Guide to Creating Electronic Appellate Briefs

California Courts of Appeal

11/01/2017

Guide to Creating

Electronic

Documents/Filings

I. Briefs/

Original Proceedings

II. Record on Appeal/

Exhibits

III. Hyperlinking

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Introduction

This guide was created to help filers provide working electronic documents to the

Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court in California. While there are other

products that can produce the same result, this guide focuses on Word (2007, 2010

and 2013) and Adobe Acrobat Pro XI. Some of these steps may be similar in other

programs.

Be sure to check all rules with the court you are filing with to make sure you have

met all their requirements and local rules for electronic documents.

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I. Creating Electronic Appellate

Briefs, Original Proceedings,

etc.

A. Format

Check with the court’s website that you are filing your document(s) with to ensure

that you meet their requirements or guidelines for formatting.

B. Tools

Word processor

The primary tool for creating an electronic brief or original proceeding is your word

processor. Microsoft Word provides some helpful features that make creating an

electronic document easier. In particular, Word’s Styles feature (see Generating

Bookmarks below) allows you to create headings in your brief that will automatically

create bookmarks when you convert the document as a PDF.

Adobe Acrobat Pro

Adobe Acrobat sets the standard for creating, combining, editing, redacting and

making PDFs searchable. Eventually you will need to do all of these things if you are

working with electronic documents. There are other less expensive PDF software

programs, but you will find a variety of resources to assist you with Adobe Acrobat.

For example, Adobe hosts a free Acrobat for Legal Professionals Blog that provides

tips and techniques for working with electronic legal documents.

C. Basic Steps

1. Save or convert your document from the original word

processing document, such as Word, directly to PDF (do not

scan the document to create a PDF).

2. Create bookmarks

from the Table of Contents.

3. Redact any information that must be redacted under the rules.

(See Redacting.)

4. Make text-searchable.

You can skip step 3 above if your document does not contain any information that

must be redacted.

Bookmarks are a fast and easy way to quickly navigate to different parts of a document and are

required by the California Supreme Court and all Courts of Appeal.

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D. Pagination

Before saving/converting the document as a PDF, make sure to number the pages

consecutively beginning with the cover page of the document, using only the Arabic

numbering system, as in 1, 2, 3, with a number on every page. Do not use a separate

pagination system for tables within the document and the page number does not need

to appear on the cover page and can be suppressed.

1. Saving/Converting directly to PDF

Word 2007 (without Adobe Acrobat Pro installed)

Click the Microsoft Office Button in the top left hand corner of Word.

Choose Save As and PDF or XPS (see below).

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In the dialog box that appears, click the button in the lower right hand

corner that says Publish.

Word 2007 (with Adobe Acrobat Pro installed)

Choose Save As and Adobe PDF (see below).

When the box below appears, choose Yes.

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Word 2010 and 2013

Click on the File tab.

Choose Save As.

Click Browse

In the dialog box that appears, choose the Save as type = PDF.

Click Save.

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Adobe Acrobat Ribbon in Word

When you install Adobe Acrobat, the installer may add Acrobat buttons or menu

commands to Microsoft Office applications (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint).

The advantage of using the Acrobat Ribbon to create PDF from Word is that it will

automatically create bookmarks for your document if you have used Word’s Styles

feature.

Choose Acrobat at the top of the screen (to the right of View).

Click Create PDF in the menu.

In the dialog box that appears, click Save.

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When printing a hard-copy of a document, be sure to use the PDF file

to insure that the print exactly replicates the e-file version. Pagination

and sentence structure may change when converting a document to a

PDF.

2. Create bookmarks

A bookmark is a text link that appears in the Bookmarks Panel of Adobe Reader

and Adobe Acrobat. Readers can use the bookmarks to quickly navigate to different

sections of a document. Make sure to include bookmarks in all electronic documents

and be sure to use descriptive labels for your bookmarks (e.g. Trial Court Judgment,

Court of Appeals Opinion) as illustrated below.

Clicking on the Bookmarks Icon (left

side of screen) opens the Bookmarks

Panel revealing the list of bookmarks,

as in this illustration.

