Month: May 2011

Early this year, I posted a review of the MOBiLE CLOTH, a microfiber cleaning cloth made by Hartigan Industries that does an amazing job of cleaning an iPod or iPhone screen, not to mention other surfaces such as a computer screen or eyeglasses.  The MOBiLE CLOTH is thicker than other cloths and has a special weave that allows it to quickly clean surfaces even without any cleaning fluid.  It is by far the best cleaning cloth that I have ever used.  My only reservation about the original MOBiLE CLOTH was the size.  9 x 9 inches is a fine size to use at your desk, but if you are traveling and just want something small to stick into a pocket, because the MOBiLE CLOTH is somewhat thick it is rather large when you fold it up.  The solution is a brand new 4 x 4 inch version of MOBiLE CLOTH called the MC Nano.  It goes on sale next week and the manufacturer sent me a free MC Nano to review. 

I’ve been using the MC Nano for a few weeks and I really like it because of its portability.  It is easy to fit into any small pocket in a briefcase, purse or even just the pocket on your pants.  As you can see from the below picture, it is about the same size as the length of an iPhone.  It is made of the same material as the large MOBiLE CLOTH so it does just as good a job. 

For the iPhone screen, the small size works great.  For the larger iPad screen, when I use the MC Nano I miss the larger size of the original product because it takes a little longer to clean the whole iPad screen with the small MC Nano.  Nevertheless, the trade-off is worth it to have something that fits into any small pocket.  When I am at my desk and have both to use, I always prefer using the full size MOBiLE CLOTH, but the MC Nano is great for traveling.

My only complaint is that it would be better if the MC Nano came in a nice carrying case of some sort.  It comes in a Ziploc-style bag, which you can certainly reuse but it is not very durable.  Most microfiber cloths that I see come in a thick plastic pouch.  You certainly can just toss an MC Nano into a pocket without anything around it, but it seems that there should be some protection for something that you will use to clean your screen.  About 10 years ago, I put a regular microfiber (without a case) in a pants pocket that apparently had some sand in it.  I used the cloth to clean my glasses without knowing about the sand and I quickly scratched the surface of my glasses, requiring an immediate trip to the store to purchase new lenses.  I suppose the same thing could happen to the MC Nano, and because the MC Nano is made to be portable it is more likely to be accidentally exposed to something like sand.

Having said that, it is easy to find something small in which the MC Nano will fit (such as the case that typically comes with a normal microfiber cloth).  I’m using one such case for this MC Nano, and with a case I really love the MC Nano. 

The cost is the same for either the full size MOBiLE CLOTH or the MC Nano:  $2.99 for one, $5.99 for two, $9.99 for five and $13.99 for seven.  If you want to use a premium product to keep your iPhone or iPad screen clean, than you’ll want to do what I do and have a few on hand to have one at the office, one at home, an MC Nano in a briefcase, etc.

You can purchase the original MOBiLE CLOTH directly from the manufacturer at the MOBiLE CLOTH website.  The MC Nano starts shipping next week and can be pre-ordered now on that website.

I mentioned earlier this week that I’m speaking today at a legal technology seminar in Shreveport, Louisiana.  Unfortunately, some logistical issues have made it impossible for me to be there in person, but the fine folks at the Shreveport Bar Association have responded in flying colors.  They have my PowerPoint slides and are going to show them on one screen, and we are using Skype to display my talking head on another screen.  If all goes well I should even be able to see the audience to make it easier to answer questions.  I am no stranger to video chats; I’ve used iChat on my Mac for years, I’ve been interviewed in the past via video conference, I’ve used Skype to be a guest on This Week in Law, and I frequently use FaceTime on my iPhone and iPad 2 to say goodnight to my kids when I am traveling on business.  However, this is the first time I’ve ever tried to teach a CLE without actually being there.  My fingers are crossed that Skype holds up.  Feel free to make an offering to the Skype Gods on my behalf today around lunchtime.  And now on to the news of note from the past week:

