Filed under: Features, Productivity, App Store, App Review
Five Apps for the lawyer
It's official. The iPhone has come into its own in the legal world. It took a little time, and lawyers are notorious Luddites (you can pry the WordPerfect out of their cold, dead hands) but they do like Bright Shiny Objects, and nothing fills the lapel pocket like an iPhone. The iPhone finally cracked the law-firm standards stranglehold by virtue of its compatibility with Microsoft Exchange, which freed lawyers from the non-choice of "would you like a Blackberry, or a Blackberry?" Granted, the Blackberry still seems to have a better handle on business needs, but for some, the iPhone is worth getting to know.
It should go without saying -- I will say it, though -- many of the productivity apps that are useful to everybody are useful to lawyers, so two of these apps are not strictly law-related. (See if you can spot them! It's a brain teaser and a post!) Also, certain obvious apps don't exist yet, such as a standalone LexisNexis or WestLaw legal research app. That said, the web will suffice for now. In fact, though I've artificially constrained myself to only standalone applications, the iPhone really shines for accessing web research sites given that Mobile Safari is (mostly) a full-featured browser.
So, without further ado, here are five apps that give a glimpse into what the iPhone can do for attorneys.
1) DataViz's DocumentsToGo. Nobody expects to write a brief or a memorandum from start to finish on an iPhone (though I am waiting for a good enough voice-recognition app so that getting a draft started is feasible), but any legal writing usually goes through more revisions than your average pre-1.0 beta software. Often this happens right as you were planning on leaving for the day.
DocumentsToGo allows you to edit and change documents, as well as email them over Exchange (requires $9.99US Exchange version) to other team members. Of course, iPhone OS 3.0's cut/copy/paste was a prerequisite to making any word processing application workable, but now document editing has become at least moderately feasible. Nothing replaces your desk, covered in open books or a large monitor with LexisNexis or WestLaw opened to 18 different searches, but this gives you just a bit more flexibility and just may save you a panicky trip back to the office at 11:30pm on Saturday night.
2) Thomson Reuters' Blacks Law Dictionary. Despite its staid, milquetoast appearance (a dictionary app? Haven't we progressed beyond this?) it's actually a really great application. All rules and case law are hyperlinked to westlaw.com, which, as I've mentioned, is really quite navigable on the iPhone's Safari browser. At $49.99, it's not inexpensive, but as lawyers know, sometimes only Blacks will do. Will it be your most used application? Probably not. But considering most applications out there are $4.99 and lower, I feel pretty confident it's probably going to be one of your most expensive. Don't expect that decimal place to move to the left any time soon. 3) TimeWerks. Sure, you thought that the iPhone meant you were a free-wheeling, outside-the-box kind of lawyer. But nobody escapes death, taxes, and, if you're a law firm attorney, billable hours. While no programs that I'm aware of can seamlessly sync with firm billing apps, it's a step up from filling out paper billable sheets while you're out of the office.
TimeWerks, $9.99US, will track your projects and time spent in a way that, while not strictly built for lawyers, is user-friendly and versatile, and lets you export a .CSV file that may streamline getting the data to your main billing program. Another program, Billable Hours, was built specifically for attorneys and their crazy six-minute billables, but has not yet gotten robust enough for general endorsement. I haven't tried it, but it doesn't seem very well reviewed. For $2.99US, it may not be a tragedy to try it.
4) Court Days. Sure, you've got a calendar. You can count. We know you're smart. But considering how many of us are still blowing filing deadlines, it stands to reason that some of us just may be arithmetically-challenged. Don't worry, I won't tell if you download this app, but it does just what you might think it does: calculate days before or after any particular deadline so you can file, oppose, brief or reply in time. You pick your jurisdiction so it knows which days are court holidays, and it tells you how many court days you've got. I can't help you with getting that discovery motion filed, but I can make sure you realize it's due to the clerk in three hours. 5) The Law Pod. Not one application, technically, but a suite of six, the Law Pod is another reference-type application that, if you are a Federal litigator, you might like. Each going for $.99US, The Law Pod offers full-text and searchable versions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Federal Rules of Evidence, and the U.S. Constitution. Various state-specific apps exist in the app store, so if you're a state litigator, it may behoove you to run a search. And, not to give intellectual property attorneys short shrift, an app called Title 35 gives you similar access to the patent-relevant parts of the United States Code for $2.99US.
The truth is, of course, that the majority of a lawyer's work requires at least a full-screened laptop, but lawyers need not be technophobes, limiting their mobile productivity to email and calls. But I'd sure like to see some developers put the iPhone through its legal paces and devise applications that would fit into the way law firms do their business. This would mean apps that interface with existing billing and client/matter-tracking software, true client-specific document collaboration, and even conflict checking. After a decade of being one of only a few Mac-based lawyers in a very PC-centric profession, it's nice to see the iPhone making inroads. I look forward to a few more law firms taking the Mac plunge because the iPhone led them there. And maybe, just maybe, WordPerfect for Mac will come out of retirement. Nah. Who needs it. It's a beautiful new w....ooh! Shiny Object!
(NB: edited to reflect search feature of Title 35)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Justin said 9:51AM on 8-06-2009
I have found the PA Rules of Evidence app from Cliff Maier to be an invaluable tool. It has saved me more than once when a tricky evidentiary issue comes up for which I've needed the actual text of the rule and haven't had an evidence book near at hand.
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support said 11:07AM on 8-06-2009
Thanks!
John.B said 9:59AM on 8-06-2009
I've got an idea for a lawyer app someone could write: iHariKari
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David Satterfield said 10:50AM on 8-06-2009
@John.B
Funny. That's everyone's attitude until they need a lawyer.
