Re: TWs in law firms

[Wendy Putman <wputman -at- CASTLETON -dot- COM>]

> Are there any tech writers out there who work in law offices?  I would
> like
> to know about the types of documents you produce.
>
        As a recent escapee from the legal world, I must report that
there aren't too many people who identify themselves as technical
writers in the legal field. I'm the only one from our STC chapter, and
in the group I managed, the rest belonged to the Editors' Association of
Canada. There was a certain snob-appeal about being an editor, not a
technical communicator. Ironically, it was my keeping up with the topics
in STC that dragged the rest of the group into ventures like web
publishing. (More about that in the anxiety thread.) At the legal aid
association, the work we did encompassed:

        * public legal education material -- "how to" booklets for
people going to court, appealing "poverty law' claims (welfare,
unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, etc.), understanding
basic human rights, aboriginal [native] law issues; this included
developing and maintain the web site

        * user manuals -- for their proprietary software

        * policy and procedure manuals -- operational and administrative

        * tariff guides -- for the private bar lawyers

        * "special projects" -- included everything from developing
newsletters to standardizing stationery with the new logo to designing
posters to doing budget presentations to editing issue papers to
producing the Annual Report



--------------------------------------------------------------
Wendy Putman, Technical Writer
Castleton Network Systems, Burnaby, BC
Tel: (604) 293-0039 / Internal: 722-5432
Email: wputman -at- castleton -dot- com

	http://www.documentation.com/, or http://www.dejanews.com/