The greatest challenge to any thinker isstating the problem in a way that will allowa solution.

—Bertrand Russell

L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E SAfter studying this chapter you should be able to:

1. Define the terms used to identify the parts of an electronic spreadsheet.2. Find online and program resources for learning how to use the pro-

gram and its features.3. Create and save an electronic spreadsheet.4. Use some of the special features of spreadsheets, including creating

graphics.

ElectronicSpreadsheets

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6

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O P E N I N G S C E N A R I OMr. Mason and Caitlin were preparing for a labor negotiating session thefollowing day.They had been working on the different proposals and possiblecounterproposals for a number of days. There were at least a dozen differentpossibilities for how much each of the demands and offers would cost. Heneeded to be able to quickly calculate what the costs and benefits wouldbe, based on any number the other side might throw out on the table. Heneeded to quickly assess whether the total costs and bottom-line benefits tothe employees were within the negotiating authority and budgets, and basi-cally if the proposal made any sense.

There were a fixed number of employees with current salary and hourinformation available.What he needed was the ability to quickly calculatewhat the cost for each proposal would be, based on the different per-centage increases proposed, the individual fringe benefit cost, and a totalper employee and total for all employees, during the negotiating sessionwithout having to leave to have the figures calculated. Caitlin had takena course in preparing and using spreadsheets, which had saved a lot oftime in doing calculations in a complex estate that required considerationof a number of alternative tax and estate planning strategies. Mr. Masonwas hoping his paralegal could do the same thing in this case becausewithout an electronic spreadsheet it would take hours to get throughthe session,and the other side always seemed to have the numbers at theirfingertips.

INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEETSMany areas of legal practice involve calculating and presenting financial information.In family law practice, the preparation of family and personal balance sheets and in-come and expense reports are routinely prepared for support and equitable distri-bution hearings. Wills, trusts, and estate practices frequently must calculate thefinancial impact of taxes on different estate plans, or prepare and submit an ac-counting to beneficiaries or to the court for approval, with details showing how thefiduciary handled the financial affairs of the estate or trust. Trial attorneys must ac-count to clients for the proceeds of settlements, including details of the receipts anddisbursements from the case and in some cases, like minors’ compromises and classaction cases, to the court for approval. The computerized spreadsheet, when laid outin the format acceptable to the court, can be printed without reentering the data, orcopied into word documents.

For many applications in legal practice there are templates with formulas forcalculating the information needed, such as an electronic spreadsheet version of theHousing and Urban Development (HUD) sheet used in real estate settlements or clos-ings. Electronic spreadsheets have reduced the potential for error in manually calcu-lating or retyping amounts or in using formulas for calculation. The tedium ofmanually completing a worksheet by hand to recalculate a small change is eliminatedby instant reproduction of the template or spreadsheet and changing a number to de-termine its effect on the rest of the calculation. The use of computer spreadsheets re-duces the errors associated with manual mathematical calculations and errors inretyping the information. Caution must be taken to make sure that the formula is ac-curate and performs the desired calculation. Even expert spreadsheet users use a set ofsample numbers to test the formulas, knowing what the result should be, based onprior use or calculations.

Electronic Spreadsheets 131

RowA horizontal set of cells in aspreadsheet.

ColumnA vertical set of cells in aspreadsheet.

CellIn a spreadsheet, the box atthe intersection of a row andcolumn for text or numericaldata.

Formula BarIn Excel, the area at the top ofthe spreadsheet for enteringformula and data intospreadsheet cells.

CREATING AND WORKING WITH SPREADSHEETSAs you look at the following spreadsheet examples and at the templates providedonline from Microsoft, Corel, and other sources you will note a number of differentpresentation styles and degrees of complexity. A spreadsheet in its most basic form isany two items with some relationship that is acted upon mathematically and the re-sult presented in a third location (called a cell). Spreadsheets are frequently used insituations requiring many complex calculations, like in “what-if” tables in complexestate planning. Some people specialize in developing these complex spreadsheetsusing complex mathematical formulas and then designing a user friendly appearanceor format. With an understanding of what the spreadsheet can be used to accomplish,you will be able to express what you need to present and what the relationships of thedata are to someone else, like the in-house IT person or outside computer consultantto get what you need.