• Last month, Alabama attorney Clark Stewart wrote an article for SmallLaw, a weekly newsletter that is part of the TechnoLawyer family, about how he used his iPad 2 “in the field” to investigate a Wrongful Death Case.  The article is a good read and is now available on the TechnoLawyer Blog.
• Earlier this week I mentioned the Lodsys v. Apple issue.  Attorney David Sparks of MacSparky offers his own thoughts on this issue.
• Sparks also pointed me to a post by Gabe, aka Macdrifter, in which he reviews many different note taking apps for the iPad.
• Earlier this week I discussed the increase in iPad traffic to iPhone J.D. over the last year.  Ted Brooks shares some similar statistics for his trial technology blog.
• Alan of Art of the iPhone recommends 15 apps for any new iPhone user.  It’s a good list.
• Alan Cohen wrote a good article for Law Technology News comparing the iPad 2 and the Motorola Xoom.  Spoiler alert:  the iPad is better.  One issue that Cohen doesn’t discuss is the screen dimensions.  The iPad’s 4:3 screen works well in either portrait or landscape mode.  The Xoom’s widescreen seems very awkward in portrait mode; it’s just too skinny.  Last week, I played around with a Xoom that one of my law partners owns, and I also found it to feel really heavy.  Officially it weighs 1.6 pounds while the iPad 2 weighs 1.33 pounds.  That doesn’t seem like a big difference, but to me it was really noticeable.
• For you news junkies, Sue Megrund of App Advice discusses the new NBC Nightly News app.
• Attorney Bill Latham shares his thoughts on ethical issues arising out of attorneys using Dropbox.  I wasn’t familiar with Latham or his blog before I saw this article, but I see that his first computer was the Timex Sinclar 1000.  He says that he bought it “around 1979” but that computer actually didn’t launch until 1982.  My first computer was the Sinclar ZX81, the British precursor to the TS1000 which came out in 1981 and could be purchased in the U.S. via mail order before Timex began making the TS1000.  I really loved that computer and learned so much with it.  If any of you also used a ZX81 or a TS1000, perhaps you have similar memories.  I love this quote from Latham’s website:  “As I think back on the Timex Sinclair [which came with 2K of memory], I am amazed that today you can find $5.00 singing birthday cards with more than 4K of memory. Surely the 32 GB memory capacity of my contemporary iPad will be eclipsed in short order making it the latest in a long line of technological recyclable products. But until then, I will delight in the effort to make it a usable legal tool.”
• Another post by Latham that you might want to read is his discussion last month of “Basic iPad Security for Lawyers.”
• Marie Grady of the Connecticut Law Tribune reports on proposed new ABA rules that relate to the use of cloud storage services like Dropbox.
• Two of the higlights every year of ABA TECHSHOW are the 60 Tips in 60 Minutes and 60 Sites in 60 Minutes session.  You can now view the slides from those sessions on the ABA Journal website.  There are lots of good tips, including iPhone/iPad tips, in the presentations.
• Joe Kissell of Macworld discusses using and editing spreadsheets on an iPad.
• David Pogue of the New York Times provides tips for extending the battery life of an iPhone.
• David Schnurman, the president of Lawline.com (a provider of online CLEs) asked me to mention that his company recently launched a mobile site for the iPhone and iPad making it possible to watch a CLE on your iOS device.  He tells me that the courses are free to watch; you just pay if you want to get CLE credit.  Attorney Robert Ambrogi wrote about using Lawline on an iPhone earlier this year.
• Last week I noted that attorney Justin Kahn described some iPad keyboard shortcuts on his iPad Notebook blog.  A few days ago, Kahn wrote a follow up post with additional iPad keyboard shortcuts.
• If you use Timeslips, a popular Windows product used by many law firms and other companies that bill by the hour, you may be interested in iSlips, an iOS client.  I mentioned the app a year ago thanks to some helpful comments from Gary McFarlen, a computer consultant in Texas.  McFarlen wrote me to follow up a year later, so I updated my post from last year.
• And finally, as much as I love the Apple Smart Cover for my iPad 2, I know that it just provides some basic protection for the screen.  You wouldn’t expect it to provide much protection if you drop your iPad on concrete.  Or would you?  Rather than testing this yourself, check out this video:

