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BNA is a well-established and trusted name when it comes to legal information, both for researching the latest news and researching specific topics.  For example, I’ve frequently used the excellent ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct when researching legal ethics issues.  At ABA TECHSHOW 2013, some folks from Bloomberg BNA showed me their latest app that allows those who subscribe to BNA Law Reports to read the latest news reports on an iPhone or iPad.  BNA gave me a free two-week trial to try out the app, and it works well.

Subscribers to BNA Law Reports receive emails with news updates, but email is not always an ideal platform for receiving and reading the news, and the emails do not always contain the full article.  But if you use the Law Reports app, you have a central location for viewing the news items in the reports to which you subscribe.  On the main screen of the app, you see a list of the available reports.  Tap a report to see the latest news stories.

 

Tap a story to download and read it on your device.  A few seconds after you start reading the article, the menu bars at the top and bottom of the iPhone app disappear so that you can use the full screen of your iPhone to read an article.

 

Normally you need Internet access to download and read articles.  But if you select a report as a favorite, your iPhone will download all of the latest articles so that you can read them later even without Internet access (such as on a plane).

The app includes the option to read an article on the BNA website.  You can also email someone a link to an article, but they will have to be a subscriber to that BNA Law Report in order to read the article, so this is mainly useful for sharing an article with one of your partners when your entire office has a subscription to the report.

The app runs on both the iPhone and iPad, and in theory you are supposed to be able to use both devices and even use iCloud to sync between devices.  Unfortunately, I had trouble logging in from more than one device at a time, and BNA tells me that they are working on a fix to this right now. 

If you subscribe to a Bloomberg BNA Law Report, this is a must-have app.  It is free, and presents a clean, efficient interface for viewing the latest legal news.

Click here to download Law Reports from Bloomberg BNA (free, but BNA subscription required): 

I was too busy at ABA TECHSHOW last week to write an In the news post, so this week I’m mentioning stories from the last two weeks that I think might be of interest:

• In addition to writing on iPhone J.D., I also write iPhone and iPad articles for the TechnoLawyer BigLaw and SmallLaw newsletters.  Those newsletters are free and full of useful articles, so I encourage you to sign up for both.  This week, for example, Brett Burney of Burney Consultants wrote a great article comparing the different task manager apps for the iPad.  You must be a subscriber to get the current articles, but older articles are sometimes posted on the web, and I see that an article I wrote in 2012 recommending the best iPad apps is now online.  My recommendations are a little different now than they were a year ago, but there are still some great apps mentioned there that most any attorney would find useful.
• California attorney David Sparks discusses the recent rumors that Microsoft is holding back Microsoft Office for the iPad and will not release it until the end of next year.
• New York attorney Nicole Black discusses all of the mobile-related announcements at ABA TECHSHOW 2013.
• South Carolina attorney Ben Stevens reviews the FrameShfit iPad stand, a neat little stand that he showed the audience during a presentation that he and I gave together at ABA TECHSHOW 2013.
• Virginia attorney Sharon Nelson and her husband, security expert John Simek, provide 16 security tips for smartphones in an article for Wisconsin Lawyer.
• Carlos Motta is a Brazilian attorney with Tauil & Chequer Advogados, an affiliate of the U.S. law firm Mayer Brown.  He asked that I mention that he created an iPhone app called MindMob, an app that contains legal content (mostly for Brazil, but there is some U.S. content) and can be used to create notes and send messages to other users.
• MyCase, a company that provides web-based law practice management software, now had an iPhone app, and Josh Camson of Lawyerist.com reviews it.
• Today is the first day you can get an iPhone 5 from T-Mobile.  T-Mobile offers some unique features, such as no contracts so you can leave at any time and a lower cost over the course of two years than you will pay to get and use an iPhone 5 on other carriers.  T-Mobie’s 4G LTE network is currently very small but it is growing, and T-Mobile is the first U.S. carrier to support HD Voice, which Brent Rose of Gizmodo tried out and found to be “a bit richer, and definitely fuller. I wouldn’t say it was like night and day, but it’s definitely a noticeable improvement.”  
• Meanwhile, Jeff Blagdon of The Verge reports that AT&T will start to support HD Voice later this year.
• Macworld created a new ebook called The iPad Office.  I haven’t read it yet, but it looks to be full of information on how to get work done with an iPad.  Get more details here.
• Nick Guy of iLounge reviews the new Bose SoundDocks Series III, an iPhone speaker that now includes a Lightning connector for the iPhone 5.
• Now that nice weather is returning, you might want to take your iPhone with you when you go to the beach.  Bonnie Cha of All Things D reviews three cases that waterproof an iPhone.  Last year I reviewed the DryCASE, one of the products mentioned in Cha’s article, and it worked well for me.
• Joe Kissell of Macworld discusses options for editing PowerPoint presentations on an iPad.
• And finally, John Browlee of Cult of Mac collected a baker’s dozen pictures of Apple cakes.  Many of them relate to the iPhone or iPad, such as this one by Samantha of Scrumptious Buns in the UK:

