TechnoLawyer: TL NewsWire

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers an online marketing service for lawyers that connects them with prospective clients (see article below), an alert service for important email messages, bulk email software, an iPad note-taking app, and a Bluetooth speaker. Don't miss the next issue.

A MARKETPLACE FOR YOUR LEGAL SERVICES

Many lawyers don't necessarily dislike marketing. They either lack the time or the skill set (marketing is a discipline unto itself). Given the undeniable success of outsourcing, why not outsource marketing much like you outsource payroll? Outsourcing doesn't mean giving up control. It means letting someone else handle the heavy lifting — such as attracting a pool of prospective clients — with you overseeing the process.

UpCounsel … in One Sentence

Launched earlier this year, UpCounsel is an eBay-style marketplace for legal services.

The Killer Feature

Mindful of the regulations governing fee splitting, UpCounsel skirts this issue by having those who hire you through the service pay you your entire quoted fee. UpCounsel charges those who use the service a separate fee. Lawyers don't pay anything to use UpCounsel.

Other Notable Features

After creating an UpCounsel account, the company verifies your credentials and interviews you. Once you become verified, you can begin bidding on "jobs" (matters) posted by prospective clients. You can also offer $99 flat fee consultations up to one hour in length for those contemplating hiring a lawyer (e.g., someone considering a personal injury lawsuit).

Currently, UpCounsel focuses on a number of practice areas such as bankruptcy, employment, intellectual property, landlord/tenant, litigation, and real estate transactions.

Like all web sites, content is king. Thus, UpCounsel provides you with a profile page and encourages you to submit material such as model agreements. UpCounsel lists your contributed documents on your profile page, which may help persuade those seeking legal representation to hire you over competing lawyers. Your profile page also lists your photo and curriculum vitae

Prospective clients can send secure messages such as questions to you through the service during the proposal process to help them make a decision. After you complete a job, clients can post a review, which UpCounsel lists on your profile page.

What Else Should You Know?

You can continue working with clients on new matters through UpCounsel. The advantage of not making your relationship more traditional after the first matter is that you'll build a more robust profile with many completed jobs and accompanying reviews, which should make it easier to attract new clients. Learn more about UpCounsel.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud knowledge management application for lawyers (see article below), an iPad app for handwritten notes that incorporated a feature requested by lawyers, a Windows note-taking program, and two iPad mini keyboard cases. Don't miss the next issue.

THE EVERNOTE OF THE LEGAL INDUSTRY

When you walk into Barnes & Noble stores nowadays, you'll see the Nook line of tablets on display. These devices render everything else in the store obsolete (except for the coffee). This transition from print to digital began long ago in law libraries and especially personal law libraries — all the legal research and other client-related notes and documents you create and collect for each of your matters. Many lawyers use mainstream products like Evernote for knowledge management, but would likely prefer a solution designed for their specific needs.

CitePin … in One Sentence

Launched this month, CitePin is a cloud knowledge management application for lawyers.

The Killer Feature

When you type notes, copy and paste text, or upload a document into CitePin, you must classify it by choosing from several predefined Record Types. However, you can also assign up to three custom Clusters (e.g., client, matter, case type, etc.). CitePin also enables you to enter additional information for each record such as jurisdiction, source, source date, and source URL. All this tagging enables you to find your records.

Other Notable Features

CitePin offers full-text searching as well as filtering. Regarding the latter, a spreadsheet-like page lists all your records, which you can sort by field. You'll find similar pages for each record type and each cluster. For example, if you use clusters for matters, you can see all records associated with a matter.

If your colleagues also use CitePin, you can share specific records, entire clusters, etc. using the "My Colleagues" tool. From this page, you can also access records your colleagues have shared with you.

If you want to share items with a client or someone else without a CitePin account, you can send them an email message via CitePin with instructions on how to sign up. Once they create an account, they can access the records you've chosen to share.

What Else Should You Know?

CitePin offers a two-day free trial after which you can choose from two annual plans — Basic ($36) for up to 1 GB of storage or Value ($72) for up to 3 GB of storage. CitePin works best in Google's Chrome browser on Windows, Mac, and iPad. Learn more about CitePin.

Our thanks to LawSites for the screenshot (the company didn't respond to our request). Read Bob Ambrogi's review.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a cloud practice management system (see article below), a portable duplex scanner, time capture software, and a web-based jury selection application. Don't miss the next issue.

