Mobile apps have changed almost every aspect of our lives. From banking to ordering food, apps can do everything for you. We can connect to anyone in any location via video calling apps like Skype and FaceTime. These apps have made our work more accessible, especially during this pandemic.
Nowadays, a smart attorney would include his or her name in search engines. By doing so, people who are looking for some sort of legal services can find them easily on the internet. Today’s attorneys need to be tech-savvy to speed up and systemize their work.
So, let’s look at 10 of the best apps to help attorneys run their law firms and increase their productivity.
1. Evernote
Evernote is a free app on your smartphone and computer that can help you do almost everything that you need, like:
- Drafting and storing meeting notes
- Saving and storing articles and emails
- Saving and organizing your legal documents
- Storing business cards
- Saving emails
- Storing important office files
Phil Libin, the co-founder of Evernote, said, “Your brain offloaded to a server. It’s Google for the Web of your life. It’s a spotlight on the dark matter of your universe. It’s a tool for converting your smartphone from a time killer to a time saver.”
2. Lexicata
It is a salesforce, cloud-based CRM (client relationship management), and client intake for law firms and attorneys. The features of Lexicata can make you more efficient and organized by:
- Automating workflows like collecting leads, following up emails after a client inquiry, client intake, etc.
- Allowing clients to sign legal agreements with their mouse and keyboard. Lexicata uses high-grade security encryption to keep your documents secure and confidential.
- Connecting your calendar with the appointment schedule and helping your clients to pick a time slot for consultation.
- Developing your own email templates for any occasion within the application. It helps you integrate with your email system, allowing you to send emails from your law firm’s address.
- Displaying the status of each of your new clients in your client pipeline.
- Tracking marketing results by providing you with statistics about your clients’ origins.
3. Slack
Slack has become a popular communication app that can help you connect with your team members. Some benefits of Slack include:
- Communication via text, audio, or video call.
- Conversation with your entire team at once or privately.
- You can include colleagues in specific channels meant for certain subjects or case types. For example, you can create different channels for bankruptcy and divorce attorneys.
- Sharing of essential documents with each other in relevant channels.
4. SignMyPad
Gone are the days when you used to sign documents by pen and paper. But with SignMyPad, you can do the work with a click on your phone or computer.
All you have to do is upload the document and sign it on your device’s screen. You can also add text and check marks on the documents. If needed, you can geotag the location from where you are signing the document for security purposes.
5. GoodReader
This is one of the favorite tools of attorneys as it helps you:
- Read e-documents of almost all formats like PDF, TXT, DOC, PPT, XLS, etc.
- Zoom up to 50 times for checking minute details in pictures.
- Highlight, annotate, edit and sign PDF documents.
- Sync data from other platforms like Dropbox, Google docs, etc.
6. Feedly
Feedly gathers news feeds from various online sources so that you can personalize and share it with others. It can help you:
- Read ample content without visiting websites and blogs separately.
- Organize your preferences and sort your feed by topic areas with the help of its Artificial Intelligence research assistant, Leo.
- Better connect with clients by streamlining your content and social media to ensure you don’t miss a case or a trending subject.
- Organize your material into streams and simply distribute them across social media and several accounts. It can help to enhance your reputation as a knowledgeable law firm.
7. Dropbox
Dropbox is a cloud storage service that allows you to save and transfer data across many devices. If you opt for a free plan, it will offer you 2.5 GB of space. With a paid account, you can get up to 5 TB of storage space.
Dropbox can be useful for attorneys for many reasons, like:
- Optimum security features to keep your files secure. It has implemented Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, permissions-based access, two-step verification, a security page for your account where you can keep track of associated devices, current online sessions, and third-party apps that have access to your account.
- Sharing is very easy. You can share any file or folder just by right-clicking a file on your computer and share it with your clients or team members.
- It maintains a history of your files so that you can retrieve them in case of any malware attack or you delete a file accidentally. With a paid version, you can get up to 18 days of file recovery.
- You can transfer files to specific people without email attachments through a link.
8. FastCase
It is an app that enables online legal research for attorneys. You can find relevant information on federal and state laws. The membership fees of FastCase start at $65.00 per user per month. You can get a free trial of 24 hours.
9. iAnnotate
As the name suggests, iAnnotate helps you annotate documents. It offers pen, highlighter, typewriter, stamp, straight-line, note, underline, strikeout, photo, voice recording, date stamp, and many other features to make annotation easier.
It also helps you sync your documents from Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, and other iOS apps.
10. Dashlane
When you are using apps for your law firm, they contain sensitive and important information. So, you have to take the best measures to protect your data. And there lies the importance of installing the Dashlane app. It enhances the security of your digital accounts.
Dashlane is a password manager having security features like two-factor authentication, military-grade 256-bit AES encryption, zero-trust architecture, and more. You can create unique passwords for each app you use for your law firm and store them in Dashlane password manager. Using passwords that are easy to remember can make your accounts vulnerable to cyber attacks.
The bottom line is, apps have undoubtedly helped the attorneys to run law firms smoothly at the tips of their fingers. The apps that we have listed above can help your firm to increase productivity and efficiency.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lyle Solomon has considerable litigation experience as well as substantial hands-on knowledge and expertise in legal analysis and writing. Since 2003, he has been a member of the State Bar of California. In 1998, he graduated from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, and now serves as a principal attorney for the Oak View Law Group in California.