Technology

Do Attorneys Really Need Tablets?

As phones and laptops get better, does getting a tablet still make sense?

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iPad tablet from AppleIt’s been almost seven years since the iPad came out. Since then, it has done a lot to change the way we consume and organize information. If you do a Google search right now for “iPad sales,” you’ll see that the magic is maybe wearing off a bit, at least according to sites like Business Insider and Time, as well as several others.

Tablets are great for a lot of things. They are very portable and it’s very easy to read documents, email and the internet on them. As full desktop replacements, or even laptop replacements, they don’t compare. So, should you get a tablet in 2017 for your practice to take out with you when you are away from your desk?

Bigger, Better Phones

Phone screens are getting bigger, and processing power in phones is getting more powerful, bringing phones closer to what an iPad would do. If you are using your tablet to surf the internet, check email, and read attachments, phones like the iPhone 7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge both have a 5.5” screen, which is only a few inches shorter than the 7.9” iPad mini. While it’s still a little small to read lengthy documents (especially if you want to annotate them), they will do fine to quickly triage a document to see if it’s important. You’re not going to want to read a motion for summary judgment on it, but an email attachment or two is fine. But the problem is that when you step away from your desk, you are probably going to already have your phone with you, and that will let you check the quick email attachment that you were expecting if an email comes in when you are at lunch. So, since you already are going to have your phone with you, do you need a phone and an iPad that runs the same programs, but just has a slightly bigger screen?

Smaller, Better Laptops

In 2010, laptops, when shut, were several inches thick. Back in those days, it made sense to have an ultra-portable, lightweight device to read information, and that had an excellent battery life. Today, that describes most laptops. Check out this ad for one of the top laptops from the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show. It was about $900, weighed 5 pounds, and had a battery life of a few hours. Compare that to a modern laptop – the Lenovo Yoga 700 series, which starts at $600, weighs 2.5 pounds, is only a half-inch thick, and has an 8-hour battery life. So the need to have a light, powerful device is still there, it’s just being filled by laptops. An iPad will never be as powerful (for the price point) as a laptop, and a laptop will always be able to do more because it will run full versions of programs.

Files Are Getting Bigger, Programs Are Getting Bigger

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Sorting the programs on my computer by file size, Office 365 ProPlus and Adobe Acrobat DC are at the top of the list at 1.4 gb each. That’s just storage space, not the resources needed to open a 3,000 page PDF of the 2017 civil jury instructions, or review an Excel spreadsheet with hundreds or thousands of rows. Those are also the two programs I use the most for doing lawyer things throughout the day. Everyday office programs are demanding more and more resources, and tablets just cannot keep up. I know tablets have mobile versions of programs, but using a neutered version of a program is not an adequate response to the fact that the fully functioning versions of programs are demanding more power.

Verdict

Unless you travel on planes a lot or are constantly out of the office for extended periods of time where you have to read a bunch of legal documents, it really doesn’t make sense anymore to invest in a tablet. I am in the middle of trial right now, using my Surface Pro 4, running a full version of TrialDirector, and Adobe Acrobat DC to review documents, and Microsoft OneNote with my stylus to take notes. It’s a higher-end solution, but it’s also my main work computer, so I’m not buying a work computer and a tablet. Instead of buying a $600 computer and a $600 tablet, I bought a $1,200 laptop/tablet. I’d be hard pressed to find a good reason for lawyers in 2017 to need a tablet running a mobile operating system.

Jeff Bennion is a solo practitioner at the Law Office of Jeff Bennion. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of San Diego’s plaintiffs’ trial lawyers association, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego. He is also the Education Chair and Executive Committee member of the State Bar of California’s Law Practice Management and Technology section. He is a member of the Advisory Council and instructor at UCSD’s Litigation Technology Management program. His opinions are his own. Follow him on Twitter here or on Facebook here, or contact him by email at [email protected].

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