NAVIGATING IN ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEETSSpreadsheets use standard terms to describe the parts of the spreadsheet, such as rows,columns, cells, formula bar, active cell and formula, and workbooks, as shown inExhibit 6.1.

Where rows andcolumns intersect is a

cell. This is cell A1.

Cells A1 to A23are labels.

SUM function=SUM(B10:B21)

adds the values inB10 through B21.

Formula (=B8–B22)subtracts Total

Expenses (cell B22)from Total Income

(cell B8). This entire page is aworksheet. One ormore worksheets

make up a workbook.

An additionalrow of informationhas been added.

The value of this cellhas been changed.

These cellsare values.

These cells have beenrecalculated after

changes were madeto the spreadsheet.

Exhibit 6.1 Names of parts of a spreadsheet, using Excel 2003 as a sample spreadsheet.

WorkbookA collection of worksheets.

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Exhibit 6.2 Excel 2007 Ribbon view of Excel Spreadsheet (reproduced from the Excel tutorial Overview).

Excel 2007 and its new Ribbon design changes the appearance of the user inter-face and some of the other items, including the menus and toolbar and layout, asshown in Exhibit 6.1, but does not change the names of the basic parts of a spread-sheet, as shown in Exhibit 6.2, or change the basic functions for which a spreadsheetis used.

As with other Microsoft Office Suite 2007 programs, the 2007 version uses tabs,groups, and command buttons in the groupings to carry out a command or display amenu of options for access to the features and functions formerly accessed using themenus and toolbars.

RESOURCES FOR LEARNING AND USINGELECTRONIC SPREADSHEETSAs seen in the chapter on word processing, most vendors of software provide help inlearning and using the software. Microsoft offers a number of online tutorials, some ofwhich are listed in Exhibit 6.3, which shows those for Excel 2003. An example isshown in Exhibit 6.4.

Corel’s Quattro Pro provides tutorials within the program that can be used with-out the need for an internal connection to a website. Exhibit 6.5 shows a partial list ofthe available tutorials and Exhibit 6.6 shows the contents of a tutorial, in this case onusing the property bar. The property bar in Quattro Pro appears above the columnletters and is a context sensitive set of commands. (Context sensitive means it changesaccording to what is being worked on.)

WWW MINI EXERCISEThe Excel 2003 courses fromMicrosoft available online maybe accessed at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/CR061831141033.aspx

WWW MINI EXERCISEThe Excel 2003 Overviewtutorial may be accessed athttp://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC011234971033

The Excel 2007 Overviewtutorial may be accessed athttp://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC100620751033

Property BarIn Quattro Pro, the area at thetop of the spreadsheet forentering formula and data intospreadsheet cells.

Exhibit 6.3 Online tutorials available for learning Excel 2003.

Exhibit 6.4 Excel online tutorial Overview.133

134

Exhibit 6.5 Partial list of tutorials available in Quattro Pro.

Exhibit 6.6 Quattro Pro online tutorial screen.

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Exhibit 6.7 Excel 2007 Helpoptions.

Excel 2007 offers a series of options, as shown in Exhibit 6.7, selected by a leftmouse click on the question mark symbol in the top right of the Excel frame.

In addition to the global help, content specific help is offered in select programoptions as shown in Exhibit 6.8 for the Pivot Table feature.

Exhibit 6.8 Pivot Table program Help.

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Exhibit 6.9 Estate Asset Ledger modified from an Excel 2007 template downloaded from the Microsoft Excel website.

CREATING A SPREADSHEETAs shown in Exhibit 6.9, in a decedent’s estate, the calculation involved may be as sim-ple as multiplying the number of shares owned by a decedent by the value on the dateof death, and then calculating the profit or loss when the stock was sold. Without acomputerized spreadsheet, all of the calculations would have to be done manually,using a multicolumn form known as a spreadsheet or accountant’s working papers. Theinformation then would have to be typed in a report format for submission to the court,the beneficiaries, and/or the taxing authorities.

Using a computerized spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel or Corel Quattro Pro,the numbers are entered in cells, and a formula assigned to the cell in which the resultis to be displayed, such as:

“multiply Column E [Number of Units] by Column F [Cost per Unit]” and “display theresult in Column G [Original Cost]”

CREAT ING A BASIC SPREADSHEET

First—Start with what you want the spreadsheet to show or calculate.

Creating a Spreadsheet Checklist

■ What do you want to do?

■ What are the inputs?

■ What is the desired outcome?

■ What are the formulas?

■ What columns are needed?

Electronic Spreadsheets 137

Exhibit 6.10 Dollar-Euro conversion spreadsheet. Note that the calculationresides in Cell C (intersection of Column C and Row 2).

What do you want to do? Calculate the number of Euros I will get for adollar.

What are the inputs? Number of dollarsCurrent value of Euro

What is the desiredoutcome?

Number of Euros

What are the formulas? Dollars times Euro conversion rate

Example $100 × 0.86 = 86 Euros

Second—Create the column labels.

Setting up an electronic spreadsheet is a little like setting up the columns in atable, with each column having a heading; in this example, Dollars, ConversionRate, and Euros. The label can be in any row, but in this example it is in Row 1.

Third—Enter a formula.

The cell (row and column) in which the answer will be calculated mustcontain the desired formula.

In the example shown in Exhibit 6.10 it is Cell C2 (the intersection ofColumn C and Row 2).

Each time you place your cursor in a cell, a window opens for input ofthe formula in the property bar (Quattro Pro) or formula bar (Excel).

Electronic spreadsheets have many potential formulas that can be usedfrom the very simple (add two numbers) to the complex (calculate the presentor future value of a number). In Quattro Pro the @sum( ) formula is the mostbasic and with a little effort can be used for most applications. The @sumsymbol-word combination tells the program you want to calculate theinformation found between the parentheses ( ); in this example, to multiply theamount in Cell A2 times the amount in Cell B2 and put the result in Cell C2.

Note: In Microsoft Excel the = sign is used instead of the @ used in Quattro Pro.

For example:Create a Dollar-Euro Conversion Chart, another chart where one item (column)will be multiplied (or divided, added, or subtracted) by another item (column)to arrive at a total.

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Exhibit 6.11 To change a label in Quattro Pro, type the desired words in the property bar.

Basic Mathematical Function Symbols Used in Spreadsheets

■ Multiply *

■ Divide ÷

■ Add +

■ Subtract -

To add a set of numbers you enter a formula, such as,

@sum(A1+B1+C1)

To multiply a series of numbers

@sum(A1*B1*C1)

To divide one number by another

@sum(A1/B1)

Note that there are no spaces between formula symbols, letters, and numbers.While the example shows the numbers in adjacent columns, they don’t haveto be. Any cell can be used from anywhere in the spreadsheet with any othercell in the spreadsheet, such as

@sum(A1+C3+E40).

EDIT ING A LABEL

Just as a formula can be entered or changed by editing it in the property bar, so can alabel. A label can be entered by typing it in a cell, or by selecting the cell and typing itin the property bar (see Exhibit 6.11). Editing is easier if done in the property bar sinceall the letters do not have to be retyped. If you edit words in a cell, all of the letters haveto be retyped.

SPREADSHEET TEMPLATESMany offices save spreadsheet templates in the same way that sample word processingdocuments are saved for future use. For example, a real estate settlement spreadsheetwith formulas and headings may be saved without amounts. Because the formulas donot change and the form has proven accurate, it may be used as a template for otherclients’ real estate settlements. Exhibit 6.12 shows a HUD real estate settlement Excel

Electronic Spreadsheets 139

Active Cell: Column H Row 32

Formula in Active Cell

Rows

Columns

Menu/Toolbar

Exhibit 6.12 Excel spreadsheet template created for HUD real estate settlements.

spreadsheet with its parts identified. Notice the similarity in the menu bar and toolbarbetween Excel and MS Word.