Thank you to Rocket Matter
for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month.  Rocket Matter sells legal
practice management software for small to
mid-size firms.  The software is online, so you can use it on a PC or a
Mac to track your time and manage your clients and matters, plus it works on the iPad and iPhone.

Rocket Matter had one of the most popular booths at ABA TECHSHOW 2013 last week, not only because of interaction with the attorneys who are using Rocket Matter (I heard nothing but rave reviews), but also because the company just launched Rocket X1, an Internet marketing service for attorneys that offers a full range of services:  website construction, SEO, social
media, PR, graphic design, content creation, and strategic consulting.

If you haven’t downloaded it yet, Rocket Matter is currently offering a free ebook to all attorneys. 
Attorney Michael Moore, who is the CFO and VP of Business Affairs for
Rocket Matter, wrote Ridiculously Remarkable Legal Billing:  How Better Billing Practices Improve Your Law Firm and Your Life. 
This book is in PDF format, and is only 60 pages with a font that is
large and easy-to-read on your iPad.  It only took me about 15 minutes
to read the book, but it is full of helpful tips for any attorney in
private practice — i.e., any attorney who bills clients. 

Click here to learn more about Rocket Matter, click here to learn more about Rocket X1, click here to get the free ebook, and don’t forget that you can download the free Rocket Matter iPhone app on the App Store: 

Ah, the pencil.  We all grew up using a pencil, as did our parents, our grandparents, etc.  According to Wikipedia, the pencil dates back to the 1500s.  The eraser on the back of a pencil was added in the mid-1800s, and is even the subject of a Supreme Court opinion, Reckendorfer v. Faber, 92 U.S. 347 (1875) (declaring patent for eraser on the end of a pencil invalid; it was “more convenient” but not a “new result”).  The now traditional yellow color and hexagonal shape was created in 1890 by L. & C. Hardtmuth Company of Austria-Hungary.  That particular model, the Koh-I-Noor, became so popular that the company renamed itself Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth, and the same pencil is still sold today and looks like this:

While the Europeans use a scale that ranges from 9H (hard) to 9B (soft), here in the U.S. we use a number grading system.  The No. 2 pencil (equivalent to the European HB pencil) is, of course, the most popular and the one that we all grew up using.

Thanks to the popularity of the iPad, it now seems like there is an endless variety of styluses on the market.  My current two favorites are the Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo and the second generation of the Adonit Jot Pro.  But when iPad accessories manufacturer Griffin sent me a free review sample of their new No. 2 Pencil Stylus for Touchscreens, I couldn’t help but smile.  It is a stylus that looks like a No. 2 pencil.

