Legal Writing

Lexicon?A Tool for Organizing and Checking Defined Terms

By Ken Adams

One frustrating aspect of my self-appointed role as freewheeling contract-drafting guy is that I’m not involved, day in and day out, in drafting contracts. As a result, I don’t have occasion to gain hands-on experience with the nifty information-technology tools that are now available to help the drafter.

I wrote about a bunch of them in my ACC Docket article with Brian Quinn, but I just learned of another one, Lexicon.

Lexicon was launched in March 2008. According to Lexicon’s website, www.lexicontools.com, “Lexicon is an add-in for Microsoft Word that organizes and checks defined terms. By allowing you to locate defined terms and their uses quickly and easily, Lexicon makes document review easier.” Among other things, using Lexicon allows you to avoid common mistakes involving defined terms, such as terms that are used but never defined, terms that are defined but never used, terms that are defined more than once, and inconsistent conventions. I won’t go into any detail, because Lexicon’s website provides copious information.

One interesting aspect of Lexicon is the price?US$89 for a perpetual license. That would seem a bargain.

Other defined-terms software is already on the market. For example, there’s Defined Terms Indexer, by ProductivityApps. But as its name suggests, its function is limited to finding, highlighting, and indexing defined terms.

At least some of Lexicon’s functionality is offered by Deal Proof, a West product. But Deal Proof is a much broader product, with a price tag to match. (I plan to do a blog post about Deal Proof in the near future.)

Lexicon offers a free 30-day trial. I’d be delighted if some of you would give it a spin and post your comments.

Full post as published by AdamsDrafting on April 23, 2008 (boomark / email).