Lexis Draft –

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Lexis Draft – Quick Guide

Contents

1 Accessing Lexis Draft

2 Checking Your Document

3 Checking Citations

4 Correcting Citations

5 Working with Precedents

Lexis Draft – Quick Guide

Lexis Draft –

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Accessing Lexis Draft

Lexis Draft is a proofreading tool which sits within the word toolbar.

This means you can carry out all of your proofreading and document checks using knowledge and content from Lexis Library and PSL, without having to leave word.

Simply open the word document that you intend to check and then click on the Lexis Draft Icon to open up the Draft toolbar.

To access the exciting features of Lexis Draft, if the system has been installed onto your PC, you’ll be able to see the Lexis Draft Icon in the top right-hand corner of your word toolbar.

Alternatively, you can also use the LexisNexis Tab at the top of the word toolbar.

TOP TIP! Lexis Draft simply checks the document and makes you aware of potential errors, it won’t change your document without your consent and it is not essential to fix every potential issue that draft highlights, although it is a good idea to review all of the categories.

The first step in proofreading your document is to click on the Summary button in the top left-hand corner of the page.

Lexis Draft will then perform its initial scan of your document and show you a dashboard of possible issues you might want to review.

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Checking Your Document

After clicking on the Summary button, a list of all the potential errors in your document will be broken down into category, here we will explain each potential issue and what they mean.

We’ll walk through each potential error category and how to correct any errors, but do bear in mind that you do not have to click through every single one of the nine tiles in order to check the document. The more you use the system, the more you will become familiar with the issues that tend to creep into your documents and those which are a priority for you.

Definitions

The first tile, Definitions, will simply show you all

the definitions which are included in your

document, this is useful if you want to ensure that you defined something,

or simply ensure that they are in alphabetical order!

Definition Issues

Definition issues will outline any potential issues that might have arisen out of your definitions, for example, you’ve used a capitalised term, but not defined it, does it need a definition? On the other hand, if we’ve

found a definition for a word which hasn’t been used anywhere in this document this section will also highlight that – as well as a host of other useful features!

References

References will let you see if any of the cross

referencing either isn’t found within the

document, or where it has simply been typed and not properly cross

referenced, or if it’s simply not clear where

you were directing the reader!

Incomplete items

Incomplete items highlights any square

brackets left in the document where

there shouldn’t be! For example, names, dates or

figures still left to

Editing Mistakes

Editing Mistakes allows us to see if there are any grammatical or

punctuation errors which haven’t been picked

up by

Specifics

Specifics ensures that all information that would change for each individual client, is tailored every single time you repurpose a precedent. This includes,

names, addresses, company names and dates!

Common Terms

Draft simply looks for terms which are Capitalised that might need to be defined, but some terms like Companies House,

Land Registry or Bank Of England definitely won’t need definitions, so Common Terms is a place for those capitalised

words or phrases to sit, which we know don’t need defining.

Numbering Issues

This is a quick and easy check that you can run

to ensure the auto-numbering isn’t out of sync without having to

scan the entire document manually!

Inconsistent Phrases

Inconsistent phrases lets us see any examples of

two very similar phrases or sentences which

have minor differences, for example Buyer and

Seller has a very different meaning to Buyer and/

or Seller. This area can also let you see if your capitalisation is

consistent throughout the document!

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Checking Citations

Click on the Check Citations button in the top bar to make sure any Legislation listed in your document is still in force and safe to leave within your document. The Check Citations feature will also look for Case citations or party names and inform you whether that judgement is deemed to be a reliable or highly regarded case by subsequent case law.

After running Check Citations, the Lexis Draft panel will show you all of the Legislation and Case law included within your document and categorise them into Red, Amber, Green, Unknown and Partial Match.

Use the Tick-Boxes next to the coloured icons so see content of just that type. We recommend tackling the Red/ Out of Date citations first!

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Then click on the Hyperlinked title for the section to be taken to the information page from Lexis Library

Once you’re at the Legislation page of Lexis Library, you’ll be able to advantage of the traffic light insights, status snapshot, notes section and related Commentary, Case law and Journals discussing this particular section of Legislation.

Once you are confident you have found the latest citation, return to Lexis Draft and replace your out of date section with the newer one. It will then be added to your list of green citations.

Ensure the citation that you want to correct is highlighted in blue and click on the Citation Tab.

Correcting Citations

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Working with Precedents

As well as the Proofreading and Citation Checking elements of Lexis Draft, you can also use Draft to locate a brand new precedent or clause, start cheking any Lexis Smart Precedents that you might have already created and search for Practical guidance if needed. These are Subsc

Find Precedent

The Find Precedent Feature allows us to search the Lexis PSL database for Precedents and

Clauses without having to leave word!

Either type keywords into the search bar, or browse by area of law to locate a precedent to

start working on.

My Automated Drafts

Here, you can make use of any Lexis Smart Precedents that you have created using our

innovative questionnaire system! Simply click on the area of law to locate the precedents that you

have already generated.

Practical Guidance

Practical Guidance allows you to search for Practice Notes, Checklists and Flowcharts from

Lexis PSL to assist with your drafting process. This is extremely helpful, if this is an area you need

more information on.

RELX (UK) Limited, trading as LexisNexis®. Registered office 1-3 Strand London WC2N 5JR. Registered in England number 2746621. VAT Registered No. GB 730 8595 20. LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of RELX Inc. © 2018 LexisNexis SA-0718-071. The information in this document is current as of July 2018 and is subject to change without notice.

More information can be found in the FAQs Questions and feedback should be sent to lexissmart@lexisnexis.co.uk