ADVANCED FEATURES FOR USE IN

DOCUMENT DESIGN

 

Introduction

 

The way that Fields and Variables can now be incorporated into documents has been vastly improved in LegalSuite and the possibilities when creating customized documents are endless.  Previously, fields could contain very limited information and were restrictive in the information that users could draw into documents. 

 

As an example, previously if you had a Fax to Sheriff, Fax to Opposing Attorney and Fax to Client, you would have had to have three separate fields for the relevant party’s fax number, each repeating for the person to whom the letter was addressed.  Now, one Party Field is required and you simple specify in your field syntax the party whose fax number you would like to retrieve.

 

This area of the program has recently been enhanced and improved and this document will illustrate how to practically use the following in documents:-

 

·         Variables

·         Party Fields

·         IF statements

·         Delivery Methods

·         Conditional Statements

·         Specifying selected / tagged parties in a document

·         Merge Conditions

 

The following is an overview of each of the above.  The section entitled “Practical Implementation” contains examples of how to put these features to practical use.

 

Variables

 

A variable is simply a storage area.  You put information (data) into your storage areas (variables) so that you can use and manipulate that information in the program (LegalSuite).  In other words, when inserting a new matter, you fill in the Matter Description.  The name for this storage area (variable) is MAT:Description (where MAT refers to the Matter table in SQL).  In order for the matter description to appear in a document, you would need to include the following in your document:-

 

[[(MAT:Description)]]

 

The syntax for variables is:-

 

[[(variable)]]

 

Whilst working in LegalSuite, you will notice that tooltips appear when you hold your mouse pointer over the input fields.  The last line of the tooltip displays the variable.  You may however notice that some tooltips do not display the variables – this is because the variable is made up of more complex information.   If you need to include information in documents and are unsure of the variable to use, LegalSuite’s support staff will be able to assist you further. 

 

Examples of commonly used variables found on the General Tab of the Matters Window are:-

 

Code:                          PAR:MatterPrefix

Reference:                  MAT:TheirRef

Instructed                    MAT:DateInstructed

Fee Sheet                   MAT:ClientFeeSheetID

Description                  MAT:Description

File Reference                        MAT:FileRef

Belongs To                  MAT:EmployeeID

Old Ref                       MAT:OldCode

Matter Type                MAT:MatterTypeID

Fee Estimate               MAT:FeeEstimate

Prescribes on              MAT:PrescriptionDate

 

 

Fig 1:  Tooltips showing variables

Party Fields

 

A Party Field is a common field that can be used when retrieving information for different party roles.  Previously you would have had to create separate fields for, example, each party’s name and each field would have had to repeat for that specific party.  In other words, in the list of merge fields (Browse | Fields), there would have been separate fields for the Advocate’s Name, the Applicant’s Name, the Creditor’s Name, the Defendant’s Name and so on.

 

 

Fig 2:  Merge Fields

 

With the new Party Fields, it is only necessary to have one field called, for example, FULL NAME which comprises the party’s first name and surname.  When using this field in documents, you will then specify which party’s name you require.

 

To view the existing Party Fields in LegalSuite, go to Browse | Fields and select the Party Fields radio button:-

 

 

Fig 3:  Party Fields

 

IF Statements

 

IF Statements are statements which can be included in documents and which will only be added IF certain criteria are met.

 

An example of an IF Statement is the following:-

 

[[IF(MAT:Age60Day>0)]]The balance on your account is currently 60 days in arrears in the amount of [[(MAT:Age60Day)]]. The total amount outstanding on your account is [[(MAT:Actual)]]. Please settle your account immediately or contact our Accounts Department if you have any queries.[[ENDIF]]

 

This statement can be added to an ordinary Letter to Client and the client will be notified if their account is outstanding for more than 60 days when a user generates the Letter to Client.  This eliminates the need for the user to check the accounting balance manually as the information is automatically drawn into the letter if the specified condition is true.

 

It is important to remember the formatting when using variables in documents.  As it stands above, the 60 amount will appear as 500.25 instead of R500.25 as the variable has not been formatted. 

Delivery Methods

 

With the implementation of Delivery Methods, it is no longer necessary to have separate letters setup depending on the delivery method.  i.e. previously it would have been necessary to have the following documents :-

 

Fax to Client

Letter to Client

Letter to Client – To Be Collected

Letter to Client – Registered Mail

 

When setting up your customized Letter, on the Advanced tab there is an option to prompt the user for the Delivery Method when assembling the document:-

 

 

Fig 4:  Delivery Tab on Changing a Document

 

 

As this is a generic document it is not necessary to specify a Default Delivery Method.

