Business cards can be a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that they provide an easy way to exchange contact information. The curse comes when you get back to your office and have to figure out what to do with them. Basically, you have two choices. One is to condemn the cards to business-card [...]
At ABA Techshow next week in Chicago, the cloud practice management platform MyCase is slated to debut a mobile app that will be a first for practice-management apps in that it will allow both clients and lawyers to access their case information. While other practice-management platforms have mobile apps allowing lawyers to access their case and client information, this would be the first that would include a separate portal for use by clients.
Reportedly, the app will include features that will allow clients to:
The app will also allow lawyers to access their matters within MyCase, send messages to clients, view contact and calendar information, and bill on the go.
I have not seen the app, which MyCase will officially debut during Techshow. The app will not be available for download until it has completed the iTunes store approval process.
I received an email yesterday alerting me to a new app for converting Microsoft Office documents to PDF on an Apple or Android mobile device. In researching it, I discovered that the company also has an app for converting PDF to Office. Either of the two apps — both of which are free — make for useful additions to any lawyer’s smartphone or tablet.
The new app for converting into PDF is called Sonic PDF Creator and is available for iOS devices, including iPhone and iPad, and Android devices. Once you’ve installed it on your device, it is ridiculously easy to use. Simply locate the document that you want to convert on your device and select to open it using Sonic PDF Creator. Within seconds, the conversion is complete.
The PDF remains on your mobile device until you delete it. In addition, you can choose to email it, print it, or send it to a site such as Dropbox or Google Drive.
I tested it on both an iPhone and an Android tablet without problems. It was fast and flawless on both. The only problem I encountered was on my iPhone, in my first attempt to convert a Microsoft Word document that I received as an attachment to an email. When I tapped the document, it opened in my default app for reading Office documents. Then I realized not to tap the file, but hold my finger on it for a moment. That brought up a box allowing me to choose the app in which to open it. Once I chose PDF Creator, the conversion was completed within seconds.
The second app, Able2Extract PDF Converter, does just the opposite, converting PDF documents into Word, Excel, PowerPoint or text formats. It, too, is available for both iOS devices and Android devices. In fact, it actually converts both ways, from PDF to Office and from Office to PDF. It works in the same way as PDF Creator, but with one extra step. After you locate the document on your device and choose to open it in Able2Extract, you then need to select the output format — Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF or text.
Given that Able2Extract does both types of conversions, do you need both apps? Probably not. The advantage of the PDF Creator app is its simplicity. It does one task and does it well. Open the document in the app and you are done. It is quick and easy. Plus, you may not need the ability to convert both ways.
Just to be sure I wasn’t missing something, I put the question to the company. Here is the response I received:
We’ve developed the apps that way due to user behaviour. Some users might need only Office to PDF conversions and hence, use Sonic instead of Able2Extract because of the more direct PDF creation process it has to offer. In some cases, this is more convenient for converting more than one file to the PDF format for instance.
Namely, when you open file in Sonic, it is instantly sent to our servers and converted instead of just being placed within the list queue and having to select the conversion output type (as is the case with Able2Extract).
Both apps come from a Canadian company, InvestInTech.com, which sells more feature-rich desktop versions of both applications.
Can an iPhone app improve your legal writing? Kathleen Vinson thinks so. A professor of legal writing at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Vinson has developed iWrite Legal, a free iPhone app designed to help legal writers improve their writing skills.
The app consists of three sections — Legal Writing Tips, Legal Writing Checklist and Additional Resources — all aimed at providing advice and guidance on writing, editing and proofreading a legal document.
The first section, Legal Writing Tips, is simply that — a collection of tips, no doubt gleaned from Vinson’s own experience teaching legal writing. Each tip occupies its own screen, with a heading such as “Finding the Time to Write,” “Be Consistent” and “One Point at a Time,” followed by a paragraph that elaborates on the point. For example, under the heading, “Writing Efficiently,” the app offers this tip:
Do you feel that it is taking a long time to draft a document? Good writing takes time but often what slows writers down is trying to edit while you write. Don’t edit/revise while you write or stop to think of the perfect word. Write quickly and then once you have completed a draft, edit slowly. If you have to, cover the screen while you type so you can fight the urge to edit while you write.
