Star Micro Systems Discussion Forums

Dear Michael,
Does A1 Law's word processor allow you to create documents as pleadings (with the numbering on the sides)? If not, what word processor would you suggest using to create pleadings? We need to use them for SS and PI cases.
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Michael Lerner
Lerner, Moore, Mammano, Strasser, and Silva

Yes, you can do pleadings in A1-Law. There are currently two ways. The first way is to do the pleading in Microsoft Word (this was available in the first release and the current pending release (v 4.00). However, many offices are not familiar with how to implement bookmarks in Word. More information can be found in the help file topic Integration with Microsoft Word. Also, not everyone uses Microsoft Word.

Version 4.00 (and recent beta releases) allows a new and much easier way to integrate simple pleadings directly in A1-Law without Word integration. Now with Version 4.00 close to release it's really quite simple to do pleadings. First, you want these settings:

Top Margin: .4
Bottom Margin: .5
Left Margin: 1
Right Margin .5

Next (as per the new help files):

Click the Edit button to edit the letter. You will now need to set the paragraph spacing for the pleading. If you already have information in the letter, you should highlight the entire letter before setting the spacing. Next, click the P button to bring up the Paragraph Dialog. In the Line Spacing section, click the In Inches checkbox, click the Exact checkbox. Enter in 0.174 for a single spaced pleading. Enter in 0.348 for a double spaced pleading.

At the very bottom of the document, enter the following to tell A1-Law to insert numbers 1-28 when printing the document:

>

It's also possible to set up your pleadings (or any form letters in A1-Law) to do headers, footers and page numbering. More on that as we finalize the help files.

Mike.

Dear Michael,
Is there a specific font and size (12 pt?) that you need to use with pleadings in A1 law so that each line or every other line matches up with a number on the left hand side?
I have used the standard Arial 10 and 12 pt without success.
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Michael Lerner
Lerner, Moore, Mammano, Strasser, and Silva

Did you set the paragraph spacing to .174? It should work in Arial, Courier or Times Roman with either a 10 or 12 point. Feel free to Email me the sample pleading you are working on as an attachment.

Mike.

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Mike.

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Mike.

Mike -

I didn't understand the comment about Paragraph spacing - I thought you meant the line spacing setting in MS Word. Perhaps you were referring to the line spacing setting in A-1 Law.

I have a similar problem with text created by another word processor altogether, and then imported into MS Word to create the pleading I am using with A-1. I don't see a setting similar to A-1s in MS Word where one can adjust the text's line spacing by fractions of inches so it will line up with the line numbers in the pleading template. Any ideas?

I have a problem, also, in debugging a pleading I create using the work-around with MS Word. If I don't have the names of the BookMarks in complete agreement between the two word processors, or in other instances there is no info the the A-1 data field to which the command refers, I get an error message that there is not enough memory, and that 'streaming' is being shut down, and then an infinite error message loop comes up that I can only stop by CTL-ALT-DELing A-1 Law. By sticking with it long enough (all day, in other words), I was able to piece together what's happening and finally complete the debug on the pleading, but this is a bit cumbersome. Do you know how we might improve upon this?

Doug

Hi Doug:

>

You are correct in that I'm referring to the line spacing setting in A1-Law. A1-Law has the ability to do pleadings in either A1-Law or Microsoft Word. Most offices are chosing to do as much as possible with A1-Law.

In fact, just recently I realized that some offices now use the 24 line pleading rather than 28 lines. In fact, some boards now require it. This has the added advantage of the ability to utilize normal single or double spacing. I will soon be adding a command for this as an additional option to the 28 line pleading.

>

It's not a problem at all. It's best to design your pleadings in A1-Law. If you design them in Word, you should use the "Pleading Wizard."

>

I know at first it can be cumbersome to get the bookmarks correct. Honestly, that's why I designed the new features for pleadings directly in A1-Law without Microsoft Word. It's just a LOT LOT easier. So I strongly recommend you try it and let me know how it goes.

(p.s. if you checked the Email replies to this thread, you should automatically receive an Email if your Outlook is correctly configured.)

Happy Holidays,

Mike