 

By including the GLO:DeliveryCode field (in conjunction with IF statements) in your document:-

 

[[IF(GLO:DeliveryCode=’FAX’)]]BY FAX: [[Selected.Party.Telephone.Fax]][[ENDIF]]

[[IF(GLO:DeliveryCode=’REGIST’)]]REGISTERED MAIL[[ENDIF]][[IF(GLO:DeliveryCode=’HAND’)]]BY HAND[[ENDIF]][[IF(GLO:DeliveryCode=’COLLECT’)]]TO BE COLLECTED[[ENDIF]]

 

you will be prompted to specify the delivery method when assembling the document:-

 

 

Fig 5: Prompt for user to select Delivery Method when assembling Letter to Party

 

 

 

TIP:  Delivery Methods can be setup under Setup | Delivery Methods.  Each delivery method must have a unique code for identification purposes.

 

A fee can be linked to a Delivery Method rather than to a document.  In other words, if you create a generic Letter to Client and tick the option to prompt the user to specify the Delivery Method, depending on what delivery method is selected determines the fee that will be debited.  For example, if you link the following fee codes to the Registered Mail delivery method, when this method is selected the following fees can be debited:-

 

Letters Written

Registered Mail

 

When the delivery method To Collect is selected, the following fees can be debited:-

 

Letters Written

 

REMEMBER:  If you are linking a fee code to a Delivery Method, then remove the fee code from the Fee Notes tab on the document.  If this is not done, then unnecessary fees may be erroneously debited.

 

 

 

 

 

Fig 6:  Document showing how to make use of DeliveryCode syntax

Delivery Methods

 

 

 

[[IF(GLO:DeliveryCode=’FAX’)]]BY FAX: [[Selected.Party.Telephone.Fax]][[ENDIF]]

[[IF(GLO:DeliveryCode=’REGIST’)]]REGISTERED MAIL[[ENDIF]][[IF(GLO:DeliveryCode=’HAND’)]]BY HAND[[ENDIF]][[IF(GLO:DeliveryCode=’COLLECT’)]]TO BE COLLECTED[[ENDIF]]

 

 

 

Fig 7: Adding an Extra Screen

 

Conditional Statements

 

LegalSuite allows users to specify conditions in various areas of the program, such as Events, Documents, Matter Take On, etc.  The beauty of this is that managers and advanced users can control what users do. 

 

For example:  If a collections user has taken on a new matter but has failed to fill in a Claim Amount, you can add a condition to the document that will either:-

 

a)            hide the document from the document assembly list;

b)            warn the user that there is no claim amount filled in on the matter;

c)            prevent the user from continuing further until such time as a claim amount is filled in.

 

Below is a list of the main tables and their prefixes but remember that the tooltips in the program display the prefix.  For example, the tooltip over Claim Amount is :

 

 

MAT indicates that ClaimAmount belongs to the Matter Table (see below)

 

Table

Prefix

Description

Control

CTL:

Basic Program settings

Language

LAN:

Language specific program settings

Global

GLO:

Global ‘memory’ variable (e.g. GLO:TodaysDate, GLO:LoginID)

 

 

 

Matter

MAT:

Basic Matter information

ColData

COL:

Litigation information for a Matter

BondData

BON:

Conveyancing information for a Matter

ConveyData

CONV:

More Conveyancing information for a Matter

RafData

RAF:

RAF information for a Matter

MatDocSc

MDS:

Extra Screens for a Matter

 

 

 

Party

PAR:

Basic Address Book details

ParLang

PL:

Language specific Address Book details

ParTele

PTE:

Telephone Numbers of a Party

ParField

PEF:

Extra Screens for a Party

Entity

ENT:

The Entity of the Party

ParType

PT:

The Type of Entity

 

 

 

MatParty

MP:

The Parties linked to a Matter

ParRolSc

PRS:

Extra Screens for a Matter’s Party

Role

ROL:

The Role the Party plays in a Matter

RoleLang

RLL:

The language specific description of the Role

FileNote

FIL:

File Notes

Fee Note

FN:

Fee Notes

ToDoNote

TOD:

Reminders (these used to be called ToDo Notes)

MatActiv

MA:

Time Records

DocLog

DOL:

Document Log

ColDebit

CD:

The Debtor Transactions

 

 

 

Employee

EMP:

Employee the Matter belongs to (Note: Use CEM: for the Current Employee, i.e. the logged in Employee)

Docgen

DG:

Document Set of the Matter

CostCentre

COS:

Default Cost Centre of the Matter

MatType

MT:

Matter Type of the Matter

Grouping

GRO:

Groups a Matter belongs to

Branch

BRA:

The Branch the Matter belongs to

Business

BLM:

The Bank Accounts (Trust and Business) of the Matter

 

 

 

Document

DOC:

List of Documents

DocLang

DL:

Language details of each Document

 

 

 

 

Fig 8: Main LegalSuite tables and prefixes for variables

 

Conditional Statements can be very powerful tools when used in documents.  Used in conjunction with IF statements, the possibilities are endless.