A PRACTICE MANAGEMENT TITAN TAKES ON THE CLOUD

About a decade ago, legal vendors began weaving email into their practice management systems. They realized that email via Microsoft Outlook had become the central communications hub for most lawyers. Nowadays, email has taken on even more importance because it travels with lawyers everywhere on laptops, smartphones, and tablets. A new practice management system aims to stay on top of email's continuing evolution.

Amicus Cloud … in One Sentence

Launched last week, Gavel & Gown Software's Amicus Cloud is a web-based practice management system.

The Killer Feature

Gavel & Gown has baked Hosted Microsoft Exchange into Amicus Cloud. Alternatively, you can use your own Hosted Exchange account or on-premise Exchange Server. Thanks to this tight integration, Amicus Cloud contains the very same email that's on your PC in Outlook, your Mac in Mail, your smartphone, your iPad, etc. Any email message you send or receive in Amicus Cloud appears everywhere else you access your email.

Furthermore, Amicus Cloud automatically associates email messages with client files (matters). Everyone in your firm with access to a file can view all of the associated email messages. Unlike competing products, you don't have to BCC email messages to a special email address. Instead, you just use email as you currently use it.

Other Notable Features

Amicus Cloud includes all the functionality you would expect from a practice management system — organization of your files by client and matter, calendars and alerts, task management, contact management, document management, conflict searching, billable time capture (including phone calls), expense tracking, billing, trust accounting, and collections. You can also search through all records in your Amicus Cloud account as well as generate a number of reports that you can export in PDF or Excel formats.

The billing system includes the Time Entry Assistant, which we deemed a killer feature when it debuted in the company's flagship product, Amicus Attorney. This tool lists all the email, events, phone calls, tasks, and other items that don't yet have associated time entries, thus preventing lost billable time.

You can use Amicus Cloud from any modern web browser (the company has optimized the design for Windows PCs, Macs, and iPads). If you're offline, you can still access your calendar, contacts, and email via applications like Outlook. Any changes you make offline in these applications automatically sync with Amicus Cloud when you regain a connection.

"Amicus Attorney Cloud Edition is a product that will truly bring practice management to a higher level," Gavel & Gown's President Ron Collins told us. "We have taken all the lessons learned in 20 years of providing the best practice management for lawyers, and can now deliver these tools in a completely new way via the cloud."

What Else Should You Know?

Amicus Cloud is securely hosted using Microsoft's Azure platform. Gavel & Gown offers a free trial as well as complimentary training (both live and recorded tutorials). Pricing starts at $34.95 per user per month. Hosted Exchange, which is optional, costs an additional $10 per user per month. Learn more about Amicus Cloud.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in our free TL NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TL NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

In this issue of TL NewsWire, Oklahoma personal injury attorney and publisher of The Droid Lawyer Jeffrey Taylor (pictured above with his Android tablet) rebuts TechnoLawyer publisher Neil Squillante's recent TL NewsWire article about about tablets in the legal industry.

Imagine my surprise while reading Neil Squillante's recent TL NewsWire article, A Special Report on Tablets in the Legal Industry: iPad, iPad mini, and Surface With Windows RT.

There towards the end of the article, Neil called me out for my stance on lawyer-related Android apps in my article on The Droid Lawyer, What About the Lawyer Apps for Android?

Or as Neil termed it, my "downplay [of] the importance of legal apps."

TechnoLawyer's newsletters (including this one) comprise a powerhouse of lawyer-tech information. The TechnoLawyer team does a fantastic job of providing current legal technology information and tips in a compact summary for easy perusing. Most of the time I agree with the commentary. Unless of course you take me to task and downplay the role of Android tablets in the legal industry.

Hence my rebuttal, including why Android should be included in the discussion of tablets in the legal industry, and most importantly why legal apps don't matter.

Most Legal Tablet Work Is Mundane

First and foremost, legal apps don't matter because you're more likely to need a PDF editor than a high-tech and fancy jury selection tool. I didn't purchase my Android tablet to erase my Windows 7 desktop. No, I purchased it to co-exist with my desktop.

When we talk of "legal apps," we're talking about such a narrow category or classification that there's not even a blip of excitement from developers. Sure, fantasizing about the perfect legal app is nice. Heck, somewhere deep in the place I never think about, in that crevice where my first crush broke my heart, I longingly wish Android had a TrialPad equivalent. The truth is though, more often than not, I'm reading and editing a PDF document than I am preparing for trial.