The second part of the app consists of four legal writing checklists. They cover the initial stages of writing, revising, editing and proofreading. For example, the checklist for the initial stages of writing lists items such as, “What is the purpose of the document?”, “What relief do you want from the court?” and “Why is your client entitled to this relief?” As you satisfy yourself that you have covered each element, touch that element in the app to check it off.
The final component of the app, Additional Resources, simply provides links to the Suffolk Law Legal Practice Skills program’s Twitter feed, YouTube video and Legal Writing Tips podcasts.
So will this app make you a better writer? Well, allow me to quote from the app’s tip on good writing:
No magic formula, pen or computer exists that will automatically make your legal writing good. Don’t look for a quick fix.
That said, tips and checklists such as these can serve as checks and balances on your writing. In our rush to get work done, we can easily overlook the fundamental elements of effective writing. Having a checklist close at hand may not make your writing better, but it sure won’t hurt.
When it comes to law practice management technology, recent years have seen the launch of a bevy of cloud-based platforms. Clio was the first of these, followed by a number of products that include Rocket Matter, MyCase, LexisNexis Firm Manager, and the most recent addition to the lot, Thomson Reuters Firm Central. Cloud platforms offer many advantages, not the least of which is mobility — the ability to access your case and client information from any device.
But cloud platforms are not necessarily right for every lawyer or every firm. Orion has been a long-time provider of installed financial management, firm management and practice management systems for mid-sized law firms. Just last year, Sean Doherty looked at Orion and other installed practice management platforms for Law Technology News. He found that they offered good reasons for firms to stick with locally installed systems, most notably their deep integration with a firm’s back-office infrastructure and front-office tools.
Although most locally installed systems offer some form of mobile access, it is rarely on par with the full-featured mobile access some cloud systems provide. Aiming to remedy that with a full-featured mobile app, Orion introduced iOrion at the recent LegalTech show in New York.
Designed for the iPad, iPad Mini and iPhone, iOrion enables mobile access to key Orion financial management tools as well as to information about clients, cases and contacts. iOrion fully synchronizes with the desktop Orion, including the ability to start a timer in one and then manage it in the other.
Included within iOrion are:
As of this writing, iOrion is not yet available in the Apple iTunes Store. Orion is awaiting Apple’s final approval. I was provided with a pre-release version linked to a demonstration database containing mock client, matter and financial information.
Although I have never used the Orion desktop version, I found the app to be extremely easy to use and understand. I was particularly impressed by the depth of the financial data accessible through the app and by the capabilities it offers to track billable time and expenses.
I was also impressed by the ease of timekeeping on the app. To enter time manually, simply select the client or matter, select the activity code, and select the time, and you are done. If you wish to add notes to a time entry, you can. Alternatively, Smart Timers make it easy to simply turn on a timer for any client or matter and then automatically bill it when you are done.
In the range of features and access to data it offers, iOrion surpasses other mobile practice-management apps I’ve tried. Of course, iOrion can be used only by lawyers at firms where Orion is installed. For more information about the app, read Orion’s brochure.
More than a quarter of the nation’s top 200 law firms now have mobile websites, an increase of 46% from last year. This is the finding of the Second Annual AmLaw 200 and Global 100 Mobile Web Survey, conducted by the Law Firm Mobile blog.
The survey looked at which firms from the AmLaw 200 and the Global 100 have created mobile sites. It also looked at the types of content they published to those sites, how firms enhanced their sites, and where some sites need improvement.
Among the survey’s key findings:
The most popular type of content these firms have on their sites are:
Surprisingly, one of the least common content types is “contact us” information, included on just 13 sites.
The Law Firm Mobile blog has many more details about the survey, along with a full listing of the firms that have mobile sites and a screen shot of each firm’s site.
The legal directory and Q&A forum Avvo today introduced Avvo Lawyers, an app that allows lawyers to follow and answer consumer legal questions directly from their iPhones or iPads. Using the app, you can:
Also, if you subscribe to Avvo Pro, you can use the app to respond by phone or email to prospective clients.
Consumers have posted more than a million legal questions to Avvo in the last five years, the company says.
You can download the app for free from the iTunes store.
Here is an interesting iteration of the standard law dictionary — one designed specifically to help legal professionals who are not native speakers of English. Available as an app for iPhone and iPad, TransLegal’s Law Dictionary not only provides the definitions for more than 3,000 legal terms, but it also provides audible pronunciations and examples of how to use the term in context.