 

For an example of how to use Conditional Statements, see the section titled “Practical Implementation”.

Specifying Selected / Tagged Parties in a Document

 

The Selected / Tagged Party syntax is used in conjunction with Party Fields.  One document can be created with the Selected / Tagged syntax which will allow users, when assembling the document, to reference the details of the Selected / Tagged parties.

 

An example would be when applying for Summary Judgment against two of the four Defendants.  When the precedent document was created, it was not known against which Defendants Summary Judgment would be applied for.  By using the Selected / Tagged party syntax in a document, the user can choose the relevant parties at assembly stage.  These fields can also be used in standard letters.

 

A Party Field has the following format:

[[role.whichone.type.description.listtype]]

The role parameter typically refers to the role of the Party (e.g. “Defendant”) or the keyword “Current” (which referred to the Party the document is currently being assembled for).

An additional keyword “Tagged” has been added to this syntax.

For example:

[[Tagged.1.Field.Full Name]] - will insert a Field called Full Name for the first “tagged” Party.

When assembling a document, the minute the program comes across a field with the word “Tagged”, the Parties for the Matter window will appear and you will be prompted to tag the relevant party/ies. 

 

If the field [[Tagged.1.Field.Name]] is used in the document, then the name of the 1st tagged party will be inserted. 

 

If the field [[Tagged.All.Field.Full Name]] is used in the document, then the names of all the tagged parties will be inserted.

 

Merge Conditions

 

You can now link conditions to documents which will ensure criteria are met before a user is able to assemble the document.

 

The setting is found under Browse | Documents when you double-click on the document and click on the Display Criteria tab:-

 

 

Fig 9: Conditional Statement on document

 

This is where the CountParties syntax is very useful – you can prevent a user from assembling a Summons, for example, if there are no Defendants listed as parties to the matter, then a message will appear brining this fact to the user’s attention and they will be unable to assemble the document unless they add a Defendant.

 

The CountParties syntax is :-

 

CountParties('Defendant') > 0

 

where (‘Defendant’) represents the party role.

 

To view a list of Party Roles, go to Setup | Types, Entities and Roles | Party Roles

 

You can have more than one merge condition linked to a document.  For example, you will never assemble a Summons unless you have a Plaintiff as well as a Defendant and also a claim amount.

 

To ensure that this information is filled prior to assembling the Summons, simply add the following Merge Conditions:-

 

 

Fig 10: Condition which will allow document to be assembled only if the Claim Amount is greater than zero

 

 

 

Fig 11: Condition which will allow document to be assembled only if the number of Plaintiffs on the matter is greater than zero

 

When assembling the Summons, if the merge conditions are not met, the following messages will appear:-

 

 

Fig 12: Message which comes up indicating that the document cannot be assembled as one of the merge conditions has not been met, i.e.  the matter does not have a Defendant

 

If the user adds a Defendant as a party to the matter and then assembles the Summons:-

 

 

Fig 13: Message which comes up indicating that the document cannot be assembled as one of the merge conditions has not been met, i.e.  the matter does not have a Claim Amount

 

 

If the user fills in a Claim Amount to the matter and then assembles the Summons:-

 

 

Fig 14: Message which comes up indicating that the document cannot be assembled as one of the merge conditions has not been met, i.e.  the matter does not have a Plaintiff

 

If the user adds a Plaintiff as a party to the matter and then assembles the document, he / she will now be able to do so as all Merge Conditions have been met.

 

 

 

Merge Conditions can be extremely useful. Not only do they ensure that matters are taken on correctly with the relevant parties and details filled in, they ensure that documents are not missing vital information which can result in wasted time when incomplete documents are returned from Court.

 

Merge Conditions can also assist users who are new to LegalSuite as you can include a detailed message in your Merge Condition which can guide the user through the necessary steps that need to be completed before document assembly can take place. 

 

 

 

Summary

 

Together, the above features create an extremely powerful tool which can be used to create a set of customized documents that will allow very little room for user input error.

