LitIQ -

Check out an Add-In for MS Word named LitIQ which is designed to help you spot errors in drafts of contracts and other legal documents. LitIQ focuses on performing an analysis of a document in three areas:

1. Detection of Ambiquities - the software will help locate terms in a document with multiple meanings, and spots unclear sentences.

2. Advanced Proofreading - LitIQ will detect formatting errors and inconsistent usage.

3. Style Guide - to find problematic language and suggest alternatives. This feature is based on the guidelines of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting by Ken Adams.

Let's take a look at how the LitIQ add-in works. After it's installed, a new tab named 'LitIQ' will appear on the Ribbon in Word. I'm going to use it to review a contract that I found on the web for an agency of the City of Seattle.

In this screen grab we see how the Advanced Proofreading tool has found two instances where the word 'consultant' may be used in a sense that is different from the definition it is given on the first page of the agreement.

The Ambiguity Detection feature generates a list of words which can have multiple interpretations - 'similar'; 'appropriate'; 'periodically'

The Style Guide notices that the word 'confirms' as used in a particular context can be misleading, and suggests the replacement, 'states'.