Thank you to Mobile Helix, the maker of the LINK app, for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month. 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.
Before showing you how LINK works, I want to begin by mentioning something that is new. SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) is important to online security because it lets you access multiple web applications using a single set of login credentials — often referred to as Single Sign-On (SSO). In the past year, the use of SAML SSO has increased, especially in larger firms. Mobile Helix has just released LINK support for SAML SSO including Okta, Azure AAD, and ADFS. LINK also supports the authenticator apps. SSO support is included with the LINK system at no additional cost. This is a significant new feature, and even if you don't fully understand it, the folks at your law firm who focus on technology and security certainly understand this significance of this feature.
So what can you do with LINK? 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.