At first I thought that this would be just a novelty, but to my surprise, it is actually a pretty nice stylus.  The size of the tip is smaller than that of a typical stylus, closer to the size of the Wacom Bamboo stylus, which I find helps to make a stylus more precise.  The tip is firmer than the Wacom Bamboo tip so you have to push down a little bit harder to use it — not my preference, but I know that some people like this, which is why Wacom sells firmer tips for those who want one for their Bamboo.  But once you get used to pushing down a little harder, the tip works well.  Here is the Grifin No. 2 Pencil Stylus next to a Wacom Bamboo Stylus duo:

The best thing going for this stylus is also the most obvious — it looks like a pencil.  As I noted above, the now-traditional pencil design has been around for a long time, and for good reason: the hexagonal shape feels good in your hand and stops it from rolling off of a desk.  When you hold this stylus, you can tell that it has a plasticky feel unlike the wood of a real pencil, but otherwise it actually feels very much like you are holding a pencil in your hand.  It has the same size and weight.  I also like the longer length as compared to most othe iPad styluses being sold todaly. 

Note that the “eraser” on the end is just colored plastic.  It would have been fun if the back had a rubbery feel and could also be used as a stylus, perhaps with a softer tip to contrast to the other end. 

Here it is next to a real pencil that happened to be in the cup holder on my desk:

When you use this No. 2 Stylus in public, you are sure to get some stares and likely a few smiles as well.  I’m sure that many will buy this stylus simply for the amusement value.  But this stylus has more than just form going for it; it is quite functional.  The size and shape feels good in your hand and I can honestly recommend this stylus just based on its utility.  Griffin did a nice job with this stylus.

Click here to get the No. 2 Pencil Stylus for Touchscreens from Griffin ($16.99)

I spent the last few days in Chicago at the 2013 installment of ABA TECHSHOW.  In just about every way, I considered it to be the best TECHSHOW ever, although there are a few things that I hope are done differently next year.

The conference sessions were, as always, excellent, with a full day devoted to Tablets and Smartphones.  As the title suggests, this track was platform-agnostic.  For some topics, that made sense.  For example, I gave a presentation on tablet and smartphone security with Pittsburgh attorney David Ries and Illinois attorney Aaron Brooks, and I thought it was quite helpful to compare and contrast security options on the different smartphones.  On the other hand, on Friday morning there was a session presenting the top apps for four different platforms:  iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows 8 tablets.  Each presenter was excellent, but it would have been far more useful to have different sessions devoted to different platforms.  iPhone and iPad users didn’t gain much learning how Android users are trying to work around the lack of legal-specific software for that platform.  I really hope that next year the ABA brings back the 60 iOS Apps in 60 Minutes session that has been so popular in the past.  But notwithstanding my constructive criticisms, the iOS content at this year’s TECHSHOW was better than ever before, which is a big part of the reason that I thought TECHSHOW overall was better than ever this year.

Another reason:  the keynote speaker.  David Pogue of the New York Times was even more entertaining than I thought he would be, and I had high expectations.  I didn’t realize that his grandfather, Welch Pogue, founded a D.C. firm that merged with Jones Day in 1967 (hence the “Pogue” in “Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue”) and his father, Dick Pogue, was the managing partner of Jones Day for many years.  (Jones Day grew from 335 to 1,250 lawyers under his tenure.)  So while Pogue is not an attorney and did not speak much about the law, he definitely has an understanding of what it means to be an attorney.  Pogue talked about the future of technology, but was as much a comedian as a visionary.  He had the audience in stitches for almost an hour, then ended up by performing some funny songs.

After his amazing talk, he was nice enough to chat with many of us and take lots of pictures, such as this next one with me.  I laughed when I saw Ed Walters of Fastcase tweet that upon posing for a picture with Pogue and Kevin O’Keefe, he felt like his Twitter feed had “materialized out of thin air.”

The exhibit hall of TECHSHOW was full of activity every time I visited it.  And it seemed like half of the vendors were showing off something on the iPad.  It was just three years ago that all of us at TECHSHOW were wondering about what the upcoming iPad might mean for lawyers, and it is amazing how quickly this technology has taken hold.  I’ll be discussing some of what I saw in upcoming posts.

As always, one of the best parts of TECHSHOW was talking with other attorneys about technology.  I always learn so much when I hear what others are doing with their iPhone and iPads.  I also enjoyed talking with Jeff Taylor of The Droid Lawyer.  Sam Glover of Lawyerist.com apparently found it amusing when he saw us talking, leading him to tweet about competing smartphone ecosystems, but I always enjoy hearing what Taylor is doing with his Android phone and tablet because it often gives me idea for the iPhone and iPad.  Sam was nice enough to take this picture of the Jeff and Jeff of the iPhone and Android worlds with my iPhone.

