Legal Oasis - Oct/Nov '02

Legal Oasis Dynamic Office Templates

Loading Legal Oasis into your computer has a similar effect to loading a can of spinach into Popeye the Sailor Man. Legal Oasis adds functionality to Microsoft Word. It creates dynamic templates that facilitate document creation for the attorney and support staff. If you place importance on having your office’s pleadings, correspondence and documents look consistent, no matter who prepares them, and you want this accomplished in an efficient and relatively easy way, this program makes sense for you.

The software jumps into Microsoft Word during the installation process, and the next time you open the program, you will find some new options in your toolbars and some new menu entries. These options help make your office more efficient by making it easier and quicker to do your normal work.

You can access Legal Oasis within Word by going to the Legal Oasis menu inside the application. When you access the template, a pop-up menu appears, giving you the opportunity to provide information about the document you want to create. Legal Oasis then places the information in the document pursuant to pre-established criteria and specifications. Finally, it turns the document over to you for completion, with everything in place and only the body of the document left to be filled in. Legal Oasis effectively merges aspects of Word’s template capabilities with basic document assembly capabilities.

The program comes with templates for standard letterhead, pleadings and memoranda. The letter template includes basic letterhead information, such as the addressee, the method of delivery, subject matter and whether or not there are enclosures. The template will also set up a signature line. After filling out this information in the pop-up menu, Legal Oasis inserts the data into the document and presents you with the letter structure.

The pleading template gives you the option to number lines and align text next to those numbers. You can specify that your firm’s name and address automatically appear in the margin of each page and at the top of the first page. The pop-up menu lets you input the responsible attorney’s name and state bar number (select “preset information” from a list), the title, court and cause, case number and type of pleading.

Legal Oasis includes some additional pieces that let you define specific style sets. It also can expedite the preparation of discovery requests and responses with preformatted structures.

Legal Oasis comes to us from the people at iEnvision. The program adds to the most recent versions of Microsoft Word. Legal Oasis only works with Microsoft Word 2000 and XP and with limited capabilities on Word 97. It isn’t on speaking terms with other versions of Microsoft Word. It doesn’t speak at all with Corel WordPerfect or other word processors. I loaded the program onto Word (Office) XP running on a Windows XP Professional system. It installed without a problem and worked fine upon the completion of the installation process.

IEnvision has done a favor for the solo and small firm operations. Legal Oasis has the distinction of charging less per user for smaller installations and more per user for larger installations. I have not encountered any other legal software that has similar pricing.

IEnvision has created a detailed 17-page questionnaire to obtain information about your firm and its work so it can create a tailored program for you. In my initial conversations with a representative of the company, I was informed all purchasers would be asked to fill out the form so the program could be customized for them and made as useful as possible. Smaller firms are not required to fill out the questionnaire, as it isn’t included in basic pricing. However, if they elect to customize the program, they will have to complete the questionnaire.

You might find the questionnaire somewhat intimidating. It asks for a substantial amount of information. However, if you don’t have the information immediately available, it can be added later. The templates can be modified and reconfigured without much difficulty. If you find the questionnaire intimidating, call technical support and get some help with it.

At press time, iEnvision released Legal Oasis 3 complete with a Forms Designer and full integration with Microsystems’ DocXStyles and Interface Software’s InterAction 5.

iEnvision Technology Inc.
(866) 559-2670
www.ienvision.com

Price: $300 for Small Business Edition; $25,000 for Enterprise Edition.

Microsoft Word 2000 and XP; limited capabilities on Word 97.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Allen, a general practice attorney with an emphasis in real estate, business transactions and litigation based in Oakland, Calif.

Oct/Nov '02 Issue

PROS
Legal Oasis allows for the easy creation of pleadings, letters and memos with a consistent and uniform appearance.

CONS
If you don’t have the most recent versions of Microsoft Word or if you don’t use Word, you can’t use Legal Oasis.

VERDICT
For a solo practitioner or a small office, I would not hesitate to purchase the program. For a larger office, I would consider other less expensive options.