I've previously mentioned the numerous legal reference apps (Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Patent Rules, etc.) sold by Cliff Maier, and even posted an interview with Cliff. Over the last few weeks, Cliff has updated most of his apps to add some great new features. If you already have one or more of his legal reference apps, here is what you should look for. And if you are a lawyer who hasn't purchased any of them yet, with these new features you should give them another look.
My favorite new feature is the "jump" button. The home screen on Cliff's apps lists the names of the titles, and you click on a title to see the rules. For example, here is the first screen in the FRCP app, and then when you click on Title V, you can see a list of the rules in that title:
This is great if you are browsing and don't know the number that you want, but what if you start up the app and just want to jump straight to Rule 26? Now you can. On the Home screen of the app, tap the "Jump" button in the top right, and then a dial will come up where you can enter each digit of the number that you want:
You can only jump from the Home screen, but you can quickly get to the Home screen by tapping the "Home" button at the top right of most screens. Note that the "Jump" feature is available in most of Cliff's apps, but Cliff tells me that a few won't have "Jump" for technical reasons.
My second favorite new feature is vastly improved search. By default, if you type in two words the app will search for that phrase, but you can instead choose to search for the first term AND the second term, or the first term OR the second term. The app starts to search even while you are typing, so you often only need to type the first part of a word to get the result you want. After you have typed your terms, you can click the blue "Search" button at the bottom right to go to a full-screen mode where each hit is listed (and color coded white or gray to make it easy to see each hit) with your search terms highlighted.
Another nice new feature is inter-linking between the apps. For example, if you are using the FRCP app and a rule has a reference to a statute that is in Title 28 of the U.S. Code, you will find a link at the bottom of the rule that you can tap to launch the Title 28 app (assuming you have it on your iPhone) and display that statute.
Inter-linking works especially well because of another new feature: when you leave an app and then return to it later, the app automatically takes you to the rule you were previously viewing. So you can look at a rule, link to a statute, then go back to the FRCP app and see the rule again. And even if you are not using inter-linking, it is nice to be able to use an app, then use some other apps on your iPhone, and then go back to the legal reference app and pick up right where you were.
There are also some user interface improvements to the apps, such as different font sizes based upon the indentation level, more use of bold and italics, arrows at the bottom of each screen that make it easy to browse forward or backward, plus a new color scheme (brown instead of the standard iPhone blue-gray). And there are a few content improvements as well, such as indications of history and effective dates for many rules and statutes.
Not every one of Cliff's apps has all of the new features I described in this post yet, but the new features are being rolled out in updates to almost all of Cliff's apps. Click here to see a page in iTunes listing all of Cliff's apps, or here is the full list of his legal reference apps as of today, along with the price and a link to download in iTunes:
Federal Laws (except for IP):
- Bailout (the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008) - $1.99 - link
- Constitution - $0.99 - link
- Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure - $2.99 - link
- Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure - $2.99 - link
- Federal Rules of Civil Procedure - $2.99 - link
- Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure - $2.99 - link
- Federal Rules of Evidence - $2.99 - link
- Securities (Securities Act of 1933, Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Investment Company Act of 1940, Investment Advisors Act of 1940, Sorbanes-Oxley) - $4.99 - link
- Title 11 (bankruptcy) - $3.99 - link
- Title 15 Sorbanes-Oxley - $1.99 - link
- Title 18 (criminal law and procedure) - $8.99 - link
- Title 21 (Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act) - $3.99 - link
- Title 28 (civil procedure) - $7.99 - link
Intellectual Property Laws:
- CFR Patents - $7.99 - link
- Patent Cooperation Treaty - $7.99 - link
- Patent Local Rules N.D. Cal. - $0.99 - link
- Patent Rules - $2.99 - link
- Title 15 Lanham Act (trademark) - $1.99 - link
- Title 17 (copyright) - $2.99 - link
- Title 35 (patents) - $2.99 - link
State Evidence Rules:
- California Evidence Code - $1.99 - link
- Maine Rules of Evidence - $1.99 - link
- Michigan Rules of Evidence - $2.99 - link
- Nevada Rules of Evidence - $2.99 - link
- Oregon Rules of Evidence - $2.99 - link
- Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence - $1.99 - link
- Tennessee Rules of Evidence - $1.99 - link
- Washington Rules of Evidence - $2.99 - link
Other State Laws:
- Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure - $4.99 - link
- Delaware General Corporation Law - $1.99 - link
- Minnesota Uniform Commercial Code - $1.99 - link
I love having the rules and statutes that I frequently use at my fingertips, and with these new improvements, Cliff's apps are sophisticated and polished.