Fly Delta is the iPhone app created by Delta Air Lines to get you the basic information that you need during your flight.  This is a great app that has come in handy every time that I fly on Delta.

The first option on the main menu of the app is the most useful option, the option to get information about your trips including your current trip.  There is a direct link to get your boarding pass.  A few months ago, I described how you can use your iPhone as a boarding pass by having an airline send you an e-mail with a link to a webpage containing an electronic boarding pass.  It is every more handy to use the Fly Delta app because you don’t have to find that old e-mail containing your boarding pass.  Note that electronic boarding passes cannot be used at every airport yet.  For a list of the 60+ airports that currently support Delta mobile boarding passes, look on this page.  It includes all of the Delta hubs and lots of other airports.  It is nice to not have to worry about a paper boarding pass, especially when you are away from home and don’t have easy access to a printer.  You can just launch the app when you are standing in the TSA security line and access your boarding pass in a few seconds, and then do the same thing when it is time to board the plane.

The app also gives you information about your flight status such as the departure and arrival times (both scheduled and estimated), gates, the type of airplane, flight time, distance, etc.

The app can also help you rebook a cancelled flight (or see if it was automatically rebooked).  The app also includes a button to email your itinerary to someone and a button to create a calendar entry based on your itinerary.

When I am transferring planes in a Delta hub such as Atlanta, I find this app very useful.  As soon as the plane lands, during the taxi to the gate, I can look up both my arrival gate and the gate for my connecting flight (and see whether that flight is delayed).  If I want to eat or shop at the aiport, I then use the GateGuru app (my review is here) to see what restaurants and other businesses are at those two gates.  It is nice to know whether your better restaurant options are at your arrival gate or at the next departure gate before you even get off the plane.

You cannot use the app to book a flight, but you can see flight schedules.  You can also see the flight status of any flight, useful if you are picking someone else up at the airport.

Note that although you cannot use the Fly Delta app to book a flight, if you access delta.com on your iPhone you will be presented with an iPhone-formatted version of the website.  The website has many more options, such as the ability to book a flight, but it does not work as well on an iPhone as the Fly Delta app.  Thus, use the app when you can, but if you have to do something more complicated, access the Delta website in Safari.  These next two images are from the Delta website, not the Fly Delta app:

The Fly Delta app has a cute and useful feature called Parking.  Just tap the Parking button the main screen and you are given the option of taking a picture and writing a note to yourself with your GPS coordinates.  That picture and your notes can help you to remember where you parked your car when you return home late at night after a long trip.

One nice feature is that you can often use this app even while you ar ein the air.  If you are on a Delta flight with GoGo in-filght WiFi (my review is here), you can use the Fly Delta app and get updated flight information, even if you did not pay for the GoGo service.  (You can also access the Delta website for free.)

When I started thinking about writing this review, I realized that there were two missing features that I would like to see in this app.  Looking at the app description in the App Store, I see that Delta has already announced that both features are coming soon in the next release of this app.  First, Delta says that you will be able to use the app to see a seat map and pick your seat.  Second, you will be able to check your status on the upgrade or standby list.  This will be great additions to the app.  I suspect that Delta won’t do this, but it would be really nice if the app would let you see a seat map even after you have already selected your seat.  That way, as you are getting ready for your flight you could see how full the flight is and whether anyone has booked a ticket sitting next to you.  I look forward to seeing how Delta implements this feature.

This is a free and useful app, so if you ever fly Delta, you’ll want to get this one.

