Best Authority Solves TOA Problem at CA-based Goldfarb & Lipman

Word TOAs Don't Cut It

In our litigation department, the lawyers and legal staff frequently need to create a Table of Authorities (TOA) ' a list of citations in a legal brief. While creating such a table may sound like a simple task, it is not. In fact, at one time, TOA creation was so problematic for us that it captured the attention of our Managing Director.

At the time, we were using Microsoft Word to create TOAs. While the firm had used Word's TOA-creation features for years, they simply did not work well. In general, TOAs are extremely detailed and time-consuming to create. They are even more difficult to create using Word's features, because Word is not specifically designed for TOA production. In Word, once a brief is written, each citation has to be manually marked and formatted. There is a lot of room for error, and the process is extremely tedious because of all the double-checking that it requires.

Creating TOAs in Word becomes even more difficult during the editing process. A Word TOA does not automatically update as the brief is edited. Essentially, parts of the TOA need to be re-done with almost every round of revisions. At Goldfarb, the lawyers would make changes to a document without realizing that they were inadvertently deleting Word's hidden TOA citation marks. In addition, they would sometimes edit without understanding how to format the Blue Book codes, which threw everything off. When these things occurred, the TOA would quickly become a mess.

Our Word Processing department formatted most of the TOAs, and this was taking up a good portion of their time. They dreaded TOAs, especially when it came to last-minute edits ' which are very often needed. Fortunately, we were acutely aware of the issues surrounding the Word-based TOA process, so we always allotted as much time as possible to meet deadlines. Though we never missed any deadlines, we had to endure considerable headaches to meet them.

Automatic Revisions

When Goldfarb & Lipman discovered Best Authority TOA creation software, it really impressed me because it can quickly and accurately identify every potential citation within a brief, which takes a lot of the guesswork and human error out of the process. The interface is incredibly easy to understand. Most important, the revision process is completely automated, nearly instantaneous, and error-free. If an attorney edits a brief, the TOA will automatically correct page numbers to accommodate the changes.

The Managing Director and I immediately saw the value of Best Authority. Best Authority was also inexpensive enough that it wasn't a major financial burden for the firm. We decided quite swiftly to buy it. We did not look at any other TOA software because we thought that Best Authority would do exactly what we needed and there was no reason to look at other programs.

Upon purchasing Best Authority, we installed the software and set it up as a toolbar in Microsoft Word. There was no need for customization because the rules of different courts are already included in the software. For example, Best Authority knows that California state court citations don't follow the standard Blue Book citation format. Best Authority has pre-set schemes that help our lawyers and staff adhere to court citation rules and guidelines as well as the Blue Book, which is a major advantage.

After some initial testing, we immediately began rolling out the software to our users. Training was effortless and included effective online training from Levit & James. The Word Processing Department was able to learn how to use Best Authority without even leaving their desks. Training was so successful that we decided to also conduct webinar training for the litigation secretaries.

TOA Time Saved

With Best Authority, changes and revisions can now occur at the last minute without the fear of wrecking a TOA or becoming mired in revisions. Our days of using Word's TOA features are over. Best Authority provides us with an accurate TOA in just minutes.

Joshua Lim is one of our Tech/Word Processing team members, and is one of our “go-to guys” at the firm for creating TOAs. He has reported that Best Authority has made his job easier and has literally cut the time of creating TOAs down to a fraction of what it would previously take him.

Lim says that the software is intuitive, and the Draft Review feature, which scans the brief, highlights and color-codes citations and suspected ones, lays out the authorities clearly so he can check for inconsistencies and correct errors.

Overall, Best Authority has contributed to a better working environment for my department and our firm. The pain and frustration of using Word to create TOAs are a dim memory now that we have it in place.

Goldfarb & Lipman LLP is an affordable housing and redevelopment law firm that represents clients across California through its office locations in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Most of our clients are government agencies or non-profit organizations that must be highly conscious of costs. This means we have a variety of fee arrangements including flat fee, hourly, special rates and contingency fees. In order to serve our clients properly and to maintain a healthy bottom line, we must provide legal services quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively at all times.

