Nicole Black
BridgeTower Media Newswires
The majority of lawyers are now using cloud and mobile computing tools as part of day-to-day practices and reaping the benefits offered by mobile law practices.
For proof you need look no further than the latest ABA Legal Technology Survey Report. According to the survey, 58% of lawyers report they use cloud computing tools for work-related tasks, compared to 38% in 2016. Small firm lawyers from firms with 2-9 lawyers were the most likely to use cloud computing software at 61%. Next up were lawyers from firms of 10-49 attorneys at 60%, followed by 59% of solo lawyers, and 51% of large firm lawyers (100 or more attorneys).
Notably, 8% of the lawyers surveyed indicated their firms had plans to replace traditional server-based software with a cloud-based alternative within the next 12 months. Lawyers from firms with 2-9 lawyers were the most likely to plan to make that move (12%), followed by lawyers from firms with 10-49 lawyers at 8%. Next up were 6% of lawyers from firms with 100 or more attorneys, and solo lawyers came in last at 5%.
According to the report, lawyers use cloud computing software for many different reasons. The top reason they provided was easy browser access at 65%, followed by 24/7 access to their law firm’s data at 61%.
The low cost of entry and predictable monthly expenses were important benefits for 48% of lawyers, and 45% of lawyers indicated that robust data backup and recovery was a top benefit. For 35% a strong selling point was that cloud-based software is quick to get up and running, followed by the fact cloud computing software eliminates IT and software management requirements at 31%. And last but not least, 30% shared that they used cloud computing software because it offers better security than they can provide in-house.
The results also showed the majority of lawyers (55%) telecommute on a regular basis. Of the 55% of lawyers who reported they telecommuted in the past year, lawyers from firms with 100 or more attorneys were the most likely to do so (60%), followed by 56% of solo attorneys, 53% of lawyers from firms with 2-9 attorneys, and 49% of lawyers from firms with 10-49 attorneys
One way lawyers access their information stored in the cloud is through smartphones, so it’s no surprise smartphone use by lawyers continues to increase. A whopping 79% of lawyers reported they used an iPhone for work-related tasks, while 18% use an Android smartphone. Up next is Blackberry at 7%, and only 1.5% of lawyers reported that they never use a smartphone for work-related purposes.
One place lawyers often use smartphones is in court; 54% shared they used them for checking email. Next up was calendaring at 40%, real-time communications at 32%, and legal research at 22%.
According to the survey, 29% of lawyers also use tablets in the courtroom. Some activities lawyers conducted on tablets included email (25%), legal research (19%), calendaring (14%), real-time communications (13%), and accessing court dockets and documents (10%).
Lawyers regularly use laptops in the courtroom, with 44% of respondents indicating they regularly did so; the most popular tasks being email (34%), legal research (33%), accessing court dockets and documents (26%), and editing documents (24%).
If you’re not already using cloud computing software at your firm, maybe it’s time to consider an upgrade. There’s no better time than the present!
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Nicole Black can be reached at niki@mycase.com.
