“Extremely helpful, this should be mandatory for all students. Would’ve saved me hours of frustration at summer internship.”
“I liked that it was tailored to the legal profession. Even with tasks that I thought I knew, it was useful to have formal training.”
What is Procertas?
The Procertas Legal Technology Assessment is an online platform that helps users learn core office technology for lawyers: Word, Excel, and PDF. It is focused on tasks lawyers use most frequently.
Users are placed in legal scenarios and asked to perform common tasks with standard software. For example: A user might be provided a marked-up contract as a Word document and asked to prepare it for execution (in a sequence of separate tasks) by turning off tracked changes, accepting all changes, deleting all comments, fixing numbering, updating cross-references, removing metadata, and converting to a PDF.
Who can participate?
Fordham Law 1Ls will participate in the program through the Legal Writing program. We encourage our upper-level students to participate via the Maloney Library Law Practice Technology Certificate where they can complete the Word For Legal Assessment, Excel for Legal Assessment, PDF for Legal Assessment, or PowerPoint for Legal Assessment in addition to other exciting programming. Upper-level students can complete any of the modules independently if they’d like.
How does the program work?
Procertas offer both trainers and assessments for each application, using a variety of underlying legal documents (a contract, a memo, a brief, etc.). The trainers provide directions and an instructional video to help you learn the task. The assessments are graded, timed tests so you can see what you know; they will give you a grade: Expert, Qualified, Intermediate, or Beginner.
The best way to get a high score on an assessment is to complete the trainer first. This is especially true for those completing the Maloney Library Law Practice Technology Certificate, which requires a score of Qualified or higher on all assigned modules.
The basic method of the program is Download-Edit-Upload. You start a task by downloading one or more files. Upon download, task instructions will appear in the browser (e.g., remove metadata). You open the document on your own computer and perform the task using your own software. You save, close, and upload the modified file. Once uploaded, the file is reviewed by the LTA’s grading engine. After you log in and prior to starting any module, complete the program’s Tutorial that will walk you through step-by-step.
For more, see the Help & FAQs page.
How do I earn the Law Practice Technology Certificate?
Prior to graduation:
- Complete 3 modules with a score of “Qualified” or above in Procertas. You may choose any 3 modules from the following list: 1) Word for Legal Assessment, 2) Excel for Legal Assessment, 3) PDF for Legal Assessment, and 4) PowerPoint for Legal Assessment; AND
- Attend 5 library-approved programs on important law practice technology topics OR successfully complete the Advanced Legal Research Law Practice Technology class.
The quickest way to achieve a score of “Qualified” in Procertas is to first complete the Trainer associated with each Assessment: Word For Legal Trainer, Excel for Legal Trainer, and PDF for Legal Trainer. All of the Assessments and Trainers, along with a tutorial walking you through the system, will appear on your Modules List when you log into the system.
Why should I do this?
- Gain skills in basic office technology to help you better complete your class assignments and work product.
- Lawyers are generally required to be competent in technology for their practice, and it can be news when they aren’t!
- By completing the Maloney Library Law Practice Technology Certificate, you can explore essential skills for today’s legal practice and showcase your competence to potential employers.
- It can make a big improvement in your basic skills in a small amount of time – most students can complete the Word module in under one hour.
I am convinced! How do I get started?
All upper-level students should visit the Maloney Library Law Practice Technology Certificate page for more details on Certificate requirements.
Students who completed Procertas during 1L Legal Writing already have accounts – log in at https://learn.procertas.com; you can resend an activation email or reset your password from there.
First-year students will complete a few Procertas modules as part of Legal Writing and will receive information on participating in early-fall.
See the Help & FAQs page for more information on the program.
For other questions, contact the reference librarians at [email protected].