Corel’s Quattro Pro electronic spreadsheet is similar in function and appearance toMicrosoft’s Excel. As shown in Exhibit 6.13, Quattro also allows for personal cus-tomization in the way the program functions and displays items.

In most programs a selection from the active screen is made by using the mouseto point to it and left-clicking the mouse button.

Some readers may wonder what the right mouse button is for; the right mousebutton usually brings up context sensitive options, like the Quattro Pro Options menu.Pointing at the top of the Quattro page in the bar with the name of the program andfile name and location and right clicking brings up the Options menu for the program.Selections are then made using the left button.

TEMPLATES—PROJECTS

Quattro provides the option when creating a new spreadsheet to use Project Templatesor Projects (see Exhibit 6.14). These are similar to the templates provided in Excel foruse in Excel.

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Exhibit 6.13 Options in Quattro Pro spreadsheet allow for personal customization.

Exhibit 6.14 Selecting the project Legal from Quattro Pro’s options menu.

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Exhibit 6.15 Weekly Timesheet Template in Excel 2007 showing formula for total hours.

One question often asked is, can Excel templates be used in Quattro Pro? Asdescribed in the following boxed insert, the answer is no.

TEMPLATES FROM MICROSOFT

A number of spreadsheet templates are available for download from the Microsoftwebsite by selecting the template option when creating a new spreadsheet. Most of thetemplates will work with the more current versions of Excel; however, some will onlywork with a specific version, such as Excel 2007. Always check the compatibilitybefore downloading.

The spreadsheet in Exhibit 6.15 is a weekly timesheet template downloaded fromthe online Microsoft template resource.

Cell G24 has been selected and highlighted to show the formula in the formulabar (Excel) or property bar (Quattro) used to calculate the total of the entries that willbe made in column G. Note that the references are to a total (SUM) of the cells G7through G23 using this formula shortcut:

=SUM(G7:G23).

The same total could be calculated using the formula:

=SUM(G7+G8+G9+G10+G11+G12+G13+G14+G15+G16+G17+G18+G19+G20+G21+G22+G23).

Note again that there are no spaces between symbols, numbers, and letters.

FAQ–FREQUENTLY ASKEDQUEST IONS

OPENING A MICROSOFT EXCEL

TEMPLATE IN QUATTRO PRO

QuestionCan I open Microsoft Exceltemplates .xlt files in Quattro Pro?AnswerNo, you can’t open MicrosoftExcel templates .xlt files inQuattro Pro because they are notsupported.Microsoft Excel and Quattro Prohave similarities, but they areproprietary applications that arebuilt using different architectures.This makes it difficult tosuccessfully convert templates.

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Exhibit 6.16 Limiting access in an Excel 2003 spreadsheet.

SPREADSHEET SECURITYMost office suite applications can be password controlled for security. The example inExhibit 6.16 from the Excel 2003 tutorial shows the method for limiting access to anExcel spreadsheet.

For comparison purposes Exhibit 6.17 shows the Review tab, Changes groupoptions, and the Protect Workbook commands in Excel 2007.

As with other Office 2007 programs, an Office Button feature—Prepare—providesa number of security options, including inspections of the document for hidden meta-data as shown in Exhibit 6.18, as well as the ability to encrypt the file with a password,or to restrict access similar to that shown in Exhibit 6.17.

SPECIAL FEATURES OF ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEETSEach spreadsheet has a choice of tools and features that may be displayed on thetoolbars for quick use. Exhibit 6.19 shows the Microsoft Excel standard buttons.

Electronic Spreadsheets 143

Exhibit 6.17 Excel 2007 Protect Workbook options.

Exhibit 6.18 The Office Button shows security options in Excel 2007.