Regardless of what the iPad-lawyer-fanboys tell you, users want productivity, usability, and easy integration with other tools. If the device provides those remedies, users gets hooked and don't particularly care which platform they use.

While we all aspire to use great apps like TrialPad or JuryStar, the truth is, we need apps like Evernote, Adobe Acrobat, and Microsoft Office to run our law practices on a daily basis. Despite my hype and joyfulness over Depose, I've actually only used it once. Ask me how many times I've used my PDF editor though, and I couldn't count them all.

Neil correctly points out that the overwhelming majority of law firms depend on Microsoft Office. That means Android, like iPad and Windows, can satisfy the demand to its fullest potential. Similarly, the latest and greatest iPad will surely be brushed into oblivion by the vast number of Android devices coming to market each month, each more powerful than its predecessor.

Paper Replacement

Neil states that "[n]ote-taking on a tablet is currently a niche activity," and "by paper replacement I refer not to note-taking, but to the far more popular activity of storing documents on a tablet that would otherwise reside on paper for reading and sometimes editing or marking up."

Conveniently, Neil praises the wonders of iPad and the Surface, while failing to recognize Android hardware as the king and reigning ruler of storage capacity.

For instance, my Asus Transformer Pad Infinity packs a whopping 32 GB (or 64 GB) of on-board storage, with the option to add additional storage via Micro SD or USB (I currently have an additional 32 GB). Now that's storage. I get to play with my apps and store my files too. Neither Apple nor Microsoft have cornered that market.

I won't even tussle over the display or design specs, except to state it's hard to beat the 598 gram weight.

As for the document editing/creation apps, Google Play has plenty too, including my favorite, OfficeSuite Pro ($14.99). Read, write, and edit Word documents.

Remote Control of Your Mac or PC

Neil seems to think that Apple has cornered the remote desktop protocol market, but again Android's playing the game too. All of the Apple and Windows big boys such as LogMeIn Ignition are available on Android, and each functions substantially similar to their iOS and Windows counterparts.

Additionally, there's nothing special about the display or connectivity of the iPad that isn't featured on a number of Android devices. Using the LogMeIn app to connect remotely to my desktop is fast via a tethered or WiFi connection. As for LTE connectivity, I get that through my phone. No problems there, and I don't have to pay extra for a part-time use device.

Laptop Replacement

My Asus Transformer Pad Infinity includes an optional docking keyboard. It's awesome. It won't replace my desktop, but I often use the keyboard attachment to write posts for The Droid Lawyer.

Google recently announced its Nexus 10, which follows its popular Nexus 7 tablet. The 7 inch tablet is perfect for carrying around, though I think that the smaller size makes actual productivity more difficult than a 10 inch counterpart. Let's not even mention the overwhelming success of the Amazon Kindle Fire. It's no surprise that Apple is following the leader with its smaller-form iPad mini.

No, Android isn't scared of iOS. iOS is scared of Android. With Android, I'm already doing some of the things Neil aspires to without sacrificing any of the benefits of a smaller device.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Originally published in our free TL NewsWire newsletter. Instead of reading TL NewsWire here, sign up now to receive future issues via email.

Legend has it that Steve Jobs did not want to create a tablet unless it could attain a level of utility beyond surfing the web in the bathroom (though I suspect many iPads spend a lot of quality time there).

Hundreds of tablets currently exist, but only three can handle serious legal work. Coincidentally, all three of these tablets launched within the past week:

• iPad (Fourth Generation): $499 to $829

• iPad mini: $329 to $659

• Surface with Windows RT: $499 to $699

You've no doubt read about these tablets in mainstream publications. Therefore, instead of describing them in typical TL NewsWire fashion, I'll discuss them in the context of the legal industry.

Paper Replacement

Earlier this week, I published an opinion essay — Can the iPad mini Play a Role in the Lives of Lawyers? — in which I suggested using the iPad mini for note-taking.

Note-taking on a tablet is currently a niche activity. The iPad and Surface with Windows RT seem (to me) too large and heavy for note-taking. The iPad mini may or may not make tablet note-taking more mainstream.

Here in TL NewsWire we deal with facts, not conjecture. So by paper replacement I refer not to note-taking, but to the far more popular activity of storing documents on a tablet that would otherwise reside on paper for reading and sometimes editing or marking up.