Click here to get Fly Delta (free): 

 

I will be speaking at the Shreveport Bar Association‘s Legal Technology Seminar this Friday, May 27.  You can get more information about the seminar on this page of the Shreveport Bar Association website.  My session is called Smartphones for Lawyers and will be from 12:30 to 1:30 — the prime, after-lunch time slot when everyone is fully awake.  Ahem.

The entire schedule is available in PDF format here.  Other speakers include Tom Mighell (who wrote the book iPad in One Hour for Lawyers) and Jim Calloway of the Oklahoma Bar Association who runs the Law Practice Tips blog.

If you are an attorney in Northern Louisiana, I hope that you can attend.

I am not an IP attorney so I rarely comment here on litigation (threatened or otherwise) involving patents, but this one is worth mentioning because it may be of interest to many of you even if, like me, you don’t have a deep knowledge of patent law.  The central company in this story is Lodsys, a patent holding company that currently owns U.S. Patent No. 7,222,078, a patent that concerns a system in which “information is received at a central location from different units of commodity” and the “interactions elicit from respective users their perceptions of the commodity.”  You can read the full patent here.

Almost two weeks ago, Lodsys sent letters to iPhone app developers who use the in-app purchase system asserting that the developers violated this patent.  Apple has a license on the patent, and Lodsys asserted that any developer using in-app purchases also needs to obtain a license.  Many developers were worried that they lacked the resources to litigate over this patent.

Yesterday, Apple sent a three page letter to Lodsys asserting that Lodsys had no basis to make its claims against the app developers.  One of Apple’s primary arguments is that app developers are using an Apple system, and Apple already has a license for the patent, so app developers don’t need their own license.  As the letter says in the first paragraph:  “Apple is undisputedly licensed to these patent[s] and the Apple App Makers are protected by that license.”  You can read Apple’s full letter here.

For more details about this story, I recommend that you read this analysis by Chicago attorney Nilay Patel (which was written before Apple responded) and this report by Lex Friedman of Macworld which was written after Apple sent the letter.

Josh Barrett who runs the great iPad for lawyers site Tablet Legal reminded me that a year ago, he and I posted statistics on how people were accessing our websites, inspired by a similar post by John Gruber on his Daring Fireball site.  Given the rise in popularity of the iPad over the last year, Josh thought it would be interesting to see what the numbers look like now.  Here are my updated stats, and Josh is running a similar post today. 

A year ago, 56% of people accessing iPhone J.D. used Windows, 26% used a Mac, 13% used an iPhone and under 3% used an iPad.  Here are my numbers from the past 30 days:

OS	Percentage
Windows	52.98
Macintosh	21.80
iPhone	14.98
iPad	7.82
Android	0.84
Linux	0.57
iPod	0.43
(not set)	0.35
BlackBerry	0.16
FreeBSD	0.03

If you find it easier to review a picture than a table, here is the same info in a pie chart.  Windows is blue, Mac is green, iPhone is Red, and iPad is the larger yellow slice:

So how do these numbers compare to last year?  The big change was the increase in use of the iPad and to a lesser degree, the iPhone.  Around 8% of iPhone J.D. readers who had been using a PC or a Mac to access this website are now instead using an iPad, or in some cases an iPhone.  Not a major shift, but still an interesting change that matches my experience in the real world, where I see more attorneys using an iPad.

Just looking at iPad and iPhone use as a percentage of devices used to access iPhone J.D., here are the monthly trends that I’ve seen over the last year:

There was a big spike in iPhone and iPad users in mid-2010, but that was an anomaly.  On June 30, 2010, I posted a tip about creating a folder on the iPhone with an Apple logo, John Gruber linked to my post that same day, about 40,000 of his readers came to iPhone J.D. to read that post, and apparently a high percentage of his audience was using an iPhone or iPad at the time.  If you ignore that spike, you see a slight increase in access to this website from iPhones since January of 2010 and a more substantial increase in access to this website from iPads over that time period.

