9 iPhone Apps For Lawyers

Here is this week's Daily Record column. My past Daily Record articles can be accessed here.

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9 iPhone Apps for Lawyers

According to the results of the American Bar Association’s latest Legal Technology Survey Report, six out of 10 lawyers use an iPhone. Since the majority of lawyers use iPhones and it’s been a while since I wrote about iPhone apps for lawyers, I figured it was high time I shared some of my latest discoveries. So, without further ado, here are 9 iPhone apps developed for lawyers that you may find to be useful in your law practice.

Lawstack is a free app that provides access to, among others, the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure, the Federal Rules of Evidence. Certain state codes, including New York, are also available for purchase.

With SignNow, a free app, documents can be signed anywhere by simply uploading a PDF or Word doc via email, Dropbox, or by using your iPhone’s camera. This is a really useful app for busy lawyers who often need to obtain signatures from clients and others while on the go.
Livescribe Smartpen is a digital pen that captures your handwriting and sends it directly to your phone. You can then save the searchable document as a PDF and export it to other programs. The various pens start at $129.95, so they’re not cheap, but may just be worth the cost, depending on your needs.

Mobile Transcript is a free app that enables paperless depositions by storing digital transcripts received from a court reporter in the cloud, which can be accessed from any compatible device. You can then annotate, mark up, and share the transcripts with others. There is also a paid version of the app available for $29 per month, which allows you to upload your own transcripts into the app in either Amicus or Summation format.

Dictate+Connect is an app that turns your iPhone into a dictaphone. Once you’ve recorded dictation, you can rewind and overwrite your dictation in the app and then send the sound file to your assistant as a verbal memo. You can also use the app to record meetings. There is a free trial version of the app available but in order to record more than 30-second sound clips you’ll need to purchase the full-fledged version of the app for $16.99.

The Courtroom Objections iPhone app is your go-to objections guide. This app assists you with making and responding to objections in court by providing a useful list of common objections and responses. It’s not free, but at $2.99, it may just be worth the small price you’ll have to pay.

Courtroom Evidence is a mobile reference guide for courtroom evidentiary foundations. It assists you in laying the proper foundation for entering common types of information into evidence. The app is available in the App Store for $1.99.

DocketLaw is a free app that calculates event dates and deadlines based on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Also available for an additional monthly fee are subscriptions to rules-based calendars for specific state and federal courts. For example, you can access all New York court data for $49.95 per month.

Using Timeline 3D you can create a list of events and then add any relevant media. Once you have done so, you can present your visual timeline using a full screen and with a 3D perspective. You also have the option to export your timeline into PowerPoint and Keynote format. This app costs $9.99.
Your iPhone can be a great tool for your law practice; you just have to know how to use it! So what are you waiting for? Download a few of these apps and start practicing law on the go.

Nicole Black is a Rochester, New York attorney and the Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase, intuitive web-based law practice management software for the modern law firm. She is also the author of the ABA book Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise. She is the founder of lawtechTalk.com and speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes four legal blogs and can be reached at [email protected].