Sukolsak Sakshuwong is a computer science student at Stanford University, and he has come up with some interesting apps, including a sophisticated Japanese-English dictionary called Midori. Sakshuwong contacted me to tell me that he recently developed an iPhone/iPad app that contains the text of the U.S. Code. Sakshuwong isn't a lawyer, but he enjoys working with large amounts of data, and he wanted to attack the challenge of creating lots of cross-reference links with a large data set, so the U.S. Code seemed like a natural project for him. The result is a $0.99 app called Codification. He sent me a code so that I could try out the app for free, and it works well.
A main advantage of an app like this is that it does not require an Internet connection to work, which can be useful if you are in court and have neither WiFi nor a stable cell connection. The app is also incredibly fast and responsive.
From the main screen of the app, you see a list of Titles. Tap a title to see the chapters. Tap a chapter to see a list of sections.
Tap a section to see the text of the U.S.C. provision.
[UPDATE: When I first wrote this post, I said that there is no way to jump to a specific section. There is a way, but it is just not obvious. If you tap the Search button and then type the Title, put a space, and then the Section (such as "28 1441") you can then jump right to that section. Click here for more information.]
If you think that you will want to view a statute again and you want to get back to it faster in the future, you can tap the bookmark icon to add a section to a list of bookmarks. Tapping the Bookmarks icon at the bottom right will show you your list of bookmarks. Tap the Edit button to delete bookmarks or organize them into folders.
You can also use the search function to search for U.S.C. provisions that contain a word. Tap two words separated by a space to search for sections that contain both words.
One nice aspect of the app is that it is full of hyperlinks. Thus, if you are looking at one provision and there is a citation to another provision, just tap to jump right to that second provision.
You can select text if you want to copy it, but there is no ability to highlight text in a section so that it will also be highlighted the next time that you use the app.
If you tap the Share button at the top of the screen (the box with the arrow pointing up), you see some options that you would expect to find there, including Email (to send someone the entire text of the selected statute) and Print. You'll also see some commands that seem out of place in that location. Next and Previous will bring you to the next or previous section of the U.S. Code. Find will let you search for a word within the section that you are viewing.
This is a universal app, so it works on both the iPhone and the iPad. One noticeable difference in the iPad version is that there is a font selection button on every screen that you can tap to increase or decrease the font size. On the iPhone, you need to go to the main screen and tap the information button at the top right of the screen to change font size.
Codification doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles. I recall that California lawyer Cliff Maier was selling apps similar to Codification that had far more features over five years ago — although those apps are no longer available. Nevertheless, I like this app. It is an easy to use, fast and effective app for accessing the text of the U.S. Code on your iPhone and iPad. If your law practice ever involves federal statutes, this app is easily work the $1 price to have easy access to the U.S. Code.
Click here to get Codification ($0.99): 