I want to especially thank the very enthusiastic crowd for the iOS in Action session that Ben Stevens
(of The Mac Lawyer) and I presented on Saturday morning.  I know that many people had left TECHSHOW by then, but we still had a packed room and some great questions both during and after the presentation.  For those of you who didn’t get a chance to talk to me or Ben, you can always freel free to send me an email.

Finally, I had a fabulous time at the Taste of Techshow dinner that I co-hosted on Thursday night.  It’s a shame that only 12 people could attend, but we had an amazing group with lots of lively and fun conversation.  Thanks to everyone who attended:  Scott Norby of Thomson Reuters ProLaw (which sponsored the dinner), Philippe Doyle Gray (a barrister in Sydney, Australia and frequent iPhone J.D. commenter who literally traveled across the world to join us), Ian O’Flaherty and Tara Cheever of Lit Software in Miami (makers of TrialPad and TranscriptPad), South Carolina attorney Bill Latham of The Hytech Lawyer, San Antonio attorney and mediator Don Philbin (creator of the Picture it Settled app), North Carolina attorney Leigh Anne Miller, Texas attorney Karl Seebach (who recently started eDepo, a service that delivers video transcripts to an iPad), North Carolina legal technology consultant Pegeen Turner of Turner IT Solutions, Illinois law student Noelia Rodríguez-Quiñones and of course my co-host, Dallas attorney Tom Mighell.

I’m already looking forward to the next ABA TECHSHOW, in Chicago on March 26-29, 2014.

I’ve heard from many iPhone J.D. readers who will be in Chicago for ABA TECHSHOW 2013 starting tonight.  This will be my fifth TECHSHOW, and it is always a great opportunity to
learn about technology from formal CLE sessions, vendors showing off
cutting edge legal technology and (best of all) other attorneys who enjoy
using tech.  The attention to mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad at TECHSHOW has steadily increased every year that I’ve attended, both in terms of the number of CLE sessions devoted to the topic and the number of vendors showing off mobile software and accessories.  And considering that the cover article on this month’s ABA Journal is The Mobile Lawyer, I have no doubt that iPhones and iPads will be central topics throughout TECHSHOW this year.

If you are reading this, I hope to see you there.  Here is where you are likely to find me:

Wednesday, April 3

6:00 – 8:00 pm:  Cocktails and Comedy.  (Continental A/B)  The event is hosted by Rocket Lawyer. If you see me, please say hello.  I look like this.

8:00 – 10:00 pm: LexThink.1.  A fast-paced Ignite-style event.

Thursday, April 4

I’ll be checking out the over 100 companies on the Exhibit Floor and attending various sessions throughout the day, so you might bump into me just about anywhere.  My schedule includes:

10:00 – Noon:  I’ll be working at the Concierge Desk.  If prior
years are any indication, that means that I’ll spend a little time
helping people find things at the conference, but most of my time will
be devoted to talking about iPhones and iPads with anyone who stops by
to chat.  It’s usually the most social spot at the conference.

4:00 – 5:00 pm:  The Tablet Litigator.  (Northwest 3)  San Antonio attorney Mark Unger and attorney Paul Unger of the Affinity Consulting Group, will be talking about using an iPad in trial.

5:30 – 7:00 pm:  Welcome Reception.  (EXPO Hall)  A chance to socialize with attendees and vendors.

7:30 pm – ?:  Taste of Techshow.  Dallas attorney Tom Mighell, author of many books on using an iPad in your law practice, and I are hosting a dinner for iPhone / iPad users at Wildfire restaurant.  Thomson Reuters is sponsoring our dinner, and we are sure to have a great time.  The dinner has been sold out for a while now, but there is often a waiting list at the Concierge Desk, or you can sign up for one of the many other Taste of Techshow dinners, four of which also have an iPhone/iPad focus.

Friday, April 5

I’ll be in room Northwest 5 most of the day because that is the location of the Tablets and Smartphone track, where I will be speaking in the afternoon.

