Specialized Legal Software
Since the nineteen eighties lawyers have been employing computers and computer software in their practices to assist with the numerous tasks in the office related to data management, document production, client communication and office collaboration. The valuable goals to be obtained are efficiencies in client file and case management, work product creation, retention and retrieval, and management of costs and fees. Although at first viewed with suspicion by regulators and the legal establishment, it is now hard to image a law office able to get by without computers, indeed, is some areas of practice registration of documents with the relevant ministry is required to be online (land registry and corporate registry).
This is a survey course introducing students to several legal packages that are well established in the Ontario legal community that assist greatly with general and specialized legal practices. Students learn in other courses in this program how to use the internet, how to do legal research online and how to use create word and excel documents. In this course students learn how employ software packages designed to coordinate all the file creation and management tasks for the following areas: real estate law, corporate law, estate law and wills. As well students will be introduced to a general practice management software package, and, a trust accounting package. In practice graduate students will be employing the systems adopted by their employers, but having experienced the nature and value of software systems they will be valuable employees to their future employers.