By Mary Sauter at the Law Offices John C. Smiley
I love WordRake! The software has saved time and helped me recognize that too many words can be frivolous and cloud the meaning of a sentence. When I am stuck, WordRake is the perfect tool; it kick-starts my process, helps me eliminate unneeded verbiage, and gets me back on track to a clear and concise product. I have gained considerable confidence in my writing skills. I don’t dread submitting drafts to my boss anymore. The edits and revisions that used to plague me and devour valuable time have all but disappeared. Because of WordRake and what it has taught me, I have more time to spend on income producing projects. WordRake has taught me how to produce a document anyone can understand, which is critical in our Trustee practice where many debtors appear without counsel. We produce documents that must be understood by a Pro Se debtor, meet the legal standards commanded by the Court, and hold up to an attorney’s scrutiny, without sacrificing content, intent or professionalism. WordRake is amazing. It has made me a better writer. Every paralegal should use it!
WordRake provides a tool not available in Microsoft’s programs. Word’s grammar check will point out where a colon or semi colon is missing and spell check points out a word that is misspelled but not a word used out of context (i.e. for or four) but they don’t go through the document highlighting extraneous words or phrases, nor do they suggest replacement words that solidify a sentence. How many of us have run grammar check and had a dialogue box appear saying “fragmented sentence, consider revising”? Let’s face it, we know where the weakness lies. If we had a more effective phrase we would have used it, and this my where the beauty of WordRake really shines through with its highlights and word replacements. All you have to do is click to accept the changes or click to reject the changes.
I have developed a game I play that I call Beat the Rake. I draft an agreement without running WordRake. After I have completed the agreement I will run the program to see if it will “highlight” errors. I can’t lie, when the program runs and there are no “highlights” I am pretty proud of myself.
It’s been over a year since I installed WordRake and my writing continues to evolve. WordRake has helped me let go of bad habits and replace them with an effective skill set. I challenge myself to improve with every document. I look forward to drafting documents and hearing a compliment from by boss saying I did a great job. WordRake is the best software product/tool I have ever used. I wasn’t sure it would help me but I was wrong; it does all that and it has helped me sharpened my writing muscle, so I spend more time devoted to billable activity and less time drafting, revising and re-writing. WordRake is a very affordable tool that no legal office should be without. WordRake pays for itself many times over.