The numbers that Josh Barrett is posting on Tablet Legal today are in some ways different from mine.  The biggest change he saw was a smaller percentage of folks using a Mac and a larger percentage of folks using a PC.  That makes sense because most attorneys use PCs, so as more attorneys are reading his site at their office, he is seeing more views from PC users.  But on the iPad and iPhone front, his results are similar to mine; a small increase in access from iPhones, and a larger increase in access from iPads.

How representative are iPhone J.D. and Tablet Legal readers of any larger population group?  Who knows.  But I do know that my core audience is attorneys who use the iPhone, and these statistics provide additional evidence that over the last 14 months, more and more attorneys using iPhones have started using iPads.

There have been lots of new visitors to iPhone J.D. lately, so I thought that this would be a good time to remind everyone that while I love it when you visit this website, there are also two easy ways to have iPhone J.D. come directly to you.  First, if you use an RSS reader such as Google Reader, you can easily subscribe to the iPhone J.D. RSS feed.  Second, you can have all new iPhone J.D. posts automatically show up in your e-mail inbox every morning by clicking here and providing your e-mail address.  Frankly, I prefer it when people come to the iPhone J.D. website because I have various ads along the side.  The ads don’t bring in much revenue, but it is enough to offset the hosting fees for this website, which is nice.  I don’t put ads in the RSS feed or the e-mails because I don’t want to be annoying, but if you would prefer to subscribe that way, I’d love to have you do so — especially if it prompts you to send me e-mails from time to time with topics that I should address here.  I love getting great tips from iPhone J.D. readers!  And now, my tip to you is that you should check out some of these iPhone and iPad stories of note from the past week:

• Analyst Horace Dediu notes that in the first quarter of 2011, the iPhone had 5% of the mobile phone market by volume, 20% of the market by revenue and 55% [gulp!] of the market by profit.
• New York attorney Niki Black of Legal iPad argues that we are about to reach the “tipping point” for iPads.  Given the large number of lawyers I now see using iPads, I agree with her.
• Niki Black also discusses the Rules of Professional Conduct applicable to the use of cloud computing services on her Sui Generis blog.
• Similarly, the Babbage Blog of The Economist has an interesting article on the security of storing confidential information in a cloud service such as Dropbox.
• Pastor John Chandler discusses formatting PDF files to the right size so that he can use his iPad for speaking notes.  (Via TabletLegal)
• Josh Barrett of TabletLegal also reviews Exhibit A, a trial presentation app for the iPad.  I’m just starting to try out this app myself; Barrett thinks that the user interface needs improvement.
• In his Time Magazine column, Harry McCracken reviews Peel, an innovative $100 device that turns your iPhone or iPad into a universal remote.
• Rob Dean of WALKINGOFFICE explains the three steps for moving your Facebooks contacts to your iPad’s Contacts app.
• If you own an iPad 2, I strongly encourage you to get an Apple Smart Cover.  Should you get a polyurethane or a leather one?  I really like, and recommend, the black leather version, but John Brownlee of Cult of Mac makes the case — if you’ll excuse the pun — for the polyurethane version.
• Tony Bradley of PCWorld discusses using Google Docs on the iPad.
• Justin Kahn describes some iPad keyboard shortcuts on his iPad Notebook blog.
• Killian Bell of Cult of Mac describes the Seagate GoFlex Satellite, an external hard drive that connects to the iPhone or iPad over WiFi so that you can carry around an additional 500GB of photos, movies, music or documents.
• Peter Coons, a computer forensics expert who regularly works with attorneys on ediscovery issues, explains some of the information that a forensic investigator can recover from an iPhone.
• If you like to try different wines, you should read this article by Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times about apps that you can use to keep track of wines.
• And finally, here is a cute iPhone-inspired doormat being sold by the German company getDigital.de for only 19,90 €, about $28.50 at the current exchange rate:

Don’t get hot and bothered by the title; this is not a post about pornography on the iPad, although I do know that Playboy is today unveiling a website formatted for the iPad (i,playboy.com) that gives you access to every page of every edition of the magazine ever published for $8 a month (or less if you start a yearly subscription).  Instead, this post is about using the iPad in business meetings.

