Author Archives: excelesquire

About excelesquire

NYC attorney and Excel enthusiast.

Scared Straight? Reviewing Excel Files in the Wake of Wells Fargo

Posted on August 21, 2017 by excelesquire

The Wells Fargo inadvertent disclosure episode provides a high-profile reminder that attorneys who are responsible for reviewing and producing client documents must thoroughly understand those documents. There were several process breakdowns that led to the inadvertent disclosure of thousands of confidential records, … Continue reading →

Posted in CLE, eDiscovery, formulas, Lit Support, Native File Review, Practice Management | 5 Comments

Excel Filters and the Duty of Technology Competence

Posted on July 25, 2017 by excelesquire

The Harris County Law Library in Houston, Texas recently hosted my presentation “Excel Essentials for the Practice of Law.” Among other topics, I explained how filters work in Excel, and how they present pitfalls for the unwary lawyer. When lawyers … Continue reading →

Posted in CLE, eDiscovery, Lit Support, Native File Review, Practice Management | Leave a comment

Upcoming CLE Event in Houston, TX (with livestream)

Posted on June 16, 2017 by excelesquire

On July 13th, I will give a presentation called “Excel Essentials for the Practice of Law” at the Harris County Law Library in Houston. The presentation is designed for lawyers, paralegals, and other legal professionals. Participants will learn how to … Continue reading →

Posted in CLE, eDiscovery, Everybody, formulas, Lit Support, Practice Management | 1 Comment

Spelling Bee Fundraiser for Harlem Hospital CCHP

Posted on March 31, 2017 by excelesquire

Hello readers! Your humble narrator and Excel blogger will compete in a spelling bee fundraiser to benefit the Center for Comprehensive Health Practice, a terrific hospital serving needy residents in Harlem. They are facing a difficult rent hike and this … Continue reading →

Posted in eDiscovery, Everybody | Tagged CCHP, concatenate, spelling bee | 1 Comment

Nassau County Bar Association CLE Event – March 8

Posted on March 2, 2017 by excelesquire

The Nassau Academy of Law, the educational arm of the NCBA, will host an Excel Esquire CLE lunch program called “Excel Essentials for the Practice of Law” on Wednesday, March 8. Lunch is served at 12:30, and the one-hour program … Continue reading →

Posted in CLE, eDiscovery, Everybody, formulas | Tagged eDiscovery, Excel, New York CLE | Leave a comment

Highlight Every Other Row of a Privilege Log (or other spreadsheet!)

Posted on January 10, 2017 by excelesquire

Happy New Year, readers! Today’s tip is an old favorite, and one that can save you a lot of tedious work. It exploits Excel’s conditional formatting feature to quickly highlight every other row of your privilege log, or any other … Continue reading →

Posted in CLE, eDiscovery, Everybody, formulas, Lit Support, Practice Management, Privilege Logs | Tagged CLE, conditional formatting, eDiscovery, Excel logic formulas, Excel training, priv log, privilege log | 1 Comment

Open and Analyze a Production Metadata File (dat file) in Excel

Posted on September 26, 2016 by excelesquire

Does this scenario sound familiar? Your adversary drops a production on you in the form of a large zip file, and you need to know what’s in that production NOW. For example, you might have a motion to compel hearing later that day–are these … Continue reading →

Posted in CLE, eDiscovery, Lit Support, Practice Management | Tagged eDiscovery analytics, Excel, Litigation support, metadata | 1 Comment

Hide Your Name When Printing Outlook Emails

Posted on May 20, 2016 by excelesquire

When you print an Outlook email–whether your own or someone else’s–your own name appears by default in large text at the top of the printout. This is awkward if you are printing emails as a delegate, or are using them as … Continue reading →

Posted in CLE, Everybody, Lit Support, Practice Management | Tagged CLE, eDiscovery, Law Practice Management, Litigation support, Microsoft Outlook, paralegal, Privilege Logs, Wizard in medieval times | 5 Comments

Redact Native Excel Files with the Filter Tool

Posted on February 22, 2016 by excelesquire

Sometimes you need to produce only certain rows of a large Excel spreadsheet. Some lawyers will painstakingly apply redaction stamps to hundreds of pages of tiff images, leaving only the responsive rows visible. This is a terrible waste of time and money, and … Continue reading →

Posted in CLE, eDiscovery, Lit Support, Native File Review, Practice Management | Tagged custom footer, eDiscovery, electronic discovery, Excel CLE, Filtering, Law Practice Management, Litigation support, native file redaction, native file review, paralegal, redactio ad absurdum | 1 Comment

Get Excel to Automatically Launch Documents from an Exhibit List, Privilege Log, or Hot Documents List

Posted on February 10, 2016 by excelesquire

Today I’ll explain how to create a schedule of documents or other files in Excel that includes a hyperlink for each document. Anyone reviewing this list will be able to open any document described on it by just clicking the link. This makes it … Continue reading →

Posted in CLE, eDiscovery, Everybody, formulas, Lit Support, Privilege Logs | Tagged CLE, deposition prep, eDiscovery, electronic discovery, Litigation support, paralegal, porcupines, Privilege Logs | 5 Comments