Hi there. My name is Jeff Richardson, and this is my website for lawyers who use the iPhone, the iPad, and related devices.
I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, received a B.A. in Political Science with Highest Honors from Emory University, and received my J.D. with High Honors from Georgetown University Law Center. I was an active member of the debate team in high school (first place in Louisiana in 1987) and in college (fifth place at NDT in 1991), and I always enjoy hearing from other former debaters. I live in New Orleans with my wife and two kids, who are in middle school. I love to play the piano, although life is so busy that it is difficult to find time to do so.
I have been an attorney since 1994, and I practice law in the New Orleans office of Adams and Reese LLP. My practice areas include appellate litigation and representing defendants in class actions and complex litigation. I am an Appellate Practice Specialist, certified by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization, and I am currently one of only 11 attorneys in Louisiana with that certification. Most of my law practice is in Louisiana, but I am also licensed in Florida. I am the chair of my firm's technology committee and I am also one of the attorneys in charge of new business acceptance at my firm.
I have been using computers since my parents bought me a Sinclair ZX81 back in 1981, and after that I was an avid user of the Commodore 64. My first Apple computer was a Mac Plus that I bought in college in 1988, and I have been a Mac user ever since. My law firm was one of the last large firms in the country to use Macs, but like so many other large firms we eventually switched to Windows in the early 2000s because of the limited law office software on the Mac (something that has improved in recent years, and has become less important now that more services are accessible from any web browser). I currently use a Dell laptop at work, and at home I use the 2019 version of the 27" iMac.
My love of the iPhone can be traced back to the late 1980s, when I first started using handheld devices. I was happy to upgrade from my old Sharp organizer to a Palm III in 1998. I then used Palm products for many years, including a Palm IIIc, a Palm Tungsten T2, then a Palm Treo 650, plus some BlackBerries and a Good G100 along the way. I kept using that Treo long after I was ready to move on mostly because of rumors that Apple would come out with its own mobile phone. So you can imagine my excitement when Apple announced the iPhone in 2007, soon followed by my frustration when I learned that the original version did not support corporate e-mail. When Apple added that support, I tried to buy an iPhone 3G the day it was released on July 11, 2008 — only for my local AT&T store to run out of stock after just a few people entered the store. My iPhone 3G arrived on July 22, 2008, and since becoming an iPhone owner, I feel that I have finally found the device for which I had been searching for 20 years. I have upgraded my iPhone every year, so I have used the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone X, iPhone XS, and I currently use an iPhone 11 Pro.
I started using an iPad in 2010. Over the years, I upgraded to the iPad 2, the iPad 3, the iPad Air, the iPad Air 2, and the first three generations of the 12.9" iPad Pro. I also used a first-generation iPad mini, but I stopped using it once I purchased the iPad Air in 2013; the main reason I used the mini was to use a lighter iPad, and the iPad Air line was light enough for that not to be an issue. I currently use the third-generation 12.9" iPad Pro, which fits a fantastic larger screen into a smaller case and works so well with the Apple Pencil 2.
I started wearing an Apple Watch the day that they went on sale on April 24, 2015. I wear it every day, and I do my best to get all three of my activity circles every day. In the past, I used the original Apple Watch, the Series 2, the Series 4, and I currently wear an Apple Watch Series 5 (the stainless steel 44mm version). My main two watch bands are Apple's Milanese Loop (which I wear at work) and Apple's Sport Loop band, but I have several others that I wear occasionally, such as Apple's XL Black Sport Band (perfect for when my arm is going to get wet and/or dirty).
I started iPhone J.D. on November 17, 2008, which makes Phone J.D. the oldest and largest website for attorneys who use the iPhone and iPad. The focus of this website is how attorneys can use Apple's mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. However, many of my posts are relevant to anyone who uses an iPhone or iPad to get work done, and I know that lots of non-lawyers are regular readers.
Have a suggestion, comment or question? Send me an e-mail at jeff@iphonejd.com. My Twitter name is @jeffrichardson and I encourage you to follow me there. I don't tweet very often so I won't overwhelm you with traffic, but I do use Twitter occasionally to pass along interesting iPhone and iPad-related news and sometimes I will tweet when I add a major post to iPhone J.D. If you want to get automatic Twitter updates of every new post on iPhone J.D., follow @iphonejd.
