Tip #32 - How to Use The SmartAdvocate Caption Feature

Did you know that SmartAdvocate has a “caption” option where you can have the caption of a matter inserted in your documents such as pleadings? The Caption page is accessed from the left case menu.

Your case caption can be generated in a number of ways – which range from the simple application generated caption to the more advanced using custom merge codes.
Lets take a close look at each option.

First, the ‘Application Generated Caption’ option simple inserts the names of the parties on the aforementioned Caption Page. In general, an application generated caption will require additional editing in your document to make your caption complete (i.e., with the name of the court, docket number, etc.). To inset an application generated caption in your case, simply go to the Caption Page and check the ‘Application Generated Caption’ check box. This will generated the names of the parties on the page. Click the save button to save the caption as generated.

The second method of creating a caption is to do so ‘manually,’ i.e., manually type the caption in the Caption Page how you want it to appear in your document. Here, in addition to the names of the parties, you would include the name of the Court, the Court Index or Docket Number, etc. Here is an example:

In either option mentioned above (Application Generated Caption or manually created caption), you would use the Case Caption merge code (<! [CA-CAPTION] !>) in your document template to insert the caption in your document.

There are two other methods you can use to create a caption and have it inserted in your document. The first menthod is to create a document by itself (we will call this the ‘caption document’) with just the case caption, attach that document to the case and then reference that document on the Court Page. The second method is to created a Custom Merge Code that will generate the caption by inserting the appropriate information from the case.

Let’s take a look at the ‘caption document’ option.

First, you would create a word document with the caption formatted the way you want it to appear in your document. Here is an example.

If the document was created outside of the case and saved on a local or network drive, for example, attach the document to your case the same way you would attach any other document. If the document was generated using a template from the case (e.g., using a blank template) the document would already be in the case and you would not need to use the attach option.

Next, go to the Court Page, select ‘Add Docket’ (if  the docket information was not previously entered) or select the ‘Edit’ option to edit an existing Docket. Enter the docket information as appropriate and then select the drop down in the ‘Caption Document’ field. The documents that are in the case will be displayed on the drop down, including the ‘Caption Document’ created above. Select the Caption Document and then click the ‘Save’ button. You would use the Court Caption merge code (<! [COURT-COURT#-CAPTION] !>) in your document template to have the aforementioned caption merged in you document.

The fourth method you can use to have a caption merged into your document is to use a ‘Custom Merge Code.’ This method will not use any of the two predefined merge codes (<! [CA-CAPTION] !> or <! [COURT-COURT#-CAPTION] !>) but will allow you the most flexibility, in that, you can generally create one custom merge code that can be used in many different cases, whereas the prior methods of creating a caption are case specific.

First you will need to create a custom merge code (done in Word). Here is an example:

[Please note we do not discuss the process of creating a custom merge code here]

In this example, the custom merge code uses ‘regular’ merge codes to insert information from the case, such as the Court name, the names of the parties, the docket number, etc. All you need to do is insert the custom merge code created above in the caption area of your document template. When your template merges, it will fill in the appropriate information from the case you are working with.