One of the more useful is the AutoSum button, shown as the Greek letter sigma(Σ) found in Excel 2007 (highlighted in Exhibit 6.20) in the Home tab and in theFormulas tab in the Function Library Group as shown in Exhibit 6.21. This applies theselected function; for example, Sum (add up), the selected cells in any row or columnwithout typing any formula.

144

Exhibit 6.19 Standard options available on Exceltoolbar.

Exhibit 6.20 Choose Σ for the AutoSum feature in Excel.

Electronic Spreadsheets 145

Exhibit 6.21 Excel 2007 Formulas tab.

Exhibit 6.22 Choosing a graph template in Excel 2003.

GRAPHING IN SPREADSHEETS

Data in a spreadsheet are frequently better explained in the form of a graph. In Excel anyselection of cells can be converted to a graph using the Chart Wizard button on thetoolbar. The Chart Wizard automatically converts the information in the cells into anyone of a number of graphic representations, as shown in Exhibit 6.22. This is a graph ofa portion of the information from a template downloaded from the Microsoft website.

The new Ribbon style screen view of Excel 2007 is shown in Exhibit 6.23.

CHANGE

As mentioned in Chapter 5, change is as inevitable in software as it is in life. There havebeen significant changes in the functionality of the Quattro Pro and Excel spreadsheetsfrom prior versions. What has not changed is the basic function to compute rows andcolumns of numerical data. The changes generally make the job easier, minimizing thenumber of keystrokes required, like the use of the sum function shown in Exhibit 6.20.Prior users will find the older functions, but possibly in a different location, and addi-tional features.

INTEGRATED SOFTWARE SOLUT IONS

A number of specialty software programs provide practice-area–specific software. Thereal estate practice software such as that from Softro prepares all the necessary forms tocomplete a real estate transaction instead of using multiple individual software programsincluding spreadsheet, database, and word processing software. The Excel spreadsheettemplate in Exhibit 6.12 is an example of the individual spreadsheet templates created

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Exhibit 6.24 SoftPro Escrow Automation Solutions input screens.

and used in many offices. The template provides spaces for the entry of the informationand embedded formulas are used for automatic computations. Programs such as Soft-Pro use a series of input screens, as shown in Exhibit 6.24, to capture and calculate thenecessary information that is then transferred to the appropriate forms to create theHud-1, as shown in Exhibit 6.25. The information is saved in a database for use in pro-ducing the other documents required for the real estate closing and title documents,including deed descriptions and tax reporting forms.

Exhibit 6.23 Excel 2007 Ribbon view of graphing options.

SUMMARY

Electronic Spreadsheets 147

Exhibit 6.25 HUD-1 produced using the SoftPro ProForm software.Source: Images courtesy of SoftPro, www.softprocorp.com.

INTRODUCTION TO ELEC-TRONIC SPREADSHEETS

Many areas of legal practice involve calculating andpresenting financial information.

The computerized spreadsheet, when laid out in theformat acceptable to the court, can be printed withoutreentering the data, or copied into word documents.

For many applications there are templates with formulasfor calculating the information needed, such as anelectronic spreadsheet version of the Housing and UrbanDevelopment (HUD) sheet used in real estate settlements.

The use of computer spreadsheets reduces the errorsassociated with manual mathematical calculations anderrors in retyping the information.

CREATING AND WORKING

WITH SPREADSHEETS

A spreadsheet in its most basic form is any two items withsome relationship that is acted upon mathematically andthe result presented in a third location.

NAVIGATING IN ELECTRONIC

SPREADSHEETS

Spreadsheets use standard terms to describe the parts ofthe spreadsheet, such as rows, columns, cells, formulabar, active cell and formula, and workbooks.

RESOURCES FOR LEARNING

AND USING ELECTRONIC

SPREADSHEETS

As seen in the chapter on word processing, most vendors of software provide help in learning and usingthe software. Microsoft offers a number of online tutorials.