Like all of you, I have attended countless meetings, conferences, seminars etc. over the years, and seeing laptops at these meetings has been a very familiar sight.  However, since Spring of 2010, and especially in the last few months, I have seen an increasing number of attorneys using iPads at these meetings, leaving the laptop at the office.  An obvious advantage is that the iPad is so much smaller and lighter than a laptop, making it perfect for travel.  Also, the iPad gets much better battery life than a laptop; you can probably attend an all-day meeting without needing to even plug in your iPad to a power outlet.  But in many ways the biggest advantages of using an iPad at a meeting are privacy and intimacy.

Privacy.  One problem with using a laptop in a meeting or other larger gathering is that if there is anyone sitting behind you, they can easily see your screen.  This gives rise to serious confidentiality concerns if you are exposing privileged attorney-client communications to others, but even if you are just typing notes during the meeting, there is something unsettling about others seeing your work.  When you are writing notes on a legal pad, you can tell if someone is close enough to stare at your notes.  With a laptop, you never know when it is happening, which leads me to assume that it is always happening.  I realize that you can use a privacy filter on your screen to reduce this risk, but I don’t like how they make the screen darker, and I see very few people use those at meetings. 

With an iPad, on the other hand, you are likely to have it flat on a table or perhaps propped up at a very slight angle using an iPad case or (for the iPad 2) the Apple Smart Cover.  In this arrangement, it is possible for someone to see what is on your screen if they are at the correct angle, but it is much harder to do.  You can take notes on your iPad using the on-screen keyboard, an external Bluetooth keyboard, or using a stylus and an app that lets you draw on the screen without having to worry so much about privacy.

Intimacy.  Another advantage of using the iPad either flat on a desk or propped up at a slight angle is that it is not a barrier between you and whoever is in front of you.  Even if there is nobody behind you and thus no privacy concern, you will obviously be talking or listening to someone in a meeting.  With a laptop in front of you, there is a barrier between you and the other person.  It is not a big barrier, but much like the old Battleship game that you played as a child, it is enough to give the impression that you have something that you are not showing the other person.

When you use an iPad, you have a more intimate connection to others in the room because that barrier is gone.  Others are unlikely to be able to see what is on your iPad screen unless they are close and at the correct angle, but even if they are not seeing what is on your screen, the absence of a barrier provides you with more of a connection with the others in the room.

I’ve mentioned some of these advantages in the past in the context of using an iPad in court, but if your law practice is like mine, you find yourself in meetings with others far more often than you find yourself in court.  Using an iPad gives you most of the advantages of having access to a laptop without the compromise of privacy and the barrier to intimacy.

NotifyMe is an app that I reviewed back in 2009, and almost two years later I still use it all the time.  Whenever I need to remember to do something at some point in the future, such as remember to call someone, pick up dry cleaning, etc., I just launch the app, type a quick reminder and enter the time and date.  At that time, the app plays a sound and pops up on the screen and tell me what to do. I mention the app today because the main version of the app normally costs $2.99, but it just went on sale for $0.99.  The app also has a nicer interface than when I posted a full review back in 2009 and the current 2.0 version has additional, sophisticated features.

The version that is now on sale for a buck syncs with a cloud service, so you can go online to manage your reminders if you want.  And there is also a $7.99 iPad app that gives you some of the same control.  But I also see that there is a free version that doesn’t sync with the cloud and doesn’t allow you to set up sophisticated repeating reminders, but it does make it easy to provide simple reminders.  Frankly, that free version seems to include everything that I do in the paid version, so if $0.99 is too rich for your blood, I encourage you to download the free version and see what you think.  Hopefully the app will help you as much as it helps me.