Bookmark settings

To maximize the impact of your document, set the bookmarks to open automatically.

While the document is open, click File > Properties > Initial View tab

Click the Navigation tab dropdown and select Bookmarks Panel and Page

Click OK

Also, make sure to set the zoom settings in the bookmarks to make sure the

bookmark view is always the same. See Adobe PDF Bookmark Zoom Settings.

Generating bookmarks

If you use the paragraph styles available in Word to label the headings in your

document, when you use the built-in Acrobat ribbon to generate your PDF, your

document will already include bookmarks to the headings in your document.

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A tutorial on Word’s Styles feature is beyond the scope of these instructions, but

Microsoft provides a tutorial on the web. Word’s Styles feature is a tremendous time

saver for generating bookmarks, the table of contents, and formatting your document.

Manually adding bookmarks

To manually add a bookmark, in Adobe Acrobat, follow these steps:

1. Click on the page where you want to create a bookmark

2. Click the New Bookmark Icon in the Bookmarks Panel or select CTRL and B

keys on your keyboard at the same time.

3. In the text of the new bookmark, type the name or label that you want to give

the bookmark.

Highlight the text on the page you want to bookmark, then press the CTRL

and B keys on your keyboard at the same time (or right click and select add

bookmark). The bookmark will appear in the panel and the name will be the

same as the text you highlighted.

Editing bookmarks

To delete a bookmark, select the bookmark and press the delete key.

To edit the name of a bookmark,

double click on the bookmark.

Once the bookmark text is

highlighted, you can edit the text of

the bookmark. Press enter when you

are satisfied with the results.

Avoid using names like Header A,

Header B, etc. Instead, try something

like Statement of the Case,

Conclusion.

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Moving bookmarks

To move bookmarks up and down in the Bookmarks Panel, left click and hold the

text and drag the bookmark to the desired location in the Bookmarks panel. Once the

arrow and dotted line are in the new location, release the left mouse button to drop the

bookmark in its new location.

Nesting bookmarks

Bookmarks can also be nested

underneath other bookmarks to create

a tiered structure of bookmarks, as in

the illustration. Clicking on the minus

sign next to the Argument and

Authorities bookmarks collapses

these bookmarks so that they are not

visible. A plus sign then appears next

to the Arguments and Authorities

bookmark, which will expand the

nested bookmarks and make them

visible again when selected.

To nest a bookmark underneath another bookmark, move the bookmark as described

above. But this time, move the bookmark up and over underneath the bookmark

where you want it nested. In other words, select the bookmark by left clicking and

holding the mouse button down. Then move it up and to the right without releasing

the mouse button. Release the mouse button once the bookmark appears to be

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indented. Once you have the bookmarks the way you want them, be sure to save your

document in order to save your changes!

3. Redacting

Redaction should be done before creating bookmarks and making the appendices text

searchable. The steps below will remove bookmarks and text recognition.

Pursuant to Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1.20, you must redact the following information

from an appendix submitted to the court:

Social security numbers

Birth date

Home address

Name of any person who was a minor when the underlying suit was filed

Driver’s license number

Passport number

Tax identification number

Any similar government-issued personal identification number

Bank account numbers

Credit card numbers

Any other financial account number.

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The most important thing to remember about redacting documents is to

permanently remove the information from the document. Do not use a black

highlighter in Adobe Acrobat to cover up the information! Highlighter marks

can be removed by anyone with Adobe Acrobat and anyone can search the text of the

document to find the text that is beneath the highlighter mark.

If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can use the redaction features of the program to

redact documents electronically (see Redacting Using Adobe Acrobat Pro below).

Please note that Adobe Acrobat Standard does not have redaction features.

Redacting using Word

If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Pro, then you should edit the text of any

document that you have in the original file (e.g., a Word document) to remove the

information. Replace any characters that you remove with the letter x and then

save the edited document as a new document. Here is an example:

Original text document:

Mike Brown’s social security number is 357-57-7372. His home

address is 1510 Maple Avenue, New York, 201292. His credit

card number is 2138 2912 2938 2919.

