Top 10 iPhone apps for legal practitioners

Whether you’re a Blackberry diehard or your heart belongs to the iPhone, lawyers are decidedly devoted to their portable electronic gadgets, and with good reason; they are the Swiss Army knives of the cell phone industry, abounding in functionality.

The Apple iTunes store boasts tens of thousands of applications (known as apps) for the iPhone and new ones are added each day. Admittedly, the majority of apps will do nothing to help balance your caseload, but there are others that can be incredibly useful to legal professionals. This month National weeds through the plethora of iPhone apps and picks ten with an eye to improving productivity and making the common tasks of busy lawyers a little friendlier.

1. Timewerks: Timewerks lets you track multiple clients and projects, issue invoices by email, time your work with individual clients using a built-in timer, and more. Keeping track of your billable hours just got a shot in the arm.

2. iXpenseIt: Rated one of the most useful iPhone apps by several external sources, iXpenseit tracks your daily expenses and helps with monthly budgeting for personal and business use. Cool features include storing digital photo receipts, an international currency converter and mileage tracking.

3. Twitterific: Keep on top of your favourite legal tweeters (such as CBA_News)from the convenience of your iPhone. If you’re not already hooked on Twitter, this app just might push you over the edge.

4. News: For your daily dose of current events here are a few free news apps to try: The Globe and Mail, CBC Radio, and Canadian Press Mobile (Francophones try Le Radio de Radio Canada and Cyberpresse). Stay on top of Canadian legal and financial news by subscribing to the Financial Post’s daily podcasts.

5. Black’s Law Dictionary 8th Edition: For moments when you need to recall the definition of uberrima fides, Black’s Law Dictionary will come in handy. It’s pricey as far as iPhone apps go at $49.99, but your colleagues will be impressed.

6. Wikipanion: You’ve always wanted encyclopedic knowledge; now it’s at your fingertips. This app makes scanning Wikipedia entries on the go a breeze.

7. Note2Self Audio Recorder: Toss your voice recorder into the obsolete pile. This app lets you easily record and save audio files. It even detects when you start and stop speaking and can automatically send the audio file to your email.

8. Bump: An app that is both useful and fun to use, Bump exchanges contact information and photos with other iPhone users by bumping phones. It’s like a virtual business card with a twist.

iTunes U

9. iTunesU: Not an app per se, but a library of downloads from some of the world’s most distinguished universities. McGill has a Law and Society section featuring instructor-led classes for download... and unlike real university, it’s free!

10. DateCalcPro: Lawyers are often required to make mathematical calculations involving dates, such as 10 days from today’s date or the number of days between two dates, etc. This app does all the work for you, and even lets you include only business days or any other combination of days.

– Rose Wilson