Trainees are expected to work efficiently and effectively, especially during particularly busy and stressful periods. I am assuming that you have a fairly solid understanding of Microsoft Word, so I have decided to only include a series of brief top tips that can really help during training contracts (note that some of the shortcuts mentioned may not work depending on the version of Microsoft Word that you are using).
Automatic cross-references
Automatic cross-references: clauses/paragraphs within legal documents tend to refer to other clauses/paragraphs. For instance, one clause may include an obligation (e.g. “Clause 14: one party must purchase a minimum of x number of products per year”), whilst another may include processes that must be followed when carrying out that obligation (e.g. “Clause 15: when making a purchase, the buyer must pay within y number of days using z method of payment”). The first clause may need to refer to the second clause, for instance “one party must purchase a minimum of x number of products per year, in accordance with clause 15”. Simply writing “clause 15” could be problematic, as the actual clause number may change if the position of that clause in the document later changes (e.g. if a new clause is inserted above it). To save you having to manually update all the references in your document each time the document changes, Microsoft Word has a function that lets you insert automatic cross-references. This function lets you input a special reference to a particular clause to which you want to refer (as opposed to simply a clause number), so that if that clause changes position in the document, references to that clause should automatically update to reflect its new position (e.g. an automatic cross-reference to “clause 15” would automatically change to “clause 16” if a new clause is inserted earlier in the document). For this reason, be sure to use automatic cross-references when working on documents!
To insert automatic cross-references into a document in Microsoft Word, follow the following path:
Insert > Cross-reference > Paragraph number > select the relevant clause/paragraph to which you want to refer and the cross-reference will appear.
The reason these are called “automatic” cross-references is that the references should automatically update if clause/paragraph numbers change. However, you cannot fully rely on this happening.
Other useful functionalities
Mail merge
Format painter
Templates
Moving rows/columns in a table
Table headings
Quick access toolbar
Other useful shortcuts