Edited Text:

Mike Brown’s social security number is xxxxxxxxxx. His home address is

xxxx xxxxx xxxxxxx xxx xxxxx xxxxxxx. His credit card number is xxxx

xxxx xxxx xxxx.

As you can see, depending on the font you are using, editing the document in this way

may slightly alter the layout of your document. Be sure to check the page layout to see

if your page numbering has been altered. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Pro and you

only have the documents in paper format, you will need to copy the documents, redact

them manually, and then scan the redacted documents.

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Redacting Using Adobe Acrobat Pro

Click the Tools panel > Protection > Mark for Redaction.

Select the text you want to redact. To select text, click the left button on the

mouse and drag it across the text using the redaction tool. You can also double

click a word to mark it for redaction.

1. Place the cursor over the word marked for redaction to preview what

the text will look like when redacted.

2. Once you are satisfied with the appearance, choose Apply Redactions.

This window will appear

Click OK

When this window appears

Click Yes

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Adobe will open the panel below and find hidden information

Click Remove

When this window appears

Click OK

Save the document.

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4. Text-searchable

All electronic documents must be text-searchable, in PDF (portable document format)

while maintaining the original document formatting. If you find your PDF is not text-

searchable, follow the instructions below.

Open the document in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Click Tools > Text Recognition > In This File > OK

If some text has already been rendered searchable, check the box Ignore future errors

in document and click on OK. When the Text Recognition process is complete,

remember to save the document.

NOTE: If a header, e-filing stamp or bates no. has been added to a non-searchable

document, Acrobat will not OCR that page and you will receive the message below.

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E. Fixing Mistakes in Adobe Acrobat Pro

It is not unusual to get to the end of the process of creating an electronic brief and

discover that you have made a typographical error. You may be able to fix some simple

typographical errors using Adobe Acrobat. The Edit Text tool allows you to erase and

type in a PDF as though it were a word processing document. Adobe Acrobat

automatically recognizes the font type and size, and you can backspace to remove text

and then retype.

Select Tools > Content Editing > Edit Text & Images. Then place your

cursor where you want to edit and type as you would with a word processor.

The tool has some limitations and not all fonts are available in Adobe Acrobat. If you

used an unusual font you may get the following message.

Also, the Edit Text tool cannot reflow all of the text in your document like a word

processor, so this tool cannot be used to retype sizeable portions of your brief.

F. Replacing Pages

If the mistake cannot be fixed with the Edit Text tool, you may be able to fix the

error by deleting the offending page and replacing it with a corrected page. To replace

a page, first fix the mistake in your word processing program. Then convert the

corrected word processing document to PDF. Now Extract the corrected page from

your corrected PDF and save it as a separate PDF document. Then Delete the page

with the error from your original PDF and Insert the corrected page into the proper

place in the original PDF.

Click Tools > Pages > Extract or click the Page Thumbnail icon on the left,

right click on the page(s), select extract Pages

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Depending on the mistake, it may just be easier to start over and recombine all your

files after fixing the error in your brief. But if you have done a lot of manual

bookmarking and hyperlinking, replacing the page using Adobe Acrobat may be easier

than starting all over again.

G. Combine individual files into one PDF file

To combine individual files into a single PDF document, follow these steps:

Within a document in Adobe Acrobat

Choose Create > Combine Files in to a Single PDF

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From the Main Menu in Adobe Acrobat

Choose Combine Files into PDF

In the dialog box, add the individual files or folders that you want to combine into a

single PDF. The files can be of any format supported by Adobe Acrobat (Word, PDF,

Excel, etc.).

Arrange the files in the order that you want to combine them.

Select Combine Files.

Save and name the combined document.

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H. File Size

A single PDF file may not exceed a total of 25 megabytes in size. If a filing exceeds this

file size limitation, the TrueFiling system will not accept the document and the user

must either (a) submit the filing in multiple parts or (b) provide the court with the

filing in electronic format on a CD (compact disc), DVD or flash drive. Please note that

audio files must be submitted in .wav or mp3 format and any video files must be

submitted in .avi or mp4 format.