 

However, the features can also be used alone.  For example, the variables can be useful in creating customized reports which suit individual firms.

 

Below is a summary of the important syntaxes.  As a guide for use in documents, where possible each section is reflected in a difference colour.  For example, where variables have been used, these are reflected in Red, etc.

 

SYNTAX

DESCRIPTION

 

 

[[(FORMAT(MAT:LodDate,@D6))]]

To format a variable in Date Format.  Simply replace MAT:LodDate with the relevant variable

 

 

[[(FORMAT(MEF:FIELD1,@N~R~15.2B))]]

To format a variable in Currency Format.  Simply replace MEF:Field1 with the relevant variable

 

 

[[(MAT:CaseNumber)]]

The format that a variable needs to be in in a document, i.e. [[( variable )]]

 

 

[[Tagged.1.Field.Full Name]]

This will insert the Full Name (field) of the first tagged party. 

 

 

[[Tagged.All.Field.Full Name]]

This will insert the Full Names of ALL the tagged parties.

 

 

[[Defendant.1.Field.Full Name]]

This will insert the Full Name of the First Defendant

 

 

[[Buyer.1.Telephone.Fax]]

This will insert the fax number of the first Buyer

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[(GDF(272,1)]]

 

 

Fig 15: Summary of commonly used syntaxes

Practical Implementation

 

To start off with, we are going to create a general “letter to client” which makes uses of an extra screen.

 

STEP 1 : USING AN EXISTING TEMPLATE TO CREATE A CUSTOM DOCUMENT

 

Go to Browse | Documents.  Highlight the relevant document set, e.g. Custom Documents if it is a general letter and highlight the document on the right-hand side of the screen:-

 

 

Fig 16: Browse | Documents

 

When the document is highlighted, click on the Copy button at the bottom of the screen.  A new document will appear in the list.  Because we chose to copy the Letter to Client, the copied document will appear as Letter to Client – Copy.

 

 

Fig 16: Browse | Documents – Copied document

 

 

 

NB:  It is important to note that at this stage, the original Letter to Client and Letter to Client – Copy are still looking at the same document.  We have simply copied the document “setup” to reflect a new one in the list (to see this, double-click on the document and you will notice the file name is the same)

 

 

 

 

At this stage, we need to change the file name of the Letter to Client – Copy.  To do this, highlight the copied document and click on the Edit button at the bottom of the screen.  The following window will come up if you have copied an original document:-

 

 

Fig 17: Browse | Documents – Creating a customized copy

 

It is recommended that you click on Yes to create a customized copy instead.  Most of LegalSuite’s documents are updated regularly and if you choose to edit an original document, your changes may be overwritten.

 

Once you have clicked on Yes, both the English and Afrikaans versions of the document will open (note that they may be minimized at the bottom of your screen).

 

If your firm only generates documents in English or only in Afrikaans, then you can close the document you are not going to edit.  For this example, we are going to work on an English document.  

 

When the document is on the screen, click on File | Save As.  The path will automatically default to the \LSW\GENERAL\CUSTOM folder.  Give the document a File Name and click on Save:-

 

 

Fig 18: Saving the Custom document

 

 

You will have noticed that the Type of File defaults to Rich Text Format (*.rtf).  LegalSuite allows users the option of using either Microsoft Word or the Built-in-Wordprocessor to assemble documents.  Whereas Microsoft Word can open both *.doc and *.rtf files, the Built-in-Wordprocessor can only open *.rtf files.  If all users in your firm have been setup to merge into Microsoft Word, you can change the Type of File to Word Document (*.doc).

 

 

Once you have renamed the document and saved it, you can close it.  In the list of documents, you will now notice that the document has an icon next to it, which indicates that it is a customized document:-

 

 

Fig 19: Browse | Documents – customized document reflected in list

 

Double-click on the document to change the Description.  In this case, we are going to call it General Letter to Client:-

 

 

Fig 19: Browse | Documents – changing a document

 

From the above, you can see that the File Name still refers to the original file name.  To change this, double-click on the English line and use the ellipse button to lookup the document you saved (in this case we saved it as General Letter to Client.rtf):-

 

 

Fig 20: Browse | Documents – changing a document’s file name

 

If you are not using the Afrikaans document, you can simply delete it from the list so that you are left with the English document:-

 

 

Fig 21: Browse | Documents – new file name reflected

 

Remove the tick from the Create Separate Documents block (we are going to be using new fields and this option is no longer necessary to tell the document which file to loop through in order to retrieve the correct party’s details).  The beauty of Party Fields is that they do this part automatically, so you do not have to worry about telling the document which file to loop through.

