Peer to Peer Magazine

PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 70 LESSONS LEARNED There are many great apps out there that act as an extension of your desktop office, providing mobile access to document editing, research, note-taking and document review and presentation. The list of apps for legal continues to grow, making it easier to work away from the office and empowering legal professionals to leverage technology to get things done more than ever before. In the world of mobile apps for the legal profession, PDF is the dominant file format, and the iPad is the most popular device. According to the 2015 ILTA/ InsideLegal Technology Purchasing Survey results, 47 percent of respondents chose iOS devices, followed by Windows (29 percent) and Android devices (17 percent). The success of the iPad is largely due to the long list of legal apps available, which range in price from many being free to up to $150.00. Another part of this success stems from the fact that most iPad apps are easy to use and do not require extensive training or support. For example, TrialPad by Saurian Communications is so easy to use that it removes the need for a trial support specialist in the courtroom by allowing the user to navigate and present documents on the fly. TrialPad is recommended by the Advocates' Society of Canada in their "Paperless Trials Manual" as an alternative to desktop and cloud-based applications for courtroom presentation. That does not mean trial support specialists are going away anytime soon; there is a growing need for the services these professionals provide. However, this tells us there will be fewer paper briefs created, bound and shipped to the courthouse. There are many apps to choose from, and the accompanying chart details apps I have tested. They fall into the categories of editing, review and presentation. What I found based on testing was that the import, export and storage of documents and the security are sometimes limited. Some apps rely on Wi-Fi and a cloud-based solution for file transfers, and others utilize iTunes for file transfers (which I would not recommend). Some apps lack any additional security features, which could pose an issue if the documents in question are not already made public and your firm has a security policy prohibiting client documents or work product on devices without two-factor authentication or encryption. Speak with your firm's security specialists to ensure you are protecting data and not breaking any rules. Testing Complete: Apps That Make Work Easier About the Author Carolyn E. Anger is the Manager of Litigation Support and eDiscovery in the Toronto office of Stikeman Elliott. She champions the use of technology and project management in order to provide cost-effective, efficient and defensible solutions to clients. Carolyn has completed various pro bono projects in Ontario to advance and modernize court systems and processes, including electronic filing and electronic trials. Contact her at canger@stikeman.com.

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