Although there are many ways to use Safari on your iPhone or iPad to search for statutory law, using free sources provided by many states or using legal research services such as Westlaw, Lexis, or Fastcase, it is often nice to have the relevant law downloaded to your device. That way you can browse and search through the text of the law even if you don't have Internet access, plus you don't have to waste time searching online for what you want. An app like this is so obviously useful for lawyers that one of the very first reviews I posted on iPhone J.D. back in 2008 was of an app called Constitution by Clint Bagwell, which is still available and can be used to read the U.S. Constitution on your iPhone. I've reviewed many similar apps over the years such as LawStack, an app I reviewed back in 2010. Nine years later, the app is still being developed and improved, and it remains a great option for keeping the most relevant law on your device.
The app
The interface of this app has improved quite a bit since 2010. It now has a clean design, and all of the features are pretty obvious — except perhaps for the switcher tab which I discuss below.
At the Home level of the app, you see a list of all of the sources of law that you have downloaded to the app. Some are free, others require a subscription, as discussed below.
Tap a source of law to see the top-level outline of the laws, and tap on any entry to move further into the outline.
The left and right arrows are useful as you are browsing. For example, in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, when you are at the view that lists the rules, you can tap those arrow to go to the next or previous title without having to first go back to the prior screen.
Tap on a statute or rule to see the text of the rule.
You can scroll through the rule. You can select text to copy it or share it. You can use the arrows to browse back and forth. You can even highlight the text in yellow.
Using the settings feature in the app on the iPhone, you can change the size of the text in rules and statutes. On the iPad, you can either use settings, or there is enough space at the bottom to also show a font size icon that you can tap.
Tap the share button at the bottom middle to see many options such as adding a bookmark to a particular rule or statute, removing all highlights in the rule or statute, or emailing a copy of the rule or statute.
Search
If you are looking at a specific rule or statute, you can tap the search icon at the top right to search just that particular rule or statute. Otherwise, tapping the search icon will let you search the entire body of law you are working in, such as the entire Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. You can search the full text or just titles, and as you type, the app will helpfully suggest keywords and show you the number of matches — a great way to see if there is a different version of the word that might also be relevant. For example, in this example, I entered the search word "appeal" but the app also suggests that I consider searching for similar words like appealable.
Bookmarks Etc.
If you tap the bookmark icon at the bottom of the screen you can see a list of rules or statutes that you bookmarked within a specific body of law. Or you can look at a list of everything that you highlighted in that body of law or the items within that body of law that you viewed most recently.
Switcher Tab
Most of the time that you use this app, you stay within one body of law at a time. However, the app gives you a way to switch between law from two different bodies of law: the switcher tab. When you are viewing one rule or statute, you can tap the switcher icon at the bottom right and then tap the plus sign. The app then brings you directly to the Home screen so that you can select a different source of law. When you find the rule or statute in that source, you can follow the same steps to add it to the Switcher Tab. Once you have added items, you can go to the Switcher Tab view to see all of the laws that you have placed there. Just tap the one that you want. This feature makes it incredibly fast to switch between two laws such as a federal rule and a state court rule, or a federal statute and a provision of the U.S. Constitution.
Cost
Some sources of law in the app are free, such as the U.S. Constitution and the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. But most sources must be purchased, and the app offers an annual subscription. The price varies depending upon the law. For example, if you practice in Louisiana like I do, you can purchase the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure for $11.99 or the Louisiana Revised Statutes for $29.99. For the U.S. Code and the Code of Federal Regulations, you need to purchase each title separately, and many of them appear to cost $29.99 although I also see that some titles are free. It looks like you can download most or all titles for free for the first seven days.
With the subscription model, you need to pay every year, but as a result, the developer has a financial incentive to take the time to update the content as laws change. If you have a team of 10 or more users, you can also get a discount by purchasing a team license. Check out the LawStack website for more information.
The developer of LawStack also offers stand-alone apps containing many of the bodies of law available from within LawStack, but by using the main LawStack app you can keep multiple sources of law in a single app, plus the LawStack app has an updated interface, so the app that I'm reviewing here is the version that I recommend.
Conclusion
LawStack isn't the only app that gives you the ability to download law to your iOS device. For example, as I mentioned last month, Casemaker told me at ABA TECHSHOW this year that its Rulebook app is about to be updated. But LawStack is fast and easy to use and the company has a very long track record of updating the app. Fortunately, it is easy to determine if LawStack is right for you because the app itself is free, there are many useful free titles such as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and you can download free previews of other titles. If you like the idea of having the law at your fingertips on your iPhone or iPad, you should check out LawStack.