Be sure to check all rules with the court you are filing with to make sure you have met

all their requirements and local rules for electronic documents

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II. Creating Electronic Appellate

Record on Appeal/Exhibits

Appendices must comply with California Rules of Court, rule 8.124, including

chronological and alphabetical indices. For Exhibits, see rule 8.486(b). When possible,

use PDF files that are converted from native formats, rather than scanned documents.

(See Saving/Converting directly to PDF.) Counsel or parties should cooperate in

providing electronic copies of documents when requested and should check the local

rules of the court where they will be filing to make sure all requirements for electronic

documents have been met.

A. Chronological Index

The chronological and alphabetical index should be converted from the word

processing program used to create them.

B. Pagination

Make sure to number the pages consecutively beginning with the cover page of the

document, using only the Arabic numbering system, as in 1, 2, 3. Every page must

have a number. Do not use a separate pagination system for chronological or

alphabetical index within the document. The page number does not need to appear on

the cover page.

C. Scanning Documents

Although you are prohibited from scanning your documents that are available in

electronic format (e.g. cases, statutes, etc.), there are occasions where you will need

to scan a document in order to include it in your appendix. For example, a trial court

may not have electronic filing so you may have to scan a trial court order. Or maybe

you really want to include a contract in your appendix and it is only available in

paper form. In those situations the only solution is to scan the document.

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You can create a PDF file directly from your scanner using Adobe Acrobat or other

software. When scanning, make sure that the scanner settings are:

 300 dots per inch (dpi)

 Black and white (not gray scale or color, unless scanning an image)

 OCR (optical character recognition)

A one hundred page scanned document (that does not include images) with these

settings should be about 3.5 megabytes in size. (NOTE: File size may vary with

certain documents.) If scanning is creating files that are too large, check the settings

on your scanner. Most office copiers, have a menu that allows the scanner settings to

be adjusted.

If you have already adjusted the scanner settings, and the file size is still too large,

some computer programs have the capability to reduce the file size. Adobe Acrobat

Pro can do that (see instructions below). Make sure to do this before bookmarking

the appendix. There are also a number of online resources that explain how to

reduce the file size of scanned documents.

Scanning with Adobe Acrobat

If you have a scanner connected to your computer that Adobe Acrobat recognizes, you

can scan documents using Adobe Acrobat. Follow these steps:

1. Insert the document into your scanner

2. Open Adobe Acrobat

3. In Acrobat, choose Create> PDF From Scanner

4. Choose Black and White

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Preset scanning settings for Adobe Acrobat

Adobe allows you to preset settings for scanning a document.

Select Create> PDF from Scanner> Configure Presets

Configure your presets to scan at 300 dpi. Be sure to check Make Searchable (Run

OCR). For standard black and white documents you do not need to move the slider to

create a high quality scan—smaller file size is preferred. Save your settings before

scanning. The default settings are now set and each time you choose to use the Black &

White Document preset the document will be scanned using these settings.

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D. Combine individual files into one PDF file

See Combine individual files into one PDF file above.

E. Create bookmarks for all documents contained in the

appendix

A bookmark is a text link that appears in the Bookmarks Panel of Adobe Acrobat.

Some courts require bookmarks for each document that is listed in the index. Be sure

to check the local rules of the court you are filing with to make sure you have met all

requirements for electronic appendices.

For documents without titles, be sure to use descriptive labels for your bookmarks.

See Create Bookmarks in Section I. above.

F. Redacting

See Redacting in Section I. above

G. Make a document searchable from any scanned or otherwise

non-searchable material searchable by using Text

Recognition

Open the document in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Click Tools >Recognize Text> In This File > OK

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If some text has already been rendered searchable, check the box Ignore future errors

in document and click on OK. When the OCR process is complete, remember to save

the text searchable version of the document.

NOTE: If a header, e-filing stamp or bates no. has been added to a non-searchable

document, Acrobat will not OCR that page and you will receive the message below.

H. Optimize PDFs to reduce file size

Large documents or documents containing forms, photos or graphics should be saved

as an optimized PDF to reduce file storage size.

Select File and click Save As.

From the Save as type dropdown menu, select PDF.

From the Optimize for radio buttons, select Minimum size (publishing

online).

Click Save.