 

We will come back to the different settings on the document once we have filled in the relevant fields.

 

STEP 2 : CREATING A DOCUMENT EXTRA SCREEN

 

Go to Setup | Extra Screens | Desktop

 

A list of Document Extra Screens will appear in the list. You will notice that the name of the Extra Screen is preceded by the an abbreviation of the Document Set name that the document is linked to – this is simply to make it easy to find.

 

 

Fig 22: Desktop (Document) Extra Screens

 

Insert a new Extra Screen by right-clicking and inserting or clicking on the Insert button:-

 

 

Fig 23: Adding a new extra screen

 

Give the Extra Screen a Description and a Screen Title.  At this stage you could change the Program Location (i.e. where the Extra Screen will be displayed), but for this example it is unnecessary as we are creating a Document Extra Screen and the program location is correct – Desktop.

 

Right-click or click on the Insert button to insert a new field:-

 

 

Fig 24: Adding a field to an extra screen

 

The first field is the reason for the letter.  For this, we have chosen the Type as Drop Down.  This will prompt the user to choose a reason from a drop-down list.  The From field contains the drop-down options as follows:-

 

Account in Arrears|#A|Lack of Instructions|#B|Documents Required|#C|Closing File|#D|Other#|E

 

This is a compulsory field (i.e. the user cannot leave it blank) so the Required field has been ticked.  The user will not be able to continue of this field is not filled in.

 

Click on OK to accept the record.

 

Continue adding required fields.

 

The fourth field is a calculation of the second and third fields:-

 

 

Fig 25: Adding a calculation field to an extra screen

 

By making use of the Calculation option, you can get the system to calculate amounts.  This greatly reduces the possibility of user error.

 

 

So far, the Extra Screen contains the following fields:-

 

 

Fig 26: Extra Screen with fields added

 

At this stage, there are no further fields that are required.    Before you click on OK, make a note of the RecordID of the Extra Screen – in this case the RecordID is 279.

 

 

Fig 27: Extra Screen with RecordID highlighted

 

STEP 3 : LINKING THE EXTRA SCREEN TO THE DOCUMENT

 

To link the Extra Screen to the document, go to Browse | Documents | select the relevant document set and double-click on the document.

 

Click on the Advanced tab and tick the option to Display Extra Screen before Merging.  Select the Extra Screen you created from the drop-down list and then click on OK.

 

 

Fig 28: Linking the Extra Screen to the Document

 

STEP 4 : SPECIFYING THE DELIVERY METHOD

 

On the Delivery tab, tick the option to prompt the user for the delivery method:-

 

 

Fig 29: Ticking the option to prompt the user to specify the delivery method

 

 

When the GLO:DeliveryMethod sytanxes are included in the document, the user will be prompted to specify the delivery method.

 

STEP 5 : MODIFYING THE CONTENTS OF THE PRECEDENT DOCUMENT

 

Click on OK on the above screen to save the settings.  Highlight the document and click on Edit.  The document called General Letter to Client.rtf will open.

 

 

Fig 30: File Name

 

You will notice that all the fields in the document are in double-square brackets, i.e. [[ ]].  Anything contained in these brackets is called a field.

 

The field [[LETTERHEAD]] will retrieve the letterhead that has been setup for your employee.  However, because we have set the document up to prompt the user to specify the delivery method, we may want the letter to reflect the standard confidentiality notice and Fax Cover Sheet information that is usually on fax letterheads.

 

Basically, in simple English language terms, what we are trying to accomplish is the following by using Delivery Code:-

 

IF the DELIVERY CODE chosen by the user is by FAX, then insert the confidentiality notice and Telefax Cover Sheet information

 

IF the DELIVERY CODE chosen by the user is by REGISTERED MAIL, then insert the wording “REGISTERED MAIL”

 

IF the DELIVERY CODE chosen by the user is BY HAND, then insert the wording “BY HAND”

 

IF the DELIVERY CODE chosen by the user is TO BE COLLECTED, then insert the wording “TO BE COLLECTED”

 

and so on

 

Bear in mind:-

 

IF the DELIVERY CODE is not FAX, then the standard letterhead must be used

 

So, the beginning of our document is going to look like this:-

 

Fig 31: Customized document showing fields used

 

If you read the above from left to right, we are telling the program to :-

 

a)            insert the Letterhead;

b)            IF the Delivery Code = Fax, then insert the confidentiality notice and Telefax Cover Sheet Details (which in turn contain syntaxes to insert the Client’s Full Name, Reference, Fax Number and File Reference;

c)            End the IF statement