Mastering Excel for Law Firms: Tips Lawyers Actually Need, with Barron Henley

10 snips

Nov 20, 2025

Barron Henley, owner of Affinity Consulting and expert in law firm workflows, shares invaluable insights on leveraging Excel to enhance legal practices. He reveals how this underused tool can streamline tasks like expense tracking, probate calculations, and document automation. Barron demonstrates how even simple functions empower lawyers in various fields, from family law to real estate. He also showcases practical uses such as embedding live spreadsheets in Word and creating templates, proving that Excel can revolutionize daily operations in any law firm.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Excel Is Underused In Law Firms

Excel is a massively underused tool in law firms despite being widely available.
Barron Henley argues improving use of existing software is low-hanging fruit for firms.

ADVICE

Use Spreadsheets For Live Calculations

Use Excel for interactive forms so values auto-update without manual field refreshes.
Prefer spreadsheets for calculations rather than Word tables to avoid broken or stale numbers.

ADVICE

Build Amortization And Closing Schedules

Build amortization schedules and payment breakdowns in Excel for instant rate and term updates.
Change inputs like loan amount or interest and let formulas recalc distributions automatically.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

In episode 589 of Lawyerist Podcast, Stephanie sits down with Barron Henley of Affinity Consulting to talk about the practical, real-world ways law firms can use Excel to save time, reduce errors, and streamline everyday work.

Barron breaks down why Excel is one of the most underused tools in law firms and shares examples like expense tracking, probate calculations, medical bill summaries, date calculators, amortization tables, document automation, and even embedding live spreadsheets inside Word.

If Excel feels intimidating, Barron explains how even simple functions can dramatically improve workflows across litigation, estate planning, family law, real estate, and firm operations.

Listen to our previous episodes on legal tech tools and smarter workflows:

#497: Real Talk About Artificial Intelligence in Your Office, with Ben Schorr Apple | Spotify | LTN

#581: Agentic AI for Lawyers: Moving Beyond Enhanced Search, with Drew Bloom Apple | Spotify | LTN

#587: Future-Proofing Your Firm in the Age of AI, with Jack Newton Apple | Spotify | LTN

Listen to our previous episodes on Finances:

#306: Getting to Know & Love Your Numbers, with Bernadette Harris Apple | Spotify | LTN

#583: From Survival to Strategy: Scaling Your Law Firm Finances, with Bernadette Harris Apple | Spotify | LTN

Have thoughts about today’s episode? Join the conversation on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and X!

If today's podcast resonates with you and you haven't read The Small Firm Roadmap Revisited yet, get the first chapter right now for free! Looking for help beyond the book? See if our coaching community is right for you.

Access more resources from Lawyerist at lawyerist.com.

Chapters / Timestamps:

0:00 – Why lawyers should look at their numbers
4:17 – AI updates from 8AM (MyCase/Docketwise)
13:46 – Why Excel is the most underused tool in law
17:35 – What Excel can do that lawyers don’t expect
23:25 – Templates, formulas & real practice examples
31:27 – Using Excel for automation & mail merges
37:32 – Everyday lawyer workflows made easier with Excel
41:23 – Final takeaways