8:00 – 9:00 am:  Tablet Wars 2013.  Hopefully Tom Mighell will get some sleep after our dinner on Thursday night, because bright and early Friday morning, he is teaming up with Jeff Taylor of The Droid Lawyer to compare and contrast iPads with Android tablets.

10:00 – 11:00 am:  The 4×4 Challenge: Top Apps for Every Platform.  Dan Pinnington, Ben Schorr, Jeff Taylor and Mark Unger will discuss the top apps for iOS, Android, Windows Mobile and Blackberry.  Although I’ll attend this session, it will be somewhat in protest; I liked it better when we had an entire hour devoted to just iOS apps, and it’s a shame that there is no 60 Apps in 60 Minutes session this year.  Hopefully it will come back next year.

12:45 pm – 1:45 pm:  Keynote speaker David Pogue of the New York Times will discuss “Disruptive Tech:  What’s Now, What’s Coming, and How It Will Change Everything.”  Pogue is a funny and intelligent speaker, and I’m thrilled to see that he will be at TECHSHOW.

2:30 – 3:30 pm:  Mobile Collaboration.  Michigan attorney Patrick Crowley and St. Louis attorney Dennis Kennedy will discuss using mobile devices to share documents and ideas.

3:45 – 4:45 pm:  Batten Down the Hatches: Mobile Security for Lawyers.  I’ll be co-presenting this session along with Pittsburgh attorney David Ries and Illinois attorney Aaron Brooks.  We’ll give you lots of tips for maintaining the confidentiality of documents and other data on your iPhone and iPad.

Finally, I haven’t seen an official announcement yet [UPDATE: confirmed], but traditionally Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog and the ABA Journal sponsor Beer for Bloggers at 5:30 at Hilton Chicago’s Lakeside Green Lounge.  This event is a happy hour with free drinks for all TECHSHOW attendees, even if you don’t have a blog.

Saturday, April 6

9:45 – 10:45 am:  iOS in Action.  South Carolina attorney Ben Stevens
(of The Mac Lawyer) and I will present this session devoted to getting the most
out of an iPhone and iPad in your law practice.  Stevens and I gave a similar presentation focused on the iPhone back in 2010, and a lot has changed in the world of iOS since then.

Finally, if this will be your first TECHSHOW, or if you just want a refresher, New York attorney Niki Black has a great All You Need to Know post with details for preparing for, and getting the most out of, ABA TECHSHOW.

See you in the Windy City!

Citrix provides remote access solutions for more than 260,000 organizations and over 100 million users around the world.  Many law firms (mine included) use Citrix, and Citrix provides users with a free Citrix Receiver app that they can access their work environment even when they are out of the office.  I see that I’ve never posted a formal review of the Citrix app, but I use it somewhat frequently, and it works well for those times when I need remote access to software that only works on Windows or that requires you to be within the work environment.  I like using the virtual mouse mode in the iPad app that makes it easy to get the cursor exactly where you need it, making it easier to tap small buttons.

With so many Citrix users, Citrix is able to compile some statistics on who uses what platforms in which industries.  Citrix just released its Enterprise Mobility Cloud Report for Q4 2012, which you can download here (PDF format).  Not every law firm uses Citrix, of course, and I suspect that there are more Citrix users in medium size to large law firms than smaller law firms.  Thus, it would be a mistake to extrapolate any data from Citrix to all lawyers.  Nevertheless, Citrix is quite popular, so the statistics do tell you something.

So what are the statistics?  In some industries, such as transportation and utilities, Android is currently the preferred platform.  But in the legal (and insurance) industries, the iOS platform is by far the preferred platform.  Specifically, about 98% of Citrix mobile users at law firms are using iOS.  Here is a chart from the report (click to enlarge):

To be honest, I was surprised that the number was that high.  98% for the legal services industry is a pretty overwhelming statistic.  However, the Citrix numbers are consistent with what we see from other surveys and estimates — namely, that the iPad is by far the tablet device of choice for lawyers.

