Review (by Ted Brooks): Evidence and TrialPad -- present and annotate documents using an iPad

Every week I hear more stories about attorneys successfully using an iPad at trial or in mediation or some other conference.  It is nice to store all of your documents on a computer, but it can be even nicer to have those documents on an iPad, which you can hold while walking around more naturally and which doesn't take as much space as a laptop computer. 

I was recently contacted by the developers of two iPad apps that can be used to display and annotate documents and then display them during a trial, mediation, or just a conference.  To display anything from an iPad on an external monitor, you need to buy the Apple iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter which costs around $35.  Of course, if you make such a connection, your iPad must remain in one spot and you lose the advantage of walking around with your iPad, although you gain the ability to display documents from a device that is smaller and easier to carry around than a laptop with a screen that is a natural for using  your fingers or a stylus to circle, underline, etc.  The two apps are Evidence from Rosen Litigation Technology Consulting and TrialPad from Lit Software.

Although these apps are designed to perform a similar function, there is a vast difference in price.  The Evidence app is $9.99, whereas the TrialPad app is $89.99.

I was provided free review copies of both apps, but I have not yet been in trial or any other meeting where I have had an opportunity to try out these two apps, even though they look very interesting.  But I see that legal technology consultant Ted Brooks has written an extensive review comparing both apps.  Brooks used to work at the very large Brobeck law firm based on San Francisco, and then after that firm famously imploded eight years ago, he started Litigation-Tech, a company specializing in trial presentation and legal technology. Brooks has extensive experience displaying documents at trial, so he seems to be a good person to provide an educated opinion on both apps.

I don't see any reviews of Evidence yet on the App Store, but the few reviews for TrialPad are very favorable.

If you like to stay on the cutting edge, and if you don't mind (or for that matter, seek out) the extra attention that you will get using an iPad to display and annotate documents, you should give these apps a look.  Make sure that you read Brooks' review first to get a sense of what these apps can do.  I will try to post my own review after I have had an opportunity to kick the tires on these apps.

Click here for TrialPad for iPad ($89.99): 

Click here for Evidence for iPad ($9.99): 

Comments

[Charles Jannace]

Mr. Brooks review was very thorough but emphasized the iPad's limitations of which we are all aware. Also, someone posted a review on the AppStore for Evidence which is helpful. I think TrialPad should have a free version limited to 5 uses or something like that just to see if it is something that can be used in a practice.

[Ian O'Flaherty]

Dear Mr. Jannace,

We haven't been able to find a good solution to getting the app in the hands of people to try it before they buy it. We have tried to accomplish this by creating videos showing the app at work on our website(http://www.trialpad.com/howitworks.php). It you or any other readers plan on attending LegalTech in New York at the end of the month, please contact me directly and I'll give you a demonstration at our Booth# 2508.

Kind regards,

Ian

ian@litsoftware.com
Lit Software, LLC
Developers of TrialPad for iPad
www.trialpad.com

[Alex Rosen]

Mr. Jannace,

We have reason to believe the Evidence reviews you mentioned on iTunes are intentionally deceptive. We'll be happy to send you a version to evaluate and review on your own. Please email me at evidence@rosenltc.com

Thanks!
Alex Rosen

[Tim]

With regard to the mobility issue, I am hoping that one may be able to use the Apple TV Airplay at some point. I am not sure how difficult it is for the software developers to offer this feature.

[Jeff responds: I agree, and this was the very feature that first made me excited about AirPlay. It would be nice to carry an Apple TV -- easy to do because it is so small -- and just hook it up to a monitor, then you could walk around with an iPad or even an iPhone and publish to the screen whenever you wanted to do so. My hope is that we see this later this year.]

[Ian O'Flaherty]

Tim and Jeff,

What you're looking for may appear sooner than the end of the year! The recently released iOS 4.3 SDK allows us developers to make use of that very feature for the first time...

Kind regards,

Ian

ian@litsoftware.com
Lit Software, LLC
Developers of TrialPad for iPad
www.trialpad.com