This app was developed by TransLegal and Paragon Software Group. TransLegal is a company that specializes in helping international legal professionals learn English legal terminology and usage, providing online courses and materials as well as an online Legal English Dictionary. Paragon is the same company that developed the mobile versions of the Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law that I reviewed here in July.
The definitions contained within the dictionary are “the product of thousands of hours of ongoing research carried out by an expert team of lawyer-linguists” and are regularly updated to reflect the most current usage, according to the developers.
Each definition includes an audio recording of the term, to aid pronunciation, and also an audio recording of the term used in a sentence. Most terms also include a “Phrasebank,” which are additional text examples of the term in context. Definitions sometimes include additional explanatory notes to help provide a better understanding of the term and also synonyms and alternative spellings. Some even discuss common mistakes in usage of the term.
The app provides several search options, including wildcard searching (such as “un*” to find words that begin with those letters), fuzzy searching (for when you are unsure of the term’s correct spelling), and full-text search (to search both terms and their definitions). You can also find a term simply by beginning to type it in the search field.
As I noted in my review of the Merriam-Webster’s law dictionary, Paragon is the developer of the PenReader handwriting recognition software for mobile devices. The TransLegal app includes PenReader, which means you can search for words by writing them on your screen with your finger or a stylus. It is easy to use and surprisingly accurate.
Another nice feature of this app is the ability to easily adjust the font sizes of entries and terms using a slider bar within the settings menu.
The standard price of this app is $24.99 (19.99 EUR or 17.49 GBP). However, through Oct. 6, they are offering it for an introductory price of $12.99.
Although this law dictionary is designed for non-native speakers of English, I can see it proving useful even to native speakers. Although it contains fewer and less-detailed definitions than a standard law dictionary, its use of terms in context can be illuminating and its explanatory notes and suggestions of common mistakes include tips that any lawyer might find helpful.
A Massachusetts divorce lawyer yesterday launched Massachusetts Divorce, an app for the iPhone and iPad that can be used to calculate alimony and child support under Massachusetts law and then generate a court-ready form. It can also be used to calculate dates.
The app was created by lawyers from the Infinity Law Group, a law firm founded by Gabriel Cheong, a lawyer who is known in the state as a frequent speaker on law practice management and technology.
The app has three main functions:
With the child support calculator, once you have entered the numbers, the app enables you to export the results into a PDF version of the court-approved child support form. You can then print the form using air print, email it or export it to Dropbox.
The app is compatible with iPhone and iPad. It costs 99 cents.
When I tried it this morning, the app functioned as described, except for one glitch — I could not export the child support form to Dropbox. Although my Dropbox account tells me that it recognized the app, when I tried to export to Dropbox, I received a message, “Failed with error.” I was able to email the PDF to myself.
The description of this app in the iTunes store describes it as the first comprehensive app for divorce calculation in Massachusetts. A search of the iTunes store indicates that there is another app, L.P.T. Family Law, that describes itself as a “Massachusetts family law resource tool that includes statutes, calculators, case law, forms, and court directories.” I have not tested this app, which also has an Android version. Another available app calculates child support only.
Rocket Matter, a cloud-based legal billing and law practice management application, today launched an iPhone app to facilitate mobile access to the application’s core functions. The app runs on all versions of the iPad, the iPhone 3GS and higher, and iPod touch running iOS 5 and above.
The app lets you use your mobile device to:
I have not tested the app. A press release issued by the company this morning says this about it:
The company designed the app after conducting extensive user surveys. Based on the feedback, the iPhone app provides a streamlined version of the essential features of the flagship cloud-based product.
A built-in timer and intuitively designed screens quickly capture billable time and expenses. Contact lists, client-matter information, and calendars with day, month, and list views keep all relevant case information in one convenient place. Information recorded via the Rocket Matter iPhone app appears instantly in the web-based product.
In situations with little or no connectivity, data is automatically stored offline. The app will instantly synchronize with the Rocket Matter database once connectivity is restored.
It also says that the app uses the same authentication and security measures employed by the web application. All data is transmitted to and from the app over an encrypted channel. Users can set a passcode lock to ensure that there is no unauthorized access to their data if the device is lost or stolen.
Rocket Matter has a video that shows features of the app. You can download the app for free from the iTunes store. Of course, you will have to have a Rocket Matter account to use the app’s functions.