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III. Hyperlinking

Overview of Hyperlinking

In the internet research world, hyperlinks are a standard way of “drilling down” for

more detail or specific information. Just as all web pages contain links to other

pages, cases downloaded from legal research services such as Westlaw or Lexis

contain links to the cases, statutes, articles, or other sources cited within the opinion.

The links allow immediate access by the reader to these referenced materials.

Attorneys can include links to cited law and their Appendix or Clerk’s Transcript and

Reporter’s transcript, adding another level of persuasion to their writing. Hyperlinks

in briefs and other court filings provide quick, easy, and pinpoint access to particular

sections of a case, or to specific filings in the court’s record. The attorney can thereby

highlight the precise issue presented, and the specific evidence and controlling or

persuasive law the court should consider.

Though it is not required, rather preferred, hyperlinks in court filings are very

beneficial for court chambers. Court submissions which include links to relevant

case law and case filings are easy for chambers staff to review. The attorneys’

arguments can be immediately verified in the context of the relevant law. The

justice or judicial clerk is able to read the text of the cited case law on one screen

while reading the attorney’s brief on the other. And if a brief contains links to

referenced exhibits, and even to specific pages within those exhibits, the judge or

judicial clerk can access the relevant evidence without having to navigate through

the paper record. Particularly when dealing with large and complex cases, links save

chambers considerable time and effort. Links make it easy for the court to verify –

and adopt – the positions taken by an advocate.

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Types of Permissible Hyperlinks

Subject to the court’s local rules, the following types of hyperlinks are typically allowed

in court documents.

Internal Links

For example, the Table of Contents located at

the beginning of this Guide.

Links to attachments

and exhibits being

filed with your brief

Note: Evidence must be filed of record. A hyperlink

to a public website where evidence can be found is

not a substitute for filing evidence in support of a

motion.

Links to case and

statute citations

Note: Unless a cited case

cannot reasonably be

found from a public

source, it is not necessary

to attach copies of cases

or statutes to your brief.

For example:

Westlaw,

Lexis,

or court websites.

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Creating a Hyperlinked Table of Contents

A table of contents in a Word document can include internal hyperlinks for

navigating the document. When the document is converted to PDF format, these

links will become bookmarks in the PDF document. Note that the Table of Contents

is different from the Bookmarks that are required in the PDF version.

Although there are several methods for creating a table of contents in

Word, the one most useful to attorneys (and discussed below), is to create the

document, include any headings as you write, and then:

•

Mark and format the headings to be included in the table of contents;

•

Generate and insert the table of contents; and

•

Edit as needed.

Marking and Formatting Table of Contents Entries

To mark and format entries to be included in the table of contents using Microsoft

Word:

STEP ACTION

Create your document, inserting all headings with the format of

your choice.

Using your cursor, scroll over and

select the heading you want to

include in the table of contents.

From the

Styles section

on your Home

tab,

Click the down arrow in the right

lower corner.

A drop down list will appear.

Note: There are pre-formatted Heading Styles

available in MS Word, but only 2 may be visible in

your styles drop-down menu. Additional heading

options will appear, as you make your selections.

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If…

Then…

You want the

text of the

table of

contents

entries to

match the

headings

already

created

within your

document:

Use your cursor to select the heading to be included

in the table of contents.

From the Styles list, Right-click the heading level

you wish to apply. In the box that appears, select:

Update Heading [x] to Match Selection.

Continue until a heading style has been applied to

all heading levels within your brief.

You want to:

Set a

standard

format (e.g.

font, font color,

bold, etc.), for

all headings

and table of

contents

entries created

with your

Word program

Change

the

heading

format in

the brief

already

created:

From the Styles list:

Right-Click the

heading level you wish

to modify.

In the box that appears,

select Modify to open

the Modify Style box.

Choose text:

•

font

•

font size

•

appearance

•

color

•

justification

•

line spacing

Save settings for:

•

only in this document, or

•

all documents created using your standard

template

•

Add to Quick Style List.

Click OK.

Scroll through your document. For each heading, select the heading text with the

cursor, then click the heading style to be applied.

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Generating and Inserting the Table of Contents

To add the Table of Contents to your document:

STEP ACTION

Place your cursor in

the document at the

location you want to

insert the table of

contents.

