About

My background includes nearly 30 years as a legal word processor, but I currently work full-time as a software trainer (and template designer).

Recently, I spent 18 months as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice in Los Angeles, helping the agency move from WordPerfect to Microsoft Word. In that capacity, I created templates; conducted hands-on classes for attorneys, paralegals, legal assistants, and other staff; provided one-on-one training; wrote handouts; and offered user support.

My company, CompuSavvy Computer Training & Consulting, has been in existence for more than two decades. I teach hands-on computer classes throughout California and also provide on-site software training — primarily for law firms, government agencies, and corporate legal departments. Plus, I now offer remote training for clients outside of California.

I have a reputation as an extremely patient trainer. I go out of my way to make my trainees feel comfortable with the software, making sure to move at a pace that allows everyone to follow along. It is important to me to create a “safe” learning environment, where people aren’t afraid to ask questions or make mistakes.

Over the past few years, I have concentrated primarily on training legal staff how to work with pleadings and other complex documents, using Microsoft Word and WordPerfect (all versions). One of my specialties is WordPerfect-to-Word conversions.  However, I teach several additional applications as well, and I have clients in other fields besides law.

I also subcontract with various outside training companies that provide training and floor-support services for large law firms that are upgrading their software.  I have been involved in dozens of such “rollouts” in California.  In connection with those projects, I have taught classes, provided one-on-one tutoring, and assisted users at their desks with troubleshooting and how-to questions. Besides the Office 2010 / 2013 programs and Windows 7 / 8, I’ve trained numerous attorneys, legal secretaries, paralegals, and other employees on document management systems including FileSite and eDocs (Hummingbird); PDF conversion programs including Acrobat, Nuance PDF, and pdfDocs; document assembly/template utilities including the Payne Forms Assistant, MacPac, Eric Crowther’s CCC Macros, and KI Systems; and numbering utilities including the Payne Numbering Assistant, MacPac, and CCC Macros.

I published my third book, Formatting Legal Documents With Microsoft Word 2016, in early February of 2016.  This latest project contains many brand-new tips and tutorials (including revamped lessons about creating, generating, and troubleshooting a Table of Contents and a Table of Authorities).  The book is available on Amazon.com at this URL:  Formatting Legal Documents With Microsoft Word 2016.

In May of 2010, I published my second book, Formatting Legal Documents With Microsoft Word 2010 (available on Amazon.com; a somewhat older version is also available on Lulu.com). My first book, Formatting Legal Documents With Microsoft Office Word 2007, made its debut in May of 2009. It is available on Amazon.com; an older version is still available on Lulu.com.

I’ve started writing a couple of other books, but time to work on them has been scarce the past few years (!).

For about a decade, I designed and taught computer classes for legal professionals at UCLA Extension (UNEX), including the flagship “Computers & the Legal Environment” class. That class covered legal word processing and also introduced the students to several different applications commonly used in law firms (calendaring software, a time and billing program, litigation support software, a spreadsheet program, and more).

I use both Word and WordPerfect on a daily basis, and am the webmistress and primary administrator of the WordPerfect Universe web site. It is a user-to-user help site consisting of several “forums” where people post questions and answers about WordPerfect and the other programs in the WordPerfect Office suite.

I have a B.A. in political science from UCLA and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in government from Cornell University. In a past life, I worked as a freelance writer and editor and, in the early 1990s, I earned a certificate in journalism from UCLA Extension. My mentor in that program was the venerable KCET reporter Jeffrey Kaye.

A resident of Los Angeles, I share a home with my Australian Shepherd, who enjoys watching TV, collects tennis balls in a wide range of vivid colors, and is surprisingly fond of dog food. Her favorite TV shows include HGTV’s “Love It or List It,” “Project Runway,” and “Chopped.” (But she gets grossed out by some of the exotic secret ingredients, and she wishes that chefs would go easier on the salt!)

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You can contact me by e-mail at this address: CompuSavvy Computer Training