Login | April 27, 2024
Legal app roundup
RICHARD WEINER
Technology for Lawyers
Published: August 24, 2018
The ABA has a nice post about current useful legal apps that lawyers can access from their phones/tablets. Here’s an overview.
Email aggregators. Most attorneys have multiple email accounts but still only want one app to access them all. Gmail, Outlook and your native smartphone email app all have this ability—you just need to set it up that way (enable “all inboxes”).
Voice recorders and transcribers. iPhones and Android phones all have a native voice recorder but you should have an app that can transmit these voice recordings to other platforms. Apps than can do this include Scribie, TranscribeMe! and Trint. Notability is an app that allows a user to record and take notes simultaneously. A fallback position would be to voice text yourself.
Document management. Basically, you should use a document management platform that allows access on your phone/tab. Google Drive is set up to do this, and so is Dropbox (if you pay for all the extra security you need). NetDocuments makes the list. Whatever you use, make sure that all the data is encrypted at rest and end-to-end.
Cloud-based practice management. There are a bunch of these that can be set up to run from an app, but this post recommends Actionstep and Centerbase in particular for attorneys.
Legal research. Members of metropolitan Ohio bar associations (including the Akron Bar Association) receive Fastcase as a member benefit. Non-members can get this app for a monthly fee. The Ohio Bar Association gives you Casemaker. Both Westlaw and Lexis Advance have solo/small firm packages available.
Electronic signatures and notaries. NotaryCam is an app that puts you inContact with local notaries. DocuSign has a notary function that can be set up in a special room. RightSignature is for when you don’t need the doc notarized.
PDF markup/signatures. Well, you can download Acrobat if you want to pay for it. Otherwise, look at an app called GoodReader, and Dropbox has a paid function that can do it.
Remote PC access. You should already have LogMeIn or GoToMyPC. If you don’t, why not?
Online case valuation. The app you didn’t know you needed: Picture It Settled uses big data to value cases. Proceed with caution, however.
Online CLE apps. TalksOnLaw is an iOS app that offers CLE classes. Many bar associations also have an online component which may be phone/tab friendly. There is also Lawline, LexVid and TRTCLE.
Calendar calculators. Lawyers need special date calculators. Take a look at CalendarRules and LawToolBox.