(continued)

148 Chapter 6

KEY TERMINOLOGY

CREATING A SPREADSHEET Using a computerized spreadsheet such as MicrosoftExcel or Corel Quattro Pro, the numbers are enteredin cells, and a formula assigned to the cell in which theresult is to be displayed.

Start with what you want the spreadsheet to show orcalculate.

■ What do you want to do?■ What are the inputs?■ What is the desired outcome?■ What are the formulas?■ What columns are needed?

EDITING A LABEL Just as a formula can be entered or changed by editing itin the property bar, so can a label. A label can be enteredby typing it in a cell, or by selecting the cell and typing itin the property bar.

SPREADSHEET TEMPLATES Many offices save spreadsheet templates in the same waythat sample word processing documents are saved forfuture use.

SPREADSHEET SECURITY Most office suite applications can be password controlledfor security.

SPECIAL FEATURES OF ELEC-TRONIC SPREADSHEETS

Each spreadsheet has a choice of tools and features thatmay be displayed on the toolbars for quick use.

AutoSum button, shown as the Greek letter sigma (�),applies the selected function; for example, Sum (add up)the selected cells in any row or column without typingany formula.

GRAPHING IN SPREADSHEETS Data in a spreadsheet are frequently better explained inthe form of a graph.

CellColumn

Formula barProperty bar

RowWorkbook

CONCEPT REV IEW QUEST IONS AND EXERC ISES1. What are macros? What is the danger in using them?

2. What are the security features available in Excel?

3. Define the terms used to identify the parts of an electronic spreadsheet.

4. What steps may be taken to locate and use the resources for learning how touse Excel or Quattro Pro programs and their features?

5. List the steps in creating and saving an electronic spreadsheet.

6. Create a spreadsheet that shows your grades for a course, or a list of fivenumbers in the range of 1 to 100, including the average of all the grades ornumbers listed. Use the graphics feature to prepare a graph.

7. What are the steps that can be taken to protect an Excel workbook?

8. Use the Euro to Dollar conversion chart as a guide to creating a spreadsheetto calculate total billing by multiplying a number of hours (try 26.4 hours)by a billing rate (try $125). What is the difference in billing if the rate isreduced to $90 per hour?

9. Prepare a spreadsheet for

a. support calculationsb. payroll computationsc. time and billing worksheet

INTERNET EXERC ISES1. Download the Investment Ledger from the Microsoft website. Print out the

graph “Investment Chart.”

2. Complete the Microsoft Office online tutorial “Audio Course: Get to KnowExcel: Create Your First Workbook.”

3. Complete the Microsoft Office online tutorial “Get to Know Excel: EnterFormulas.”

PORTFOL IO ASSIGNMENTS1. Prepare a procedure and related forms for requesting the creation of a

spreadsheet.

2. Prepare a presentation on the uses of an electronic spreadsheet as aproductivity tool.

SCENARIO CASE STUDYUse the opening scenario for this chapter to answer the following questions. The settingis an attorney and paralegal preparing for a labor negotiation session.

1. What should the attorney know about using a spreadsheet in thenegotiation session? Prepare a memo for the attorney to use in preparing forthe negotiation session.

2. What information should the attorney convey to the paralegal to enable theparalegal to prepare an electronic spreadsheet?

3. How much of the spreadsheet can be set up ahead of time? Explain fullywith examples.

4. What hardware or software will the attorney need for the meeting? Bespecific and explain the reasons.

Electronic Spreadsheets 149

CONT INU ING CASES AND EXERC ISES1. Prepare a spreadsheet for recording the time slips for the office.

a. What headings are needed?b. See the rates previously mentioned.c. Enter all of your time information accumulated since Chapter 1.d. Sort the information by the billing function performed.

2. Prepare a spreadsheet for calculating the payroll for the office.

ADVANCED EXERC ISES1. Copy the table created in Chapter 5 and paste it into a spreadsheet.

2. Modify the table to add the necessary formula to calculate billing and payrollinformation.

3. Identify the additional functions that the spreadsheet can perform.

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