All three tablets can handle this task so it's more a matter of budget and preferences. The 1.4 pound iPad has the best display — 9.5 inches at 2048 x 1536 pixels and 264 pixels per inch (so-called "retina"). Microsoft's Surface with Windows RT weighs a tad more at 1.5 pounds, but it has a larger 10.6 inch widescreen display at 1366 x 768 pixels. The iPad mini clearly trades pixels for weight — 10.9 ounces and a 7.9 inch 1024 x 768 pixel display.

While all three tablets include a built-in file viewer for common document formats such as DOC and PDF, you may want a more robust tool. The App Store contains a plethora of apps for storing, viewing, and editing documents (including Apple's Pages, Numbers, and Keynote). Few third-party apps currently exist for the Surface with Windows RT, but it includes Microsoft Office (touch-enabled versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) at no extra charge.

Remote Control of Your Mac or PC

Currently, there's no contest for this common activity. The iPad wins for three reasons — apps, pixels, and connectivity.

In a recent article — Eight Reasons Why Windows 8 [sic] on a Tablet Won't Fix Our Legacy Windows Desktop Apps Problem — virtualization expert Brian Madden writes, "While it's true that you can access Windows desktop applications from your ARM-based tablets via remote Windows environments like Remote Desktop or VDI via protocols like RemoteFX, HDX, PCoIP, or VNC, the experience of using the remote Windows app has nothing to do with the local tablet OS. It literally doesn't matter if your tablet runs Android, iOS, or Windows 8."

Currently, more remote control apps exist for the iPad family than for the Surface with Windows RT. You name it and the App Store has it — VNC apps like Screens, cloud apps like LogMeIn, and local network apps like Splashtop.

That said, you probably need just one app. That's why pixels matter even more. For example, my computer is connected to a 24-inch NEC monitor with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. Thanks to the iPad's 2048 x 1536 pixels, even my large display fits comfortably within a remote control app. By contrast, displaying my computer on the iPad mini or Surface with Windows RT would feel cramped at best and perhaps even unusable.

Finally, you can order an iPad (and iPad mini) with LTE cellular data service — recommended if you want to remotely control your computer from anywhere. By contrast, the Surface with Windows RT only features WiFi.

Laptop Replacement

Ultrabooks like the MacBook Air don't just weigh more than a tablet, they cost more. Depending on your needs, a tablet may suffice as a laptop replacement when traveling. It may even better serve your needs if you primarily want to read documents (see above), stay on top of your email, and use legal-specific tablet apps (see below). Also, keyboard cases for tablets have become a cottage industry.

The Surface with Windows RT is the most laptop-like out of the box as Microsoft offers two keyboards — the soft Touch Cover (included with two of the three models) for light typing and the Type Cover ($129.99) for faster typing speeds. As their names suggest, they both serve as a protective cover too. Also, the Surface with Windows RT has a retractable Kickstand for propping it up on a desk in landscape orientation while you type.

For the iPad, you'll need to look to third parties such as Logitech and ZAGG for integrated case/keyboard solutions.

We'll need to await the iPad mini reviews before we know for sure, but its 5.3 inch width in portrait mode may make it an excellent device for thumb typing on the software keyboard (I often write this newsletter on my iPhone using ByWord so I look forward to trying to write this newsletter on the iPad mini).

Legal-Specific Apps

The iPad wins this category hands down since Windows RT just, well, surfaced (legacy Windows software doesn't run on Windows RT). Apple launched its iOS programming tools and App Store in 2008. The iPad surfaced (pun intended) in 2010. So app development for the iPad has a two and a half year head start — and longer than that really because software developers began familiarizing themselves with iOS app development in 2008, initially for the iPhone.

As discussed in our recent TL Research report — Can Microsoft Win the Legal Industry's Mobile Race? — Microsoft has often played the role of the tortoise that comes from behind to win the race. But in addition to the problems with this strategy in the mobile computing market that I discuss in the report, another problem exists — a lack of excitement among software developers.

When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, software developers were so excited that they "jailbroke" their iPhones so they could start writing apps — a year before Apple officially sanctioned app development. I don't see a similar level of excitement among software developers for Windows RT. And I'm a good judge because we cover more than 225 new products in TL NewsWire each year.

Even Android tablet apps lag far behind the iPad. Recently, lawyer Jeffrey Taylor of The Droid Lawyer tried to downplay the importance of legal apps in his article — What About the Lawyer Apps for Android? Nice try Jeffrey, but legal apps are important. That's why most law firms use Windows PCs.

In just the past few weeks, we've covered three legal iPad apps — JuryStar 2.0, TrialDirector for iPad, and Westlaw Case Notebook Portable E-Transcript. Jeffrey can point to only two legal-specific Android apps this entire year — Depose and Mobile Transcript, the latter of which is also available for the iPad.

Admittedly, some law firms don't use legal-specific software or use legal-specific cloud applications that should work fine on the Surface with Windows RT. And Microsoft Word and Outlook remain the most widely used software products in the legal industry by a country mile (there's no Outlook yet for Windows RT but I suspect it'll arrive eventually). That's why I listed only three tablets at the outset of this article, none of them Android. Microsoft Office plus cloud applications gives the Surface with Windows RT a fighting chance in the legal industry even if no Windows RT legal apps … surface.

My Tablet Usage (For Now)

For those of you who care about my tablet usage (even though I work at a media company and not in a law office), I currently own a white 32 GB Verizon iPad 2 that's headed for eBay. That's because I preordered two white 32 GB Verizon iPad minis — one to replace my iPad 2 at home (mostly for personal and work-related reading), and one to use at the office solely for work-related tasks. Specifically, I plan to use my office iPad mini to replace paper — including note-taking, thus putting my opinion about that task to the test. I'll also take advantage of its LTE hotspot functionality if we have an Internet outage.

Update: Read Jeffrey Taylor's rebuttal to my article.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers automated time capture software for computers and smartphones (see article below), a cloud application for ediscovery, an online service for sending large documents, an iPhone calendar app, and a OneNote-compatible iPad app. Don't miss the next issue.

AUTOMATICALLY BILL YOUR EMAIL AND SMARTPHONE CALLS

With the cost of telephone calls declining, many law firm clients balk at paying for the cost of a call in addition to your time spent on a call. Companies that sell cost recovery software have therefore changed their sales pitch from charging for calls to tracking the time you spend on them. But cost recovery systems can't help you when you're out of the office. Enter your smartphone. If it's so smart, it should automatically track the time you spend on calls.

Chrometa 4.0 … in One Sentence

Launched this week, Chrometa 4.0 is automatic time capture software for a growing number of devices, including smartphones.

The Killer Feature

Approximately 76% of TechnoLawyer members use an iPhone or Android smartphone (49% iPhone, 27% Android). If you're among this group, the new version of Chrometa can automatically track the time spent on your your smartphone calls via a free companion app.

The Chrometa iPhone app and Android app go beyond your smartphone's telephone app. They securely sync each call to your Chrometa account, including the person's name (if they're in your address book) and number. When you log into Chrometa via a web browser, you'll find all your unbilled mobile calls listed. You can enter additional details such as a description, and then post them for billing.

"Smartphone time tracking has been our top request over the past year," Chrometa CEO and Co-Founder Brett Owens told us. "Chrometa 4.0 pulls your mobile phone calls and turns them into billable time entries with literally no effort required on your part. You no longer have to search your phone logs or worry about recording your mobile phone time when you're on the go since we now do this for you."

Other Notable Features

As always, Chrometa passively captures time spent on your Mac or PC — as well as time spent away from your computer (it notices when you don't use your mouse or keyboard). You can create keyword-specific filters to automatically categorize your captured time (e.g., assign time to a client/matter).

The new version of Chrometa takes automated categorization further. For example, plugins for Outlook and Gmail capture the subject line and from/to/cc fields, which facilitates finalizing your billable email time. Also, a new algorithm groups similar time entries. The company claims that this grouping technology reduces the number of time entries that require review by 500%.

Also new is the Timesheets feature, which collects time entries for printing or exporting into a compatible billing system or Excel format. You can create a timesheet automatically or manually. For example, Chrometa can place all your mobile calls into a timesheet. Ditto for email or time entries that match keywords. You can have all time entries for each week or another time period placed into a timesheet. To create a timesheet manually, you just select unbilled entries (including those found with a search) and add them.

What Else Should You Know?

Chrometa costs $19, $29, or $49 per month depending on the number of devices you want to track, the duration of captured time you want to store, whether you need to create invoices within Chrometa, and your integration needs. Chrometