What are Best Practice Principles and why do I need them when using Microsoft Word

When working in Microsoft Word documents, following Best Practice Principles becomes an absolute necessity for consistency and ease of use, not to mention saving time and money.

Best Practice Principles are defined as “a set of methods and techniques that produce optimal results, increase efficiency and develop structured processes … to streamline work and adhere to industry standards”. See more here.

Sound a bit dry?  Perhaps, but it is hard to argue with the simple principle that doing things the correct way every time, is the best way to get something done well.

Standardisation of documents

Imagine a world where Word documents were easy to use for everyone, where no one struggled with formatting, and the numbering always worked as expected. Believe it or not, this Utopia is absolutely within reach if Best Practice Principles are followed.

The key is standardisation of documents, which necessarily results in:

• Consistent brand message

• Ease of collaboration

• Reduction of unnecessary errors

• Saving money and time “fixing” documents

But before all that … the Template

In order to standardise documents and successfully implement associated Best Practice benefits, users will need a template that contains numbering Styles that work together seamlessly without the user having to think about it.

A template is not a precedent but the skeleton or structure of a document – fonts, spacing and most importantly, styles and numbering. A good example is “Normal” which you will be aware of; Normal is a Style in the basic template provided by Microsoft so you can start typing right out of the box.

But this “Basic Template” is only the beginning – a template of a template if you like – for the user to build on to guarantee that the numbering and formatting worksthe same way every time.

A properly structured template created by our team can be developed specifically for your firm. Such a template forms the foundation of Best Practice Principles when it comes to Word documents; indeed, it perfectly encapsulates the entire concept.

Consistent brand message

The brand is crucial in law firms because it provides credibility, builds trust, differentiates firms from competitors and attracts clients. A client receiving work product on different letterheads would look very strange and unprofessional, as would work product sent out in an individual lawyer’s preferred font.

These things are unthinkable these days because brand matters.

Many law firms have a House Style to underpin their brand, which is a template built from the Basic Template described above. Developing and using a House Style is a structured process to produce optimal results and consolidate the trust and cohesion demanded of a professional body.

Having a House Style template is a big part of Best Practice Principles in a law firm. And if you don’t have one, our team can create one for you that is professional and bespoke, and which puts your brand at front of mind.

Ease of collaboration

Collaborating on documents is a big part of a legal transaction. The bigger the transaction, the bigger the document, the more parties involved and the higher the likelihood that formatting will go awry.

Multiple parties in a transaction will work on a document, including clients, other law firms, other departments in your own firm and even other individuals in your own department. And it only takes one of those parties to create an issue in a document.

Employing Best Practice Principles doesn’t apply only when creating documents but also when troubleshooting the issues that arise from the multiple pairs of hands working on them.

Using the same skills, tools and routines each time will enable users to fix issues quickly, and prevent those issues from arising in the first place.

Following the rules of the software is the very definition of Best Practice, and the WonderWord team are experts at developing processes using Word tools to help lawyers make the most of document collaboration.

Reduce unnecessary errors

The reputation of a law firm is fundamental to its success. Ensuring regulations are followed and that lawyers are always in compliance is paramount to the functioning of a firm, and avoiding very costly mistakes.

Who wouldn’t take a dim view of a law firm that sends out a document full of “Error!” codes (broken cross-references), typos or numbering that isn’t sequential? Errors can be serious and costly but even those perceived as “minor” will reduce trust and damage the brand.

There are certain workflows and techniques to prevent these errors, the use of which allows lawyers to concern themselves with content and not whether the numbering or clause reference is right or wrong.

A consistent approach in managing Word documents is key to reducing the risk of errors from medium to very low.

Ensuring that costly errors are avoided by using standard and very simple processes on standardised house-style documents, will help retain the trust of clients and credibility among competitors.

Saving money and time

Does your firm have a charge code for “fixing documents”? Of course not, so let’s do the maths:

A firm of 50 lawyers, with each spending 1 hour a day fixing avoidable formatting issues =

• 250 hours per working week x 52 weeks a year

• 13,000 hours a year x £250 hourly rate

• £3,250,000 non-chargeable/written off

In fact, lawyers will quietly admit to spending many hours a day trying to fix document issues.  Given the high levels of burnout (Time for a mental health culture change in the legal profession | The Law Society), adopting Best Practice Principles when working in Word documents is a good start to saving time and stress for your legal teams. 

In the broader business of the firm, the lack of data around high levels of time needlessly written off should also form a part of a firm’s Best Practice. Especially since a handful of skills will address a large percentage of the issues surrounding pasting, formatting and Styles.

Best Practice is always the best practice

There will always be a need for lawyers to spend some time fixing Microsoft Word documents because of the prevalence of multi-party collaboration and lower secretarial staffing. But this need not be an onerous task if Best Practice Principles are adopted.

WonderWord can develop the whole process for you – from creating a house-style branded template, followed up by Best Practice processes – to ensure that valuable time is spent on lawyering and not fixing and refixing Word documents.

Get in touch if you want to hear how to successfully implement these Best Practice Principles in your firm. Email me at leanne@wonderwordtraining.co.uk and I’d be happy to have a chat today.