Top Ten iPhone Apps for Biglawyers
These days, it seems like the Blackberry stranglehold on Biglaw is loosening. Purely anecdotally, we’ve been seeing many office-pale fingers making use of iPhone touch screens to check for partner e-mails over the weekends.
Let’s move beyond the anecdotal though. Which do you prefer as your Biglaw ball and chain?
If you do have an iPhone, we imagine you spend some time at the iPhone app store tricking it out. We decided to check in with Jeff Richardson, a partner at Adams & Reese in New Orleans, for some application recommendations. Richardson is such a big fan of the iPhone that he started a blog devoted to it six months ago: iPhone J.D.
Richardson’s top 10 iPhone app picks, and a couple more polls, after the jump.
Since Richardson was passionate enough about the iPhone to found a blog devoted to it, we thought he might prove to be a good expert for suggested apps for attorneys. Here are his recommendations:
The best iPhone apps for lawyers come with with iPhone. Mail works great with corporate e-mail, especially for law firms using Microsoft Exchange. Contacts is great to store client and contact information, including pictures, notes, etc. I use the Maps app all the time to find places, especially now that Google Street View is integrated. But I presume you are asking about third party apps. So here are my picks for the Top 10 third party apps for a lawyer’s iPhone (in no particular order):1. QuickOffice. The marquee feature is the ability to edit Word and Spreadsheet documents, but I mostly use this app as just an easy way to transfer documents to and from my iPhone and view them on the iPhone.
2. Any of the Cliff Maier reference apps. As a litigator, I frequently use his apps containing the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Appellate Procedure and Title 28, and I know lots of others lawyers who use his apps with patent laws, the tax code, etc. It is incredibly useful to have the law in your pocket.
3. DaysFrom. This is a quick and easy way to count days. Whenever I have to count 20 days, 100 days, etc. either forward or backwards from a date, I use this app.
4. Wikipanion. This free app lets you quickly find information on Wikipedia.
5. Google Mobile App. I love that I can quickly start this app, hold up the iPhone to my face, and then say what I am looking for and have a Google search run based on what I say. This is often a lot faster and more convenient than typing out search terms.
6. Various weather apps. Whether I am traveling or just deciding whether to pack an umbrella as I walk to court, I have a few weather apps that I use, and I haven’t really picked a favorite yet. The Weather Channel and AccuWeather apps are great, but there is also a version of the Weather Underground website that is formatted for the iPhone web browser (i.wund.com) that I find just as useful.7. A Twitter client. Until recently, the free TwitterFon was my favorite twitter client, but the free Twitterific 2.0 was recently released and I think it is now my favorite.
8. Facebook. Facebook’s iPhone app is nicely done, and I use it to keep in touch with friends from college and law school. You never know when one of them will be co-counsel or a client.
9. Black’s Law Dictionary is now available for the iPhone (reviewed here). Too early to tell whether Black’s will become one of my personal favorites. At $50 it is much more expensive than the normal iPhone app, but it does work well.
10. NetNewsWire. A great free app for quickly reading RSS feeds to keep up with websites.
Hey, law students, Richardson has not left you out. Earlier this month, he reviewed study aids for the iPhone.
What do you think? Did Richardson leave any essential applications off the list?
And, as promised, more polls! Some firms have gone iPhone phriendly, but we’re not sure how widespread that is. What’s the policy at your firm?
iPhone J.D.
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Comments
Feist
I put my Blackberry in a drawer when I started two years ago and haven't looked at it since. I encourage all of you to do the same.
My clients always insist that I have easy access to wikipedia.
Babyshaker is the only iPhone app worth mentioning.
Blackberry, and PCs. Apple enthusiats do not make good lawyers.
As soon as my firm made the announcement that we had become iPhone compatible, I went out and got one. Have regretted it ever since.
The iPhone does a million things, mediocre-ly, whereas the the Blackberry does basically one thing (e-mail), and does it very well.
I can't get reimbursed for a new device until Nov. of 2010, but once that day comes, it's back to black(berry).
That is, of course, assuming I'm still employed in Nov. of 2010.
Bump, 9-Toolbox, Dictionary, Bloomberg, Constitution
Starbucks over Dunkin' Donuts, no question.
The only app you will ever need is asslobster shaker.
a winner
Finally! A story that matters!
Whenever I see a lawyer with an Iphone, I immediately judge him/her as a person that lacks the essential character to be an attorney. An Iphone is for a flamming artist, entertainer or an Obama follower that loves to catch his dung filled speeches on youtube. I could care less if you can watch a music video on your phone. If you are a lawyer, you have no business watching videos on your phone. I still have my Startac from 1997 and it is the best phone that was ever made.
Will consider iPhone only when its exclusive deal w/ AT&T ends. I've had AT&T (and before that, Cingular, and before that, Cellular One) on 4 separate occasions and service was mediocre despite their "more bars" BS.
AT&TTT
Apple's iPhone contract to be switched from AT&T to Verizon in September or October.
The iPhone, Blackberry, and other such devices veer dangerously close to the "thinking machines" we abolished after the Butlerian Jihad. This is why I prefer to keep a mentat always by my side.
The iphone keyboard is too hard to use for legal work. I use by BB for work, iTouch for play.