Add a title for the

Table of

Contents.

Enter a few hard

returns.

Control + Enter to

insert a page break.

Place your cursor

where the table of

contents entries

should begin.

From the

References tab of

your Word ribbon,

Select

Table of Contents,

and from the menu

that appears,

Select:

Insert Table of

Contents.

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Make selections for the

appearance of the table of

contents.

Click OK.

Note: If your table has

more than three levels,

you must set Show levels

to the correct number.

Note: The “Use

hyperlinks instead of page

numbers” must be checked

or the table of contents

will not have active links

upon conversion to PDF.

The Table of Contents,

with active section links,

will be inserted into your

document.

Note: You can manually

modify the page numbers

to appear as other links in

your document,

blue and underlined).

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Editing the Table of Contents (if needed)

Inserting the Table of Contents may result in page break changes. For example,

hard page breaks or extra lines that were added during drafting to adjust the

overall look of the document may no longer be needed, or some may now need to be

added.

If the brief was modified after the table of contents was inserted:

STEP

ACTION

From the reference tab on

the Word ribbon, select

Update Table.

Select

Update page numbers

only. Click OK.

Note: If you have added or

changed a heading, choose

Update entire table.

When the entire document is complete, using MS Word, Save the document as a

PDF or Create PDF.

Note: Do not Print to PDF. All active links in your Word document

become inactive in PDFs created using Print to PDF.

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Formatting the Appearance of the Links Inserted

Before inserting links into a document, you may choose how those links will

appear in the final document. For example, do you want them to appear:

blue and underlined,

bold and black,

black and italicized,

some other appearance?

To select the appearance of the links in your document:

STEP ACTION

1 On the Home tab,

click on the tiny arrow under

Changes Styles.

2 A drop down menu will appear.

Scroll down until you see Hyperlink.

Right-click on Hyperlink, and from

the choices that appear, select Modify.

3 A Modify Style box

will appear.

Change the color, font, and

underlining, etc. for

hyperlinks.

Note: Choose a specific font

and font size for the linked

text only if the linked text font

and font size should appear

different from that of the

document text. Otherwise,

leave the font and font size

selections blank.

Click OK.

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Adding Links to Attachments

STEP

ACTION

Save all the attachment documents you will cite in your brief into a

single folder in your computer. The documents must be in PDF

format. Be sure the names of the files do not contain special

characters, such as apostrophes or ampersands, as these will break

the hyperlinking process.

While drafting your brief, include the citations to the documents

saved in your computer.

Using your cursor, select the text to which a link will be added.

On the Insert

ribbon, select

Hyperlink.

In the Insert Hyperlink dialog box:

•

Navigate to cited

file saved on

your computer;

•

Select the file; and

•

Click OK.

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A link to the file will be added to the text. If you hover over the

link with your cursor, you will see the link address.

Add links to all the citations in your brief accordingly.

Note: Specific page links can be added by following the

directions in the previous section. Use the PDF page number,

not a Bates number or footer page number, for the citation.

Automated Links to Legal Citations

Links to legal citations can be added manually or, assuming the software is

compatible with your computer and word processing software, by using automated

linking software available through Westlaw or Lexis.

Access to Linking Software

Tool

Cost

URL

Westlaw InsertLinks

Must purchase a West

BriefTools

subscription.

Estimated cost:

$100/month for small

firms;

$300 to 500/month for

larger firms (10 licenses)

http://legalsolutions.thomson

re uters.com/law-

products/solutions/brief-

tools?searchterms=brief+tool

Lexis for

Microsoft Office

This Lexis software product

will add links for research

and drafting purposes, but

those links are lost upon

conversion to PDF. Lexis is

investigating the issue.