[UPDATE 5/21/2011:  Note that while the developer calls the app “NotifyMe” and that’s how I have always referred to it as well, make sure that you don’t confuse this app with another app on the App Store called “Notify Me.”  The full name on the App Store of the app that I use is called “NotifyMe 2: ToDo in cloud.”  Make sure that you get the correct one, and if you click any of the below links, you will.]

Click here for NotifyMe (on sale for $0.99): 

Click here for NotifyMe Simple (free): 

Click here for NotifyMe Control Center for iPad ($7.99): 

A big part of my law practice is collaborating with other attorneys, whether they be co-counsel for the same client or counsel for co-defendants.  Accordingly, one feature that I use heavily in Microsoft Word on my computer is the track changes feature to suggest improvements to documents.  As you know, edits show up in redline in Word on your computer and look something like this:

The iPhone generally does a good job of reading Word files.  If one is attached to an e-mail, you can just tap the attachment to read it.  But be warned that if the document has the track changes feature enabled to show edits, you don’t see the edits on the iPhone.  You instead just see what the text would look like with the redline edits accepted.  Thus, if I e-mail a Word document containing the text in the above example to my iPhone and tap the attachment, here is what I see:

 

Note that if I hold down on the attachment and view it in another app, I might be able to see the redline edits.  For example, if I open the Word file in Documents to Go, I correctly see the redline edits:

  

Documents to Go cannot create redline edits on the iPhone or iPad — indeed, there is currently no app that does so, and I hope that this changes soon — but it is nice to be able to see the redline edits when someone asks you to review them.

If you try to view the file in Office², you see all of the text (both the deleted text and the new text) without any indication of what is old and what is new.  Rather confusing:

  

I wasn’t able to try this redline file with the Quickoffice app.  A few days ago, that app was upgraded to version 4.0.0, and unfortunately on my iPhone it now crashes every time I try to start the app.  I’ve been in communication with Quickoffice about this bug and they are investigating it.  If you use Quickoffice and you have not yet upgraded, consider waiting to upgrade until this bug is fixed.

[UPDATE 5/24/11:  A new version of Quickoffice is now out.  Unfortunately, I confirmed that Quickoffice Pro handles track changes the same way as Office², i.e., not well at all.]

Accordingly, there are two things that you should be aware of.  First, if you want to view redline edits, purchase and use Documents to Go on your iPhone or iPad.

Second — and this is the really important one — be aware that when you are viewing a Word file using the iPhone or iPad’s built-in viewer, you are not seeing redline edits even if they are there.  Thus, if you forward that file to opposing counsel, you may not realize that you are showing the opposing counsel not just the modified version of the document but also the original version of the document with the modifications noted in redline.  Depending upon the edits, this could be disastrous for you and your client.

Under the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, there is nothing unethical about your opposing counsel reviewing those redline edits that you sent him, although if he knows or reasonably should know that the transmission of this metadata was inadvertent he does have a duty to notify you.  And apparently in some states, such as Maryland, there is not even a duty to disclose.  Take a look at this helpful page from the ABA for a comparison of the ethical duties of attorneys in various jurisdictions.

There are companies such as 3BView that offer a service to remove metadata from files on your iPhone.  That can be useful if you know that the metadata is there, but my main concern is for lawyers who view and forward Word files on their iPhone or iPad without realizing that the track changes features was in use. Of all of the metadata that exists in a Word file such as author and date of creation, it is redline edits that have the biggest potential to cause headaches when you share them without knowing it.

So my advice to you is to be aware of this possibility, and take a look at a file with Documents to Go if you want to check for the existence of tracked changes in redline.

Click here for Documents to Go ($9.99): 

Click here for Documents to Go Premium ($16.99):