New survey results indicate that a record number of attorneys are using an iPhone in their law practice — almost 80% of all attorneys in the United States. These numbers come from the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center, which has conducted a survey every year since 1990 to gauge the use of legal technology by attorneys in private practice in the United States.
The 2019 report (edited by Gabriella Mihm) was just released, and as always, I am particularly interested in the statistics on mobile technology. In the past, there was a special volume (Volume VI) called Mobile Lawyers. The ABA discontinued that volume this year and instead included more limited survey results on mobile technology in other volumes, such as Volume 5, titled Life & Practice. This is the tenth year that I have reported on this survey, and with multiple years of data we can see some interesting trends. (My reports on the prior ABA surveys are located here: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010.)
Almost 80% of all U.S. attorneys use an iPhone
There were some notable changes in this year's survey. This was especially true for the answers to this question: What type of smartphone do you use for work-related tasks? This year, the percentage of attorneys not using a smartphone in their law practice is at an all-time low of 1.5%. It was around 5% for the past three years and around 10% in 2015 and earlier. Suffice it so say that virtually all attorneys in the United States now recognize the value of using a smartphone in a law practice.
Last year, the percentage of attorneys using Android smartphones was at an all time high of 25.4%. But this year that number is down to 18.4% Similarly, the percentage of attorneys using a Blackberry was cut in half (from 1.5% last year to 0.7% this year) and the percentage who answer either "other" or "don't know" is at 1% this year.
All of the other lawyers are using an iPhone, with a record high of 79.2% of lawyers reporting that they use an iPhone for work-related tasks. (The total ends up to a little more than 100% because less than 1% of attorneys use two types of smartphones.)
What is most interesting to me is the trend over time. Back in 2011, when the ABA first started to ask attorneys what type of smartphone they used, the Blackberry was still the leader. Indeed, if you have been practicing law for as long as I have, you remember a time when it seemed like almost every attorney had a Blackberry. But in 2012, the iPhone overtook the Blackberry, and the gap has widened substantially since then. Four years ago in 2015, the iPhone percentage crossed over the 60% mark. Two years ago in 2017, the iPhone percentage crossed over 70%. And as noted, this year it is almost at 80%.
The ABA also asked whether a law firm paid the cost of the mobile phone service, and overall, 50% answer yes, with another 20% saying that the firm gave them a fixed stipend. The survey results also revealed that smaller law firms were more likely to fully pay for mobile phone service whereas larger firms were more likely to give a fixed stipend.
Some of the survey questions asked about how attorneys use their smartphones. For example, one question asked attorneys to identify the primary way that they access email outside of the office. 70% answered that they use a smartphone for this task. 15% use a work laptop. 11% use a computer (laptop or desktop) owned by the attorney. 2% don't check email outside of the office. And even though iPad wasn't listed as one of the answers, 2% decided to identify the iPad as a write-in response.
In Volume III of the report (Law Office Technology), the ABA asked attorneys whether they use a smartphone in the courtroom. This year, 58% of respondents said yes, which is down from 84% in 2018, 80% in 2017, and 80% in 2016. Respondents said that they used a smartphone in the courtroom for email (54%), calendaring (40%), real-time communications (32%), and legal research (22%).
Attorney tablet use
In my past reports on the ABA Technology Survey, I've reported on attorney iPad use. For the past few years, 50% of attorneys have reported that they use a tablet to get work done. And for those who do, the large majority (around 80% to 90%) use an iPad. This year, however, the ABA didn't ask about whether individual attorneys use a tablet and, if so, what type of tablet they are using.
Although the survey did not ask about whether individual respondents used a tablet, it did ask whether tablet devices are available for use at the attorney's law firm. This year, 46% said yes, which is down from 58% in 2018, 61% in 2017, and 56% in 2016.
The ABA also asked respondents whether they use a tablet device in the courtroom. 29% of the respondents said yes. That's down from 32% in 2018, 38% in 2017, and 37% in 2016.
