Technology

#ABATECHSHOW Appstravaganza

Expect to see an increasing number of legal apps trying to crowd their way onto your mobile devices.

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There were a number of differently technologies and services on display at the ABA TECHSHOW, but if there was a running theme around the show, other than building relationships, it was building apps.

As has been noted for the past few years, the trend in computing is towards mobility. All growth in traffic to websites is in the mobile space. People are increasingly visiting sites on either a tablet or smartphone. Growth in mobile traffic is so significant that Google decided to begin penalizing websites in search results if a website is not responsive or mobile-ready. So if your firm’s website isn’t mobile-friendly, you should probably get on that. You’ve got, let’s see, one day left to get it ready. Good luck!

Along with the growth in mobile devices, companies have also been shifting attention and resources to developing mobile apps around their services. Responsive websites are fine if you’re just browsing the web. But if you are a law firm paying for a technology vendor’s services, you expect the mobile experience to be clean and perfect. A responsive website isn’t good enough. As such, dedicated apps for mobile devices are where most, if not all, legal technology companies are heading.

The most visible example of this move towards mobile devices was the Legal Appathon. A collaboration of Thomson West and MIT Media Lab, the Appathon was meant to show how law students, lawyers, and technology companies can work together to provide focused, narrow legal solutions in app form. (If you want to hear more about the Appathon, you can also listen to this interview with Casey Hall of Thomson West on the Resilient Lawyer podcast.)

A few of the apps on display:

  • LawSTAR
    An interactive online resource for students, by students. This project brings together technology, efficiency, and accessibility to help students exchange information and ideas online.
  • 3D Printing Code of Conduct
    This team is working to develop a Code of Conduct for users in the 3D printing community to help address issues including intellectual property, tort law, criminal law, and privacy.
  • Take Down My Photo
    This platform would allow victims of revenge porn to use a simple online system to send DMCA takedown requests.
  • FLIC (Film Legal Information Center)
    This app is designed to organize all of the business and legal needs of indie film artists and game designers into a single online environment.

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Outside of the Appathon, legal technology providers were showcasing their apps as well.

Clio, the leading cloud-based practice management platform, was launching its new iPad-only version of its service. While there had previously been a unified iOS version of Clio’s app, they felt it was best to separate out the two, citing the International Legal Technology Association’s 2014 Annual Technology Survey which found that 92% of law firms reported using tablet computers, with Apple’s iPad being used by 90% of lawyers in those firms. I spent some time with a demo of the app on the Expo floor and can confirm that it was full-featured, intuitive, and specifically tailored to the iPad. Using the app, it felt like a streamlined version of the iOS Evernote app — this was definitely a good thing.

Rocket Matter, another practice management provider, who has had an iPad-focused app for a bit longer, also had their app on display. Using both apps were very similar. Rocket Matter’s app layout is maybe a touch busier than Clio’s, but still very easy to use. It integrates with the Rocket Matter back end and provides quick access to all the functionality of Rocket Matter. Like most well designed apps, after exploring it for awhile, I think using the app would become my preferred means of interacting with the Rocket Matter service instead of on a non-mobile computer platform. It’s just much faster and natural feeling after a bit.

A final interesting stand out was Aussie app Legaler. Offering both an app and a web-based platform, Legaler essentially wants to be a law-focused Skype. It enables video chat communications between lawyers and clients, along with a secure collaboration space. As I already rely on Skype or Google Hangouts to communicate with some of my clients, I was interested in what they were offering. The service is in beta right now and won’t officially roll out until next month, but what was on display was pretty good. A nice interface and the video quality was serviceable. The trick will be convincing clients that they need yet some other type of software or service to sign up for.

All in all, from what was on display, expect to see an increasing number of legal apps trying to crowd their way onto your mobile devices.

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Keith Lee practices law at Hamer Law Group, LLC in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes about professional development, the law, the universe, and everything at Associate’s Mind. He is also the author of The Marble and The Sculptor: From Law School To Law Practice (affiliate link), published by the ABA. You can reach him at keith.lee@hamerlawgroup.com or on Twitter at @associatesmind.

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