to run the Grande Macros.
Caveat: Grande Macros will NOT work in WordPerfect 8.0.0.153, the initial WordPerfect 8.0 release. According to Doug Loudenback, "Corel quickly recognized that Release 8.0.0.153 was 'buggy' and Corel yanked it off the shelves very soon after its release. For a time, Corel would replace that WordPerfect release for free, but that time has long since passed." We assume that most readers still using WP 8 have release 8.0.0.225 or higher. To determine your specific WordPerfect release, with WordPerfect open, in the WordPerfect Menu, click Help | About WordPerfect. The dialog which opens will tell you the number of your specific WordPerfect version. If your WP8 specific release is WP8.0.0.153, you will need to install a later release of WP8.0 or an new version of WP to use the Grande Macros.
Again, you can go to www.dougloudenback.com for more information. We hope that you will join the hundreds of Oklahoma lawyers who think life is more "grande" with the Grande Macros.
Originally published in the
Oklahoma Bar Journal February 15, 2003 - Vol. 74; No.6