http://www.lexisnexis.com/en

- us/products/lexis-for-

microsoft- office.page

Page | 35

Linking Software—Compatibility Information

The following graph outlines the compatibility of Shepard’s Links 2008,

West InsertLinks, and Lexis Links for Microsoft Office for inserting links into

MS Word and WordPerfect documents with a Windows XP (SP3) 2GB

Memory, Windows Vista (SP2) 4GB Memory, or Windows 7 – 4GB Memory

computer.*

Shepard’s

Links

2008

Lexis for

Microsoft

Office

West

InsertLin

MS Word 2010 X** X***

MS Word 2007 X** X***

MS Word 2003 X X***

MS Word 2000 X

WordPerfect X6****

WordPerfect X4 – X5 X

WordPerfect X3 X X

WordPerfect 10 – 12 X

* The West and Lexis linking software programs cannot be used on Apple

computers. Moreover, although Shepard’s Links was not designed to operate on

Windows Vista and Windows 7 (as reflected in the Lexis literature), it is working

on these computer systems.

** Lexis for Microsoft Office is being developed and tested. However, in its current

stage of development, any links added by Lexis for Microsoft Office are being

stripped out upon conversion to PDF. Lexis is investigating this issue.

*** Westlaw product information states InsertLinks is compatible with both 32- and

64-bit Microsoft Word. However, while it works well with 32-bit Word, InsertLinks

is not fully compatible or useful with 64-bit Word.

**** West currently has no linking software compatible with WordPerfect X6.

West indicates it may develop and release this product during the summer of 2013.

Page | 36

Westlaw InsertLinks

InsertLinks is a Westlaw computer software program which scans Microsoft

Word or Corel WordPerfect

documents to locate legal citations, and then

automatically inserts hyperlinks to the Westlaw internet address (url) for those

citations into the word processing document.

Installing West InsertLinks

InsertLinks is part of the West BriefTools suite, and a

BriefTools subscription is required in order to use this

software.

•

The current West BriefTools product is Version 2.7.2039,

which was updated on December 10, 2012.

Using West InsertLinks

Once InsertLinks software is installed, Westlaw links can be

installed automatically in Microsoft Word documents using the

following steps:

STEP

ACTION

With the Microsoft Word document to which you are

adding links open on your screen:

Select the Westlaw Solutions tab on the Word ribbon.

The West BriefTools options will open.

Select InsertLinks.

Currently, InsertLinks is not compatible with, and cannot be used for, automatically

inserting links into

WordPerfect X6 documents. It does, however, work with prior versions

of WordPerfect.

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STEP ACTION

3 The InsertLinks software will begin searching the

document for citations and inserting the appropriate links.

The box depicted above will disappear when the process is

complete and all links are installed.

Manually Inserting Hyperlinks

As previously described, hyperlinks to documents filed can be manually

added to a document about to be filed. It is also possible to manually create links

to documents available through commercial legal websites (e.g., Lexis or

Westlaw), and those posted on the court’s website (Local Rules).

Manually adding links can be labor intensive if the document is long, but

the process is not difficult. And even if you are primarily using software to add

links to a document, understanding the underlying mechanics of hyperlinking

within WordPerfect and Word documents is helpful and may be necessary if, for

example, you need to make corrections to the automatically created links.

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Manually Creating Links to Online Research Resources

The process for manually adding links to Westlaw, Lexis, Google Scholar, or any

other online research resource (LoisLaw, FastCase, etc.,) is the same.

STEP ACTION

1 In the brief, use your cursor to select the citation to which

you are adding a link.

Sign into the legal research website and open the cited

document. Select the url address for the document.

Note: When using this method, if the link on the website

changes, the link in the document may not work.

Right-click, and Copy the address. See below:

When using Lexis Advance, select Actions > Link to this page.

This will use a static link, which should always work.

Note: Check your local rules for any authority or limitations on

the legal research websites to which links are permitted.

Note: Some attorneys have reported difficulty using this method to

insert links to Lexis research.

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STEP

ACTION

Select the Insert ribbon, then select Hyperlink. An

Insert Hyperlink dialog box will appear.

Note: The text you selected will automatically appear in the

“Text to display” line.

Place your cursor in the Address box of the Insert

Hyperlink dialog box. Right-click. From the drop-down

that appears, select Paste.

Click OK.

The link to the citation will be added in your brief.

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Special thanks is given to Blake A. Hawthorne, Clerk of the Texas

Supreme Court and the Texas Supreme Court for sharing their Guide to

Creating Electronic Appellate Briefs.