Nicole Black, The Daily Record Newswire
As I discussed in a previous column, iPad apps for lawyers is a burgeoning arena and there are new apps released every day. For that reason, I figured it was high time to highlight both newer apps and some of the more popular standbys that have been around for a few years now.
Previously, I wrote about litigation and trial iPad apps for lawyers. In this column, I’ll focus on pre-trial iPad apps for lawyers, starting with the lowest priced apps first.
First, there’s the DocketLaw app. This is a free iPad calendaring tool that allows litigators to easily determine court deadlines. Using this app you can calculate based on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Events can be created based on a trigger, a review of actual rule text, and via calculation logic. Once you calculate the date you can then email the results, add events to your calendar, and assign a matter description.
Mobile Transcript is another app that is free at its most basic level, although you can upgrade to more advanced versions for $29 or $39 depending on the features that you desire. This app facilitates the review and annotation of deposition or court transcript files. With this app, you can highlight important text and then share either the highlighted text or the entire transcript via email.
The iPleading app is another interesting pre-trial app, which costs $4.99. This app is a mobile litigation template generator which makes it easy to create litigation documents on the fly. Using this app you enter your name, bar number, address, phone and fax.
After you’ve done this, you select an email address to which you would like to send the completed templates. You’ll then receive an email attached to which is a custom template that includes a fillable PDF template for the first page of the pleading, and a second, which is the remainder of the document formatted as a proper pleading. You then use this to draft the rest of the pleading.
Next, there’s the Deponent app, which costs $9.99. This app aids lawyers in preparing for depositions by providing an interface designed to facilitate the creation of question and exhibit outlines. The app provides over 150 categories of deposition questions and you can also customize this feature by creating categories of your own choosing. Another useful feature is that each question that you draft can be linked to an exhibit.
Finally, there’s TranscriptPad, which costs $49.99. TranscriptPad makes it easy for lawyers to review and organize transcripts, right on their iPads. Using the app you can create color-coded designations, search for specific phrases, flag important sections, generate reports, and share the reports or flagged portions of the transcript via email.
Just like the apps I covered last week, these apps are wonderful tools for the busy litigator on the go. Using these apps you can handle pre-trial matters from virtually anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection and your iPad. So if you have an iPad, make sure to take a look at these apps and see which ones will fit best into your practice and allow you to join the mobile computing revolution.
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Nicole Black is VP at MyCaseInc.com, a cloud-based law practice management platform. She is also of counsel to Fiandach & Fiandach in Rochester and is a GigaOM Pro analyst. She is the author of the ABA book Cloud Computing for Lawyers, co-authors the ABA book Social Media for Lawyers: the Next Frontier, and co-authors Criminal Law in New York, a West-Thomson treatise. She speaks regularly at conferences regarding the intersection of law and technology. She publishes three legal blogs and can be reached at niki@mycaseinc.com.