Technology is extremely important to our workflow. We need to stay abreast of new products that can benefit the firm and help our employees work better and smarter. And that has been my job for the last 12 years as Systems Administrator at the firm ' to find legal software that enhances our firm's productivity.

Word TOAs Don't Cut It

In our litigation department, the lawyers and legal staff frequently need to create a Table of Authorities (TOA) ' a list of citations in a legal brief. While creating such a table may sound like a simple task, it is not. In fact, at one time, TOA creation was so problematic for us that it captured the attention of our Managing Director.

At the time, we were using Microsoft Word to create TOAs. While the firm had used Word's TOA-creation features for years, they simply did not work well. In general, TOAs are extremely detailed and time-consuming to create. They are even more difficult to create using Word's features, because Word is not specifically designed for TOA production. In Word, once a brief is written, each citation has to be manually marked and formatted. There is a lot of room for error, and the process is extremely tedious because of all the double-checking that it requires.

Creating TOAs in Word becomes even more difficult during the editing process. A Word TOA does not automatically update as the brief is edited. Essentially, parts of the TOA need to be re-done with almost every round of revisions. At Goldfarb, the lawyers would make changes to a document without realizing that they were inadvertently deleting Word's hidden TOA citation marks. In addition, they would sometimes edit without understanding how to format the Blue Book codes, which threw everything off. When these things occurred, the TOA would quickly become a mess.

Our Word Processing department formatted most of the TOAs, and this was taking up a good portion of their time. They dreaded TOAs, especially when it came to last-minute edits ' which are very often needed. Fortunately, we were acutely aware of the issues surrounding the Word-based TOA process, so we always allotted as much time as possible to meet deadlines. Though we never missed any deadlines, we had to endure considerable headaches to meet them.

Automatic Revisions

When Goldfarb & Lipman discovered Best Authority TOA creation software, it really impressed me because it can quickly and accurately identify every potential citation within a brief, which takes a lot of the guesswork and human error out of the process. The interface is incredibly easy to understand. Most important, the revision process is completely automated, nearly instantaneous, and error-free. If an attorney edits a brief, the TOA will automatically correct page numbers to accommodate the changes.

The Managing Director and I immediately saw the value of Best Authority. Best Authority was also inexpensive enough that it wasn't a major financial burden for the firm. We decided quite swiftly to buy it. We did not look at any other TOA software because we thought that Best Authority would do exactly what we needed and there was no reason to look at other programs.

Upon purchasing Best Authority, we installed the software and set it up as a toolbar in Microsoft Word. There was no need for customization because the rules of different courts are already included in the software. For example, Best Authority knows that California state court citations don't follow the standard Blue Book citation format. Best Authority has pre-set schemes that help our lawyers and staff adhere to court citation rules and guidelines as well as the Blue Book, which is a major advantage.

After some initial testing, we immediately began rolling out the software to our users. Training was effortless and included effective online training from Levit & James. The Word Processing Department was able to learn how to use Best Authority without even leaving their desks. Training was so successful that we decided to also conduct webinar training for the litigation secretaries.

TOA Time Saved

With Best Authority, changes and revisions can now occur at the last minute without the fear of wrecking a TOA or becoming mired in revisions. Our days of using Word's TOA features are over. Best Authority provides us with an accurate TOA in just minutes.

Joshua Lim is one of our Tech/Word Processing team members, and is one of our “go-to guys” at the firm for creating TOAs. He has reported that Best Authority has made his job easier and has literally cut the time of creating TOAs down to a fraction of what it would previously take him.

Lim says that the software is intuitive, and the Draft Review feature, which scans the brief, highlights and color-codes citations and suspected ones, lays out the authorities clearly so he can check for inconsistencies and correct errors.

Overall, Best Authority has contributed to a better working environment for my department and our firm. The pain and frustration of using Word to create TOAs are a dim memory now that we have it in place.