One of the nice features of Android devices that iOS devices lack is the ability to swap keyboards. This lets you try out different keyboards with different input methods and find one that best suits your style. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of different keyboard apps for Android that can be downloaded from the Google Play store.

Until now, however, there has not been one specifically designed for lawyers. This week, the Scottish company KeyPoint Technologies announced an addition to its Adaptxt line of specialty keyboards created just for lawyers. The keyboard uses a legal dictionary so that auto-suggestions and auto-corrections more accurately reflect legal usage.

Adaptxt has a whole line of keyboards for general and custom uses. The company touts its keyboards as “extremely intuitive” applications that learn from your writing style in order to predict your next word. Its keyboard will automatically complete, correct and capitalize words as you type, and it lets you create shortcuts for commonly used words and phrases. Text can be entered by tapping keys or by gliding over them.

The new legal version contains more than 20,000 legal industry terms in five dictionaries (covering the U.S., the UK, Finland, Germany and Spain) so that auto-corrections are more accurate. As you begin to type a legal term, it will make word- and phrase-completion suggestions from its dictionary. The dictionary works with the app’s learning algorithm so that its performance should get better the more you use it. 

The app also learns from your postings on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and builds its dictionary accordingly. The keyboard comes with a dedicated “share” key as a shortcut for sharing on a social network.

The Adaptxt dictionary and keyboard for lawyers is available for Android in the Google Play store for $3.99. 

Having told you all this, I will add that I have not been able to test it. I have two different Android devices, and the Google Play store tells me the app is incompatible with both. A company spokesperson told me the app should run on any device running an Android version newer than 2.1, which mine do. I hope to have an update on why I’ve been unable to use it.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.