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 Excel Training Sessions

Excel Books for Lawyers

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Excel Tips for Lawyers from Ben Schorr

How Lawyers Can Use Excel

What's New in Excel 2010 from Ben Schorr

 

Tips

 

Stop trying to reinvent the spreadsheet wheel! Start with one of these professionally created templates and modify them to suite your practice needs:

Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts (PDF)

Closing Cost Calculator

G&A Expense Budget

 

For those of us who manage, compare, contrast and report numbers, to really know Excel is to love Excel.  There is not enough room on this page to explore all of the ways Excel helps but we do have room for a few quick tips about how some things “add up”.

SUM Where:  The quickest and easiest way to add the total of a list of numbers in a column or a row (columns up and down and rows go across) to your worksheet is to hit the “AutoSum” button.  In Excel  the AutoSum button, marked with symbol like this: ∑.If you click into the first empty (blank) cell at the bottom of a list in a column or to the right of a list in a row and press the AutoSum button Excel will guess that you want to total that list and select it for you.  Press “Enter” and it’s done.

SUM Thing Else:  Look at the AutoSum button and you will notice a small downward facing arrow to the right of the sum symbol. Upon clicking that arrow, you will see a list of options that allow you to choose from other common math functions such as: finding an average of the numbers, a count of the numbers, or the minimum (Min) or maximum (Max) values in the list each with basically one click.

SUM Thing a Little Quicker:  If you do not want to add a sum of numbers to a worksheet but need a quick total of numbers in a column or row all you need to do is select them.   Select them and glance down at the bottom of your worksheet to what is called the “Status Bar.”   On the right side of the status bar Excel will display the sum of the selected numbers and even the count and the average. Say you need a quick total of what the attorney Zimmerman billed in January,  select just those cells and glance down at the status bar.

SUM Times You Need More Control:  If you need to sum (or average or count) numbers that are not in a neat and orderly column or row you can do that with the same tools and your Control (Ctrl) key.  When using the AutoSum button, rather than allowing Excel to “guess” which numbers you want to sum, just click on individual cells.  Click the first cell you want to include then, while holding down the control (Ctrl) key, click the next, and the next and the next…  If you need a quick Status Bar Sum do the same; click the first cell you want to include then, while holding down the control key, click the next, and the next and the next.

From simply printing a real estate closing statement to creating and manipulating a clients’ estate asset worksheet, every lawyers needs basic spreadsheet skills.  Anytime you have a case that involves numbers (dollars, damages, numeric facts, chronologies, etc) Excel can help. This session is designed to help lawyers gain a solid understanding of Excel.

• What’s New in Office Excel

• Understanding Worksheets

• Entering, Manipulating and Analyzing Data

• Performing Calculations

• Managing Worksheets and Workbook Information