Tools to use as a Legal Document Assistant
December 30, 2016
For instructions on the Rules and how to get started. go to www.Calda.org for more info.
Below is a list of various tools that are handy when conducting a Legal Document Assistant business. I am not affiliated with any of the companies or links below, I’m just trying to share my knowledge with other LDAs. I just wish that I knew about these when I was first starting out.
- Software
- Forms WorkFlow (American LegalNet, Inc.) – www.formsworkflow.com/
- Martin Dean’s Essential Docs – www.essentialpublishers.com/
- Westlaw Doc & Form Builder (Thomson Reuters) – http://legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/Document Software
- Legal forms software is a must have for legal document assistants to manage their work and cases. Forms software allows the LDA to type directly onto legal forms and save their work. Many of these programs have a feature that allows you to store detailed information that enables you to auto-populate certain fields on additional forms, thus saving you lots of time so you are not retyping the same information over and over. Although most forms are available free of charge online or directly from the court, these programs provide additional benefits that you can’t get elsewhere, such as “shrink-to-fit” and auto-fill across various forms. One of the benefits of this software is that the software updates their forms to conform to the always changing law. Please note: some programs send you the updated forms automatically free of charge with your purchase, other programs may charge you for the updates.
- CutePDF Writer (Acro Software)- www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp
- Allows you to “print” files and save them as PDFs without having to print a hard copy first. The documents can be saved directly from the application that created it. My favorite part about this printer is its name. Gotta love it!
- Nuance PDF – www.nuance.com/for-business/document-imaging-and-scanning/
- PDF Converter Professional 7 (Nuance)- http://download.cnet.com/PDF-Converter-Professional/3000-10743_4-10789644.html (free trial)Communications
- This type of software allows you to edit your PDF files electronically. You can rotate and delete pages, you can also merge two electronic documents together, add comments, highlighting, footers, and the list goes on.
- eFax – www.efax.com
- Google Voice – www.google.com/googlevoice/FileSharing
- This program allows all of your devices to ring when your customers call one number.
- With eFax you can send and receive faxes through e-mail, share large files and digitally sign your faxes.
- DropBox – www.dropbox.com/
- OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) (Microsoft) – onedrive.live.com/Equipment
- These programs allow you to save large amounts of documents to a drive that you can access from the web or any other device. When you make edits to the document on one device, the changes are automatically updated on all your other devices.
- Laptop
- Printer/Scanner
- Copier Dymo LabelWriter Mobile Printer (optional)
http://www.ehow.com/how_5519761_become-california-legal-document-preparer.html#ixzz2zaxp0U3W
2 Comments
I have question in regard of how to register for LDA courses. I just want to learn about LDA and not as a new career. I have to represent myself in family court and wanted to learn about certain rules to protect my daughter and I
Thanks for your comment. You may want to reach out to the law library or go to http://www.Nolo.com for self help books. In addition, most counties have a lawyer referral service where you can get legal advice.