Security is one of the most pressing technological challenges for lawyers and law firms. Even if you ensure that everything in your physical law office is safe and secure, you need to worry about avoiding risks when lawyers need remote access. I'm thrilled to welcome a new sponsor to iPhone J.D. this month that has a solution: Mobile Helix, the maker of the LINK app. LINK from Mobile Helix is a secure system that allows attorneys to use the LINK app, available on the App Store, on either an iPad or iPhone to access email, document management systems, intranet portals, and more. At your firm, you run LINK server software deployed on-premises behind your firm's firewall. I've had a chance to see how LINK works, and it is quite impressive.
How does LINK improve security? The key is that everything that an attorney does with firm resources on an iPad or iPhone is done within a secure container app. All communications between the LINK app and your law firm are encrypted. Data is encrypted at-rest with AES-256 and in-transit with TLS over HTTPS. And the encryption is built-in to the app and does not depend upon iOS security. Thus, even if an iPad or iPhone were to be jail-broken or hacked, the data in the LINK app would remain secure. LINK uses both first and second factor authentication to ensure that only authorized people have access to your firm's confidential information. And the LINK app can be remotely wiped if a device is lost or if a person leaves your firm. LINK is compatible with Mobile Device Management (MDM) software if your firm uses that. As a result, documents and information remain safe within the LINK app itself. LINK also works with Microsoft Office apps on the iPad so that you can, for example, view and edit a document using the Microsoft Word app, but the document itself is safely saved within the LINK system.
The main screen of the LINK app has tiles that correspond to the different resources that can be accessed from within the app. This is something that you configure for your particular law firm. First, there is a section devoted to Documents — your document management system. In many of the screenshots in this post, the DMS being used is iManage, but other DMS systems are supported, such as NetDocuments and OpenText eDOCS.
The next section of the home screen provides access to email. For example, you may have a tile on the home screen that can be tapped to view your Outlook email:
The third part of the home screen provides access to Intranet resources, which can be used for access to time and billing systems, expense systems, firm-specific knowledge management intranets, or any other firm software that has a browser interface.
Attorneys using LINK will commonly want to access documents from a DMS. Here is an example of looking at a list of documents in the iManage document worklist from within the LINK app:
The LINK app works well in a split-screen mode so that you can see a list of documents on one side of the screen while you view a specific document on another part of the screen. You can split the screen 50-50 or use a slider to make one part bigger or smaller.
When working with a PDF document, an attorney can annotate from within the LINK app itself.
When working with a Microsoft Office document, an attorney can view the document within LINK. LINK even has a built-in document comparison system so you can create a redline of different versions of a document. You can also use the Microsoft Office app (sold separately) to edit the document.
You can also take a file that is on your iPad or iPhone and import it into LINK to add it to your firm's document management system.
The above screenshots show LINK being used on an iPad, but it also works on the iPhone. Here are some examples of what that looks like:
The default setting is that all documents and email stay within the LINK app itself. That provides the most security. But for your particular law firm, you might decide to allow attorneys to take documents out of LINK so that documents can be used with another app on the iPhone or iPad or exported off of the iPhone or iPad. That reduces security somewhat, but you can make the decision that is right for your law firm. You can also decide whether you want to let attorneys use AirPrint or disable that feature to keep the documents safely within the LINK app.
The LINK app has been available since 2014, and the app has seen numerous updates since its original release. The LINK app is currently in use at law firms as small as 30 attorneys and as large as the Top 20 of the AmLaw 100. The pricing is per user, per year, and a free trial is available so that you can easily see how the LINK app works in your own law firm environment. The iPhone and iPad apps are available now, an Android client is in beta, and Mobile Helix also has plans to develop clients for the Mac, Windows, and Chromebook.
Thank you to Mobile Helix for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month and for developing powerful software that lawyers can use to protect confidential information on their mobile devices.