Thank you to Connected Data, creator of the Transporter, for sponsoring iPhone J.D. again this month.  I described the basic function of the Transporter last month, and because Connected Data sent me a free review unit soon after the product was first released, I’ve now had lots of time to use the product for real-world tasks.  The Transporter works very well, and is a perfect answer to the problem that so many attorneys face:  you want the convenience of cloud storage so that you have access to your files everywhere, but you are concerned about the security implications of trusting your confidential documents to a third party.  With a Transporter, you own the hard drive that is connected to the Internet, and you control who (if anyone) besides yourself gets access to the documents.  And because you can use standard 2.5" SATA hard drives in the Transporter and there are no monthly service fees, using a Transporter is a lot cheaper than cloud storage companies.

I noted last month that the one missing piece was an iPhone/iPad app.  That is now solved.  Just over a week ago, Apple approved the Transporter app so you can now get it (for free) from the App Store.  In fact, if you have ever used the Dropbox app. you’ll feel right at home using the Transporter app. 

You need an Internet connect to use the app.  When you start the app, it displays a list of your folders.  Note that this includes both the folders that you created on your own Transporter, plus any folders that you were given access to by another Transporter user.  Just tap on a folder name to view its contents.  Files that you have not yet downloaded are in grey.  Files that have been downloaded to the app are in black.

 

Once a file has been downloaded, you can view it.  The app uses the normal iOS app viewers, so you can view Word files, PDF files, etc.  Or better yet, you can use the icon at the top right to send the file to another app, such as your favorite app for viewing and annotating PDF files, your favorite app for viewing and/or modifying Word documents, etc.

This is a universal app so it works on the iPad as well.  In the iPad version, you see a list of files on the left and the file itself is shown on the right.  If you tap the arrow at the top of the file itself, the list on the left collapses so you can use the full width of the iPad to view the document.  On both the iPhone and iPad, you can turn your device to use the app and view documents in either portrait or landscape mode.

Not only can you use this app to send a file from your Transporter to another app on your iPhone or iPad, you can also send files from other apps to the Transporter app.  When you do so, the Transporter app lets you change the file name (if you want to) and choose a folder, and then upload the file to your Transporter.  You then have a secure copy of the file waiting for you on your computer. 

Having an iOS app makes the Transporter incredibly useful.  I can now easily access my confidential files even when I am out of the office.

Beyond using the iOS app, I’ve also found the Transporter to work well with multiple computers.  In the past when I was working on a motion or a brief, I would often keep the active version of the document on the desktop of my Windows computer at work, and then when I wanted to work on the document at night using the Mac at my house, I’d have to connect to my work computer and email the file to myself, which can sometimes lead to confusion over which version of the document is current.  With the Transporter, I just create a folder for my matter, store my active document in that folder, and work from that document at work.  When I get home, everything in that folder is already synced to my home computer so I can just open the document and start working again.  When I return to the office the next day, the latest version of the document is there waiting for me.  And all the while, the document has lived only on my computers and the Transporter that is located in my own house — not some third party service over which I have no control — so I have no concerns about keeping the document confidential.

I’m pleased to have Connected Data and the Transporter as a sponsor of iPhone J.D. again this month, and I encourage you to check it out if you like the idea of keeping your documents secure while also having access to them wherever you are.

Click here to get Transporter from Connected Data ($199 – $399).

Click here to get Transporter from Amazon ($299 for 1TB or $399 for 2TB).

Click here for the Connected Data Transporter app (free): 

The cover story on the April, 2013 issue of the ABA Journal is The Mobile Lawyer by New York journalist Joe Dysart.  The article discusses how smartphones and tablets are changing the legal practice, and I was pleased to provide Dysart some information for the article.  The magazine includes a section describing top iOS apps (my picks) and Android apps (Jeff Taylor‘s picks), which you can see online too.  Note that I gave Dysart my list of apps way back in November of 2012.  (The lead time for magazine articles is quite long.)  I still like and use all of those apps, but today I probably would have mentioned Apple’s Pages app in addition to Documents to Go.  And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:

