The Microsoft Office suite is a family of software that delivers almost any tool imaginable to assist users at home and in business. Here, Pepperdine Caruso Law IT helps break down the different applications available.

NOTE: We always recommend that you INSTALL and USE the local copy of MS Word (actually install it on your computer’s hard drive) rather than use the online version (accessed through your web-browser) when working on law school projects or pleadings for court. The features you need for law-specific document creation are not all available to you in the online version of Word.

Students and Faculty can purchase this software at a significant discount through Microsoft’s education store; Office 365 is even available for free.

Click the link below to view the Pepperdine IT Student Discount page: http://community.pepperdine.edu/it/students/newstudents/student-discount.htm

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word may be the most popular application under the Microsoft Office suite. Word is a powerful word processing software that is heavily used in the field of law, specifically for legal document creation and formatting. Click here for some common Microsoft Word tips and tricks for lawyers.

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook is an all-in-one information manager for personal emails, contacts, calendars, tasks, and notes. It is said to be the second most used Microsoft Office application for lawyer, after Microsoft Word of course. For most interesting information on how to incorporate Outlook’s benefits in a law office, click here.

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a slideshow presentation software commonly used for meetings, business proposals and industry talks. PowerPoint is known to boost memory retention when it comes to presenting information.

Microsoft Excel

MicrosoftExcel is an incredibly popular spreadsheet software tool. This application may be valuable for analyzing, presenting and sharing data-intensive cases. Many Excel applications exist for case evaluation and management, as well as law firm budgeting.

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access is a database management system, usually utilized to create business applications from templates or scratch. This is frequently used for lawyer contract tracking and appointment tracking.