LEGAL 228 - Law Office Technology

5.0 Credits
Introduction to law office technology, including timekeeping and billing software; database, case management, and docket control software; litigation support software; legal imaging techniques; and electronic filing. Microsoft Office Suite is covered; however, students should already possess basic-to-intermediate computer and word processing skills prior to taking this course.
Prerequisite LEGAL 200 or instructor permission.
Course-level Learning Objectives (CLOs)
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

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