Thank you to Westlaw for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month. Westlaw is incredibly useful on a computer, but it also works really well on an iPhone or iPad with the fantastic Westlaw app. With the Westlaw app, you can extend the power and collaboration capabilities of Westlaw so that research begun in one place can be continued on your mobile device and vice versa. The Westlaw app has long been useful on the iPad, and as I discussed last year, the update to support the iPhone made the app even more useful.
There have been countless times when I was in court and I suddenly needed to pull up a case or statute. With the Westlaw app on my iPhone or iPad, I was able to do so quickly and easily. And using KeyCite, I could quickly see if there were cases distinguishing the jurisprudence cited by opposing counsel..
Even when I have been in my office with my computer on my desk, and thus I don’t technically need to use Westlaw on a mobile device, I often find that it is nice to be able to access Westlaw on my iPad so that my computer screen can be devoted to a brief that I am writing. I can lean back in my chair and review cases on my iPad, and then pull back up to my desk when I’m ready to type again on my computer. The Westlaw app lets you run searches and filter the results, review prior research in folders, and add notes and highlighting.
If you haven’t yet checked out the Westlaw app for iOS, or if it has been a while since you did so, use it the next time that you perform legal research. It’s a great tool for any attorney with an iPhone or iPad.
Click here to get Westlaw (free): 
Hi Jeff,
I’m also an appellate attorney. I’ve got a decent setup at work and am considering ditching the ancient macbook pro for an ipadpro 12.9 for mobile work.
My question is: have you had any experience using the ipad westlaw app and copying a section of the case from the app into a word (or pages) doc? On a regular desktop set up, it’s a smooth process and allows me to create research notes easily. However, I’m not sure how easily it would work on an ipad pro. So, I’d thought I’d ask you to see if you’ve got any thoughts.
Thanks!
Rebecca, this feature works great in the Westlaw app. You can select text in a case, and then either use the pop-up menu to copy it, or you can use the new iOS 11 drag and drop features to drag the text into another app, such as Microsoft Word or email.
Selecting text on a computer can be faster than doing so on an iPad because you can use a mouse or trackpad on a computer. But this feature also works just fine on an iPad, so your currently workflow should translate to the iPad just fine.
Unfortunately, the Westlaw iPad app is not currently optimized for the 12.9″ iPad Pro. For example, you don’t get the larger keyboard that many other apps use. Hopefully this will be addressed soon in an app update. You can still use the app today, but it will be nicer when the app is updated.
-Jeff