Does anyone know of an app that edits iWork documents?
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Graham said 10:53AM on 8-06-2009
That's hilarious! The first time my lawyer emailed me WordPerfect files, I had to knock around online to find a converter (finally settled on AbiWord, great free word processor). I didn't realize that lawyers in general were all about the Corel.
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jsw said 11:03AM on 8-06-2009
It's a legacy thing. A lot of law firm settled on word processors under DOS back when WordPerfect was the best thing going by far, particularly for the specialized documents that some lawyers need (briefs with numbered lines, weird formatting for real property or estate documents). And from what I understand, each revision of WordPerfect has been really good about backward compatibility, so in many cases there hasn't been an incentive to change, especially if your end product is specific-format paper.
That said, I use Word and have since I started practicing about 14 years ago, and I can't recall ever getting a WordPerfect document from anyone. So maybe there was a cutover point where Word took over for those situations where documents had to be shared back and forth with clients who don't use specialty macros, etc. and who almost all use Microsoft Office. (In my case, technology company transactions of various sorts.)
mark212 said 11:04AM on 8-06-2009
Don't hate on WP. I've moved on with my word-smithing, but the whole idea of "reveal codes" to figure out exactly where your line numbering or font size got fubar'ed is GENIUS. Word, for all the bells and whistles, just can't replicate that essential functionality for what can be complex documents.
But to be back on track with the iPhone post, I doubt it'll come of age in law firms until there's an email app that (1) can use different signatures for different accounts -- gotta have that annoying and useless disclaimer that "this email is privileged and protected from disclosure, if you are receiving it by accident please delete immediately and call my assistant at the number above so I can fire her" and (2) has a unified In Box.
Unless I'm the only person in the world who has one email account for work and one for personal use?
Great to have the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and Black's Law Dictionary, but email is the essential tool and Apple still hasn't gotten it right yet.
jsw said 11:12AM on 8-06-2009
@mark212: I agree about the multiple sigs problem. The solution I found is to use one of the file-syncing/viewing apps (Air Sharing for me) to get a text document with the appropriate long disclaimer onto the iPhone. The new copy-and-paste feature allows me to switch apps, copy what I want and then dump it into the signature.
A kludge, I know, but it works until Apple includes that feature.
Don't really care about unified in-box. I don't mind having the inbox list on the front page of the mail app. Of course, I don't use push or auto-fetch, so YMMV.
Nirgal said 10:57AM on 8-06-2009
" It took a little time, and lawyers are notorious Luddites (you can pry the WordPerfect out of their cold, dead hands) . . . ."
I work in an office where you CAN'T pry it from their cold dead hands. Alright, not dead, and not cold, exactly, but slightly cool, and really not even the lawyers' hands.
We made the switch to Mac last year, but our secretary who does most of the word processing threw a fit & came close to having a nervous breakdown at the prospect being deprived of WP. So now, we have an XServe in the back room, and lawyers equipped with bright shiny iMacs, who do most of their work in Word Perfect in virtual Windows XP to suit the demands of the secretary.
So, credit to my fellow lawyers, they were willing to make the switch; it's the secretary's cold hands holding us back.
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Cliff Maier said 11:05AM on 8-06-2009
This article is incorrect. Title 35, like all of the nearly 50 law apps I sell through the app store, is fully searchable. In fact, my apps (FRCP, FRE, FRBP, FRAP, many USC titles including the IRC, bankruptcy code, copyright, patents, and trademark codes, several CFR titles, the MPEP, and the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and many state rules and statutes) support "search by phrase, by "all terms" or by "any term." Some of the newer app updates also support search for similar terms and make suggestions if nothing is found.
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Lauren.Hirsch said 11:10AM on 8-06-2009
Sorry, Cliff. Post edited. And thanks for the "Contractions" app! My baby thanks you, too. How bizarre to realize you wrote both.
Cliff Maier said 11:52AM on 8-06-2009
Thanks for the update.
I'm eclectic :-) I
Jeremiah Moon said 2:34PM on 8-06-2009
The constitution app should definitely be in this list.
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jayljohnson said 12:12PM on 8-06-2009
Great group for the Mac-lovin' Lawyer. Hit Google Groups and look for the "Macs in Law Offices" group. Excellent forum.
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Jersey Todd said 12:33PM on 8-06-2009
You forgot Peggle. Invaluable resource for alll lawyers waiting their turn to be called. I've killed tons of hours waiting for the Court using this app.
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m64 said 1:27PM on 8-10-2009
JMDictate (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=305870342&mt=8) might also be worth a look for those interested in using their iPhone as a dictaphone.
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Dan Friedlander said 1:46PM on 8-06-2009
If you are looking for an application to keep track of your mandatory continuing legal education credits, check out myMCLE on the iTunes Store.
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Jeff Richardson said 1:04PM on 8-06-2009
Lauren, you did a nice job picking useful apps. If any attorneys (or others) want to read more about these, I have more complete reviews on these and similar apps on http://www.iphonejd.com. For example:
Black's Law Dictionary: http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2009/04/review-blacks-law-dictionary-for-iphone.html
Court Days: http://www.iphonejd.com/iphone_jd/2009/07/review-court-days-calculate-dates-on-your-iphone.html
-Jeff
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Rego said 3:11PM on 8-06-2009
"Granted, the Blackberry still seems to have a better handle on business needs"
Better? What are you referring to? What does blackberry have that the current iPhone lacks?
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Will said 3:16PM on 8-06-2009
I really like 'On the Clock' (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=311432362&mt=8) for keeping track of billable hours. It has got a slick UI and good feature set.
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