Desktop Lawyer Personal (inc Wills, Divorce, Property)

Once the program's loaded you'll see a list of the available documents on the right of the screen. Double click on the one you want to use, read the disclaimer carefully--because you're creating legal documents, this is extremely important--and you're ready to go. The body of the document then opens in the left hand window while in the right; you'll see a series of questions, a bit like a form. As you fill in the form, answering questions specific to the document you want to create, it takes shape in the other window. So for example, if you want to use the letter designed to refuse receipt of faulty goods, you'll be asked for details like the supplier, the nature of the goods, when they were purchased, when the fault was detected and so on; the final letter refers to the Sale Of Goods Act of 1979 as amended by Section 1 of the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994 giving the finished product the correct level of legal oomph. You can go back and alter details at any time, save the letter halfway through and finish it later, edit the final document rather as you would with a word processor and print it out. Obviously, when you save the personalised letter or document, the original template remains untouched and can be used over and over again.

The range of documents is impressive. Indeed, this product actually combines the content of products sold singly (admittedly at around one third the price) elsewhere as Your Step-By-Step Will-Maker, Personal Letters & Contracts and Create and Print Your Own Divorce Papers. The results are slick, authoritative, quote the right legislation when necessary and make this a useful personal productivity tool for users living in England and Wales. As the documentation points out however, it's no substitute for taking proper legal advice and you should bear that in mind. --Rob Beattie