LEGAL 228 - Law Office Technology

5.0 Credits
Examines Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Outlook use in law office setting; provides introduction to timekeeping, billing, docketing/calendaring applications; legal imaging techniques, and electronic filing; techniques for trial preparation using technology. Students should have basic to intermediate skills using computers, word processing, and the Internet before taking this class. Prerequisite: LEGAL 200 or instructor’s permission.

Course Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

Identify and describe basic computer hardware components. [COMMUNICATE]
Identify and describe software and information systems typically encountered in the legal environment and the factors to consider when purchasing legal-specific software. [COMMUNICATE]
Demonstrate word processing program features, including preparing, editing, saving, and retrieving documents. [REASON]
Describe spreadsheet and database program features and be able to prepare a basic spreadsheet, graph, and database. [REASON]
Demonstrate presentation software program features including slide components, graphics and sound and be able to prepare a basic presentation. [REASON]
Describe features of typical law office time keeping and billing software programs; identify ethical issues that arise with use of such programs. [REASON]
Describe the features of computerized litigation support programs and compare such programs to corresponding manual litigation support. [REASON]
Describe and compare the features of case management and information management software. [REASON]
Demonstrate the features of computerized docket control systems and compare to manual docket control systems; identify ethical problems relating to docket control. [REASON]
Access legal and non-legal data on the Internet and evaluate Internet sites for reliability and validity of information. [EXPLORE]
Use e-mail functions and describe ethical issues that arise as a result of using e-mail and other electronic methods of communication. [COMMUNICATE]