A Word processor: every lawyer needs a word processor, for documents, legal letters and other forms of written communication. The popular word processor in Nigeria is Microsoft Word and if you have the money, it is a fantastic choice. To cut corners, many people use pirated copies; this is illegal. However, for the not-so-rich legal practitioner, there is a free alternative; the StarOffice 8. I have used it and I can recommend it. It has the Writer for word processing, the Impress for presentations and slide shows and other features as well. One sweet feature of the Writer is the fact that you can easily convert your documents to PDF.
Adobe/Acrobat Reader: This is a software for electronic file sharing. According to the website, it is the
only file viewer that can open and interact with all PDF documents. If you do not have this, please stop and download it now! Just click on the icon. It is a safe mode of saving documents and more people are opting for it plus it’s totally free. There is no point saving your documents in PDF format if you cannot even read it!
PDF – Word Converter: After a document has been saved in the pdf format, you might want to convert it back to word especially if you do not have the word file of that document (like if it’s SOMEONE ELSE’s document*). This can be done with a pdf – word converter. There are many premium versions, but I got this free version from FutureLawyer.Com and it worked for me. CAVEAT: it will slow down your computer to an almost stand still while it is converting your document.
Antivirus: The first choice is Norton Antivirus. But that is also the costly choice. Yes, there is a free antivirus. If you have not already guessed it, I am an unapologetic freebie. I love free software, especially open source. I use Avast Home Edition and though it is brutal, I am yet to lose any file. I have stuck by Avast for a while now because my laptop was at crash point and almost over the brink; Avast brought it back so this is definitely a personal recommendation.
Email: What I personally recommend is that you buy your own domain name and a hosting service so that you can get an email address with yourname@yourdomainname.com like Sharon@thenigerianlawyer.com. Failing that, if you must use a free email service, strive for one which has a professional aura such as Gmail and hotmail. Trust me lawyer@hotmail.com sounds better than lawyer@crazyglitch.com … get my drift?
This is the first in a series of posts. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment.
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