Module 2
The anatomy of a template: fixed text, variables, types and the data dictionary
The best templates are made by lawyers who stopped, before typing anything, to look at a finished document and ask: what is the same every time, and what changes? The answer shapes everything: the questions that will be asked, the rules that will be needed and how easily the template can be tested and maintained. This module teaches the anatomy of a template: how to separate fixed text from variables, how to name and type the variables, how to format values, how to keep a data dictionary that makes the template understandable to someone else and how to start from a finished document. It uses a plain template syntax in which a double brace marks a variable. You will practise in the Template Tester.
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See what is included in All-Access →General education on legal document automation, using invented organisations, documents and figures. It is not legal advice. Clauses and letters are illustrations of structure, not recommended wording: real documents must follow the law that applies and be checked by a lawyer.
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