@14: Not likely until 2010-2011, when Verizon goes to LTE (which will be the same tech as AT&T) for its "fourth generation."
Given how long it takes Verizon to get new handsets (Still waiting on the Blackberry 9630 Niagara/Tour equivalent to the Bold anyone?) this is not surprising news.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/04/can-you-hear-me-now-verizon-rumored-to-have-cdma-iphone-next-year.ars
Unless you animate bugs, cowboys and robots, using Apple products makes you looks like unprofessional trendie with questionable technology and decision-making skills.
Keep your iPhone -- as well as your back/tribal tat, ironic t-shirts and crocs -- for exclusive display as after-hours accessories.
ATL - how LAME, this post is stolen from a recent cnet article which examined EXACTLY the same question: http://tinyurl.com/bqqrvx
11 is the biggest tool I have ever seen. If he's a partner at a big law firm, I'm dean of HLS. I'm guessing he's a 2L in the bottom 10% of his class at a lousy law school.
iPhone is vastly superior - you can't open pdfs or excel docs on BBs, but you can on iPhone. That alone makes it better for a lawyer.
I tell everyone that I have an iFart app. Truth be told, I don't even own a iPhone.
21-Wrong. I'm able to open and edit both on my BB
After I judge someone based on whether they use an iPhone or a Blackberry, I then evaluate their further merits based on the color of their skin.
If only there were some sort of list that could tell me which communication device was the most prestigious... How can I make decisions without the security of an ordinal ranking?
How about an article on the best apps for Blackberries? It makes sense, considering that the majority of BigLawyers carry them. I know many dinosaurs never use them for anything but read and respond to emails, but some of us use them for more stuff (productive and not-so-productive functions).
Nice list. I'd also add http://thelawpod.com to the discussion.
TheLawPod.com offers apps that feature the FRCP, FRE, etc. along with U.S. Constitution. All the apps are searchable, scrollable, pageable, and don't even require an internet connection, which is pretty dope.
The apps are also going to be available for BlackBerry soon, so if your firm isn't dishing out for iPhones you can still use the service.
Plus, some of the sales are going to support law students who need financial assistance... which is pretty much everybody.
Nice list. I'd also add http://thelawpod.com to the discussion.
TheLawPod.com offers apps that feature the FRCP, FRE, etc. along with U.S. Constitution. All the apps are searchable, scrollable, pageable, and don't even require an internet connection, which is pretty dope.
The apps are also going to be available for BlackBerry soon, so if your firm isn't dishing out for iPhones you can still use the service.
Plus, some of the sales are going to support law students who need financial assistance... which is pretty much everybody.
11 - Partner Em. - The expression is "I couldn't care less" not "I could care less". If you could care less that means you care to some degree. If you couldn't care less then there is no care whatsoever, you are at the lowest level of care possible.
Also- the Bankruptcy code on iPhone is pretty good.
PE - agreed, the startac was quite possibly the best phone ever made
I, too, wish I still had my StarTAC. Never dropped calls, built like a tank, easy to use, long battery life. That thing worked better than any phone I've had since.
YOU ARE ALL IDIOTS.
YOU ARE ALL IDIOTS.
RIM is an albatross that hasn't had a good idea in years. Look what happened when they tried to "innovate" - we ended up with the mess that is the Storm. They skate by on brand recognition (and admittedly high-quality push email) because your average lawyer is a technological moron with an ultra-conservative IT department, but unless they can do a hell of a lot better in terms of handset design, it's only a matter of time. It will be interesting to see how big of a bite the Palm Pre takes out of bb's marketshare. People talk about the Pre as compared to the iPhone, but Palm is a trusted name in business, unlike apple, and the Pre is light years ahead of anything RIM has right now.
27 - Since when did the constitution matter?
I would also add the Skype application. If you use Skype for your law practice/business, you can now take your business number(s), contact list, and all your other Skype information with you on your iPhone. Moreover, you don't have to forward calls to your mobile anymore while you're out of the office. It's extremely convenient, and it's free!
take a look at Bill4Time Mobile, which is the iPhone add-on to Bill4Time (www.bill4time.com) time billing and case management software in use by 1000's of lawyers and professionals.
Our firm does not support iPhone, but the users were able to set it up without IT support, and we are tolerated. It works very well, and is very reliable. The rest of my family is Verizon. AT&T coverage has been comparable for me. The iPhone is much more flexible than my wife's Blackberry - although newer Blackberry's are getting better. (My wife is a partner in the firm.)
Much easier to read stuff on an iPhone, and the interface works.
Best phone that I have had.
Our firm does not support iPhone, but the users were able to set it up without IT support, and we are tolerated. It works very well, and is very reliable. The rest of my family is Verizon. AT&T coverage has been comparable for me. The iPhone is much more flexible than my wife's Blackberry - although newer Blackberry's are getting better. (My wife is a partner in the firm.)
Much easier to read stuff on an iPhone, and the interface works.
Best phone that I have had.
I'd also recommend "LawBox". It has the three big federal rule sets (good for law students, but not much use for the average practicing attorney).
What really shines is the legal news browser: the app has hundreds of legal RSS feeds and you can save the stories to Instapaper, or tweet/email them from inside of the app.
Very slick interface to boot.