• Dallas attorney Tom Mighell, author of several other books for lawyers using iPads (like this one) wrote a new book called iPad in One Hour for Litigators full of tips for using an iPad in a courtroom.  I haven’t seen it yet, but I look forward to learning more about it when I see Tom at ABA TECHSHOW in Chicago in a few days.
• Over four years ago, I linked to a funny iPhone-related video by D.C. attorney Tom Goldstein, founder of SCOTUSblog.  I use SCOTUSblog in my practice when I have cases go up to the U.S. Supreme Court, and it is my favorite source for Supreme Court information when there are hot cases before the Court — which obviously includes this past week, when SCOTUSblog has had fantastic coverage of the two same-sex marriage cases.  This week, SCOTUSblog received a Peabody Award, and is the first blog to ever get the recognition.  What a well-deserved honor.  Congrats to Goldstein and the rest of the crew.
• Alan Cohen of Law Technology News asks Is the Apple iPad Mini Ready for Business?  Spoiler alert:  YES.
• Jim Calloway of the Oklahoma Bar Association wrote ar article for the Oklahoma Bar Journal (available here in PDF format) about using an iPad in your law practice.
• New York attorney Niki Black discusses how lawyers use mobile devices to manage their law practices and put together an infographic to display the statistics.
• During Hurricane Katrina, my law firm
  
  and a few others in New Orleans used satellite phones to communicate
  
  when the cell towers were not working or overloaded.  I see that Thuraya
  
  now sells the SatSleve,
  
  a device that fits around an iPhone to turn it into a satellite phone. 
  
  If you travel to remote locations, I could see it being quite useful.
• ExhibitView, an app that you can use to present evidence at trial or in a meeting, was recently updated to version 4.0.  New features include better callout graphics and the ability to maintain documents in full size even while they are being projected.  Click here for ExhibitView ($49.99): 
• Caitlin Moon of Litig8r Tech discusses MobiLit for iPad, another app that can be used to display documents.
• This week, T-Mobile announced that it is (finally) about to start selling the iPhone, so you can now get the iPhone from all of the major U.S. carriers.  T-Mobile has an interesting approach to the iPhone 5.  You pay $99 up front, then pay $20 a month for 24 months, but you have no contract so you can cancel at any time if you pay off the phone.  I’ve seen some other folks do the math (such as Steve Kovach of Business Insider) and conclude that because of T-Mobile cheaper monthly plans, this works out to be the overall cheapest way to get an iPhone 5.  T-Mobile 4G LTE is new so it is available in far fewer markets than Verizon or AT&T, but T-Mobile does have a 3G network that is up to twice as fast as the one that AT&T has (in fact, T-Mobile calls its faster 3G “4G,” a tactic that AT&T also uses, but in my mind you need to be LTE to be “real” 4G), and the iPhone 5 will be modified to take advantage of T-Mobile’s faster 3G network.  (Dan Moren of Macworld has the details on this.)  Depending upon where you live, T-Mobile might be the best carrier, and for many people they are the cheapest carrier, so I’m glad to see that they will start selling the iPhone this month.
• Brian Stelter of the New York Times writes about Nick D’Aloisio, a British teenager who write a news app called Summly when he was 15 years old and now, two years later, sold it to Yahoo! for tens of millions of dollars.  Gulp.
• If you are thinking about getting one of those tiny pico projectors, perhaps to display a presentation from your iPhone or iPad, Geoff Morrison of The Wirecutter picks the best model.
• And finally, a British beer company, Somersby Cider, created a funny commercial that parodies an Apple Store opening.  Worth watching:

There are lots of different types of lawyers, but all of us do one basic thing: help clients solve problems.  Back in 2011, Portland attorneys Jamie Daigle of Stewart, Sokol & Gray and solo attorney Bryan Churchill recognized the value of an iPad in the practice of law, but thought that they could solve some of the problems with holding and displaying an iPad.  They wanted a way to hold the iPad with one hand without obscuring the screen to make it easier to read documents and show them off to others.  They also wanted a way to prop up the iPad at different angles.  Working with some basic materials and a lot of tape, they come up with a basic idea for an iPad case that would solve these problems.  They took their idea to Fuse, a design shop in Portland, which helped the attorneys turn their basic idea into a product that could be manufactured.  To raise funds to make the product, they first turned to Kickstarter, but never achieved their funding goal of $75,000.  So instead, they decided to use their own funds to make it.  By the end of 2012, they were selling units from the Clutch for iPad website and shipping units to customers.

The attorneys behind the Clutch for iPad sent me a free review unit last month and I’ve been trying it out with my third generation iPad.  (The Clutch does not fit the original iPad, but it works with the iPad 2, the third generation iPad and the current fourth generation iPad.)  It is an interesting product that I think will appeal to a lot of attorneys and other professionals.

Mechanics

Attaching the Clutch for iPad is simple.  There are two parts.  One part is a rubberized case.  It just takes a few seconds to stretch the edges of the case and wrap it around the four sides of the iPad.  The other part is the handle.

Once your iPad is in the case, you attach the handle to the case.  There are five different locations — one in the center, and one at each of the four sides.  To attach the handle you simply snap it in.  To remove the handle, you press the red release button.  When the handle is in the center location, it can spin 360°.  On the four edges, it snaps into only one position.

Stand

The Clutch is a versatile iPad stand because it can be placed at so many different angles.  The website shows these five positions which are useful for everything from typing to FaceTime video chats to watching movies:

Those are all great, but when I am using my iPad at my desk, my favorite position is this one.  The angle at which I took the photograph might make this look unsteady, but in reality this is a stable position, even when you tap and swipe your finger on the screen:

Handle

Another feature of the Clutch for iPad is that it provides you with a handle on the back of your iPad.  This lets you hold the iPad with just one hand.  It is also nice if you are showing off your iPad screen to someone else because your hands are not covering the edges of the iPad; you can just have one hand behind the iPad and use your other hand to point and tap.

As a handle, the Clutch for iPad works fine, but frankly I wish it worked a little better.  The size is nice and it is comfortable in your hand.  However, I wish that the handle had more friction so that minimal squeezing was necessary.  In my opinion, the FreeOneHand, which I reviewed a year ago, works better as a handle because you can place your fingers into the holes and the device rests in your hand without you having to exert any energy.  I often read long documents, such as depositions or long briefs, on my iPad.  I love the idea of holding it in one hand, but my hand got tired more quickly using the Clutch for iPad than using the FreeOneHand.  Having said that, the Clutch for iPad is definitely better than holding just the iPad with one or two hands for a long period of time.

For a second opinion, Portland attorney Josh Barrett — who ran the great, gone-but-not-forgotten site TabletLegal — tried a prototype in late 2011 and said that he found it “comfortable to hold and use” and thought that the “round handle takes little effort to hold and was a natural fit in my hand.”

Storage

The final feature of the Clutch for iPad is that the handle is hollow.  Thus, you can use it for storage.  You can easily fit earbuds and a USB to iPad cord in it, although the iPad’s power’s supply is too large to fit.  (You can fit the smaller power supply that comes with an iPhone, but it will not charge the iPad as quickly.)  The storage compartment is a nice extra feature, and shows that a lot of attention to detail went into this product.

Videos

If you want to see the Clutch for iPad in action, James Daigle created a few videos that are up on YouTube including one showing you how to assemble and use the Clutch for iPad, one showing the different positions of the handle and one in which Daigle and Churchill themselves explain the key features.  But I especially like these two videos created by using the fun movie trailer feature of iMovie in which a girl (I’m guessing Daigle’s daughter) shows off the Clutch for iPad.

Conclusion

I like the Clutch for iPad.  It is a fantastic stand and can hold my iPad in just about any position I could possibly want when my iPad is at my desk.  It works fine as a handle, although as noted above, it is not the best iPad handle I’ve tried.  And the storage compartment is a nice touch.  Perhaps most of all, I’m impressed that Bryan Churchill and Jamie Daigle were smart enough to recognize a need, creative enough to develop a solution and persistent enough to see the product through to completion.  I suspect that these qualities make them fine lawyers as well.

Click here to get the Clutch for iPad ($59.95)