The Federal Lawyer in Cyberia

Mike Tonsing A Love Affair Reignited: WordPerfect and Me

am currently collaborating on a case with a bril- attempts to import text from a web browser and finds liant attorney in San Jose, California. He is a sole that it has been hopelessly changed. WordPerfect, by Ipractitioner, as am I. As we began our cooperative contrast, almost always gets it right and when it doesn’t efforts a few months ago, Larry casually indicated to the errors are easily corrected. Word and all me that while he has installed on his other competing word processing applications “paint” computer, he far prefers working with WordPerfect and them with invisible attributes (like funds and margins) he would appreciate it if I would send him copies of and it is virtually impossible for anyone beneath the the litigation documents I draft in that format. As a for- magical level of a skilled legal secretary to figure out mer WordPerfect partisan who gradually capitulated to where the invisible “painting” begins and ends. Who the dominance of Word, I took his polite request as an among us has not hit the backspace key on their key- opportunity to reintroduce myself to this former favor- board a few times and discovered that the formatting ite, a product that I have not used for several years. of a whole paragraph has morphed unexpectedly? It didn’t take long. I am once again a lawyer When I am faced with a situation where a letter I am who prefers to use WordPerfect whenever possible drafting that I would prefer to be no longer than one and who uses Microsoft Word when neces- page lapses over onto a second page (due to my own sary. I am writing this month’s column using verbosity), I am left with no real options in MS Word. WordPerfect, but I will convert it to a Word What a delight it is to be able to click on the “Make It document when I have it finalized and ready Fit” pull-down and find that WordPerfect has tweaked to send to my esteemed editor. the margins infinitesimally and has adjusted the font I downloaded a copy of WordPerfect X6 size by a few points (maybe from 12 to 11.8) so that Legal Edition (named X6 because it is the 16th everything I have written is now magically included on iteration of this multi-generational word pro- the same page. cessing software). I cannot remember the num- Unlike MS Word, WordPerfect X6 includes built- ber of the first WordPerfect product I installed in PDF tools. Among other things, you can import many years ago, but I vividly remember that scanned images in PDF format and OCR them – the it was a pre-Windows DOS version. I upgraded my images are instantly converted to editable text. The WordPerfect software many times but strayed from it legal version has enhanced its PDF/A support, enabling when I found that my clients were all using Word and users to publish documents according to Government seemed to expect me to do the same. standards. It also supports tagged PDF files so that they Today, the number of lawyers who use WordPerfect can be properly rendered on mobile devices. And, it is a tiny fraction of what it once was. Those who are includes built-in metadata removal. still users are, in my experience, intensely loyal. Based For anyone who might be contemplating switching on my reintroduction to this product just a few months to WordPerfect exclusively, it is enticing that X6 will ago, their loyalty is substantially justified. allow them to stay plugged into other word process- For two finger typists like me, the greatest feature of ing applications. For example, X6 supports the format WordPerfect is, and always has been, Reveal Codes. In adopted by the current MS Word version, denominated every , virtually every action taken on docx. It also includes improved header and margin the document results in the creation of a hidden code. support that will make it easier for users to share docu- When a WordPerfect user opens the Reveal Codes ments using templates that, for example, include plead- window, he or she gets a split screen that shows both ing paper. , the company that owns WordPerfect, the text and the codes, enabling them to “look under makes a WordPerfect viewer for Apple iOS and Google the hood” and see what is causing the document to Android tablets and smart phones so that users can behave in the manner that it is. With the split screen, read e-mail attachments while in transit. the embedded codes can be edited and whatever If all of the above features were not enough to con- chaos the user may have caused through inadvertence vince me that Larry has it right, the fact that the Legal can be quieted instantly. Edition includes an add-on called Perfect Authority™ Microsoft Word sometimes seems to have a per- that automatically generates a table of authorities for a verse tendency (the display of which tends to occur brief, and Pleading Expert™, a wizard that walks you precisely when the user has a tight deadline loom- through the creation of custom styles for pleadings that ing large) to format documents in ways that the user you can later save as templates if you wish to, made never intended. It is especially bedeviling when one me genuflect. Hallelujah! Perfect Authority automati-

12 | The Federal Lawyer | October/November 2012 cally locates all cases, statutes and other legal citations WordPerfect X6 Legal retails for $380 on the Corel in a brief you have drafted and creates an alphabetized website at www.corel.com. table of authorities without any need on your part to tag the references as you type them in, as most com- Conclusion peting products require. Perfect Authority creates your WordPerfect is not perfect, but Corel’s latest offering table of authorities as a separate document that does caters to lawyers in ways that Microsoft does not seem not alter your brief in any way. On the other hand, if to have any interest in doing. Thanks, Larry. As for the you make changes in your brief, the table of authorities rest of you, I’ll see you next month in Cyberia. TFL automatically updates itself. Perfect Authority includes its own citation dictionary that allows users to add Michael J. Tonsing practices law in San Francisco. See abbreviations that are not otherwise included. One can www.TonsingLawfirm.com. He also mentors less-experi- select the style to be used in the table of authorities, for enced litigators by serving as a “second chair” to their example, the California Style Manual or the Uniform trials (www.YourSecondChair.com). Tonsing is a mem- System of Citation. ber of the FBA editorial board. He can be reached at So far, my experience in converting documents that [email protected]. I have developed in WordPerfect X6 to MS Word 2010 documents has been virtually flawless. Editorial Policy WordPerfect is not without its flaws and limitations. The Federal Lawyer is the magazine of the Federal In some ways its method of displaying functions seems a Bar Association. It serves the needs of the association bit archaic and can be initially confusing. However, with and its members, as well as those of the legal profession respect to this limitation, WordPerfect X6 offers users the as a whole and the public. opportunity to convert their interfaces to look like Word The Federal Lawyer is edited by members of its edito- and to adopt the same keystrokes and menus that MS rial board, who are all members of the Federal Bar As- Word uses. One limitation that I wish were not there is sociation. Editorial and publication decisions are based that WordPerfect does not have a feature that I use fairly on the board’s judgment. regularly in Word that allows the creation of split docu- The views expressed in The Federal Lawyer are those ment windows, allowing me edit the first and last of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of a file on the same screen or to compare and cut and of the association or of the editorial board. Articles and paste between two different documents. Oh, well. letters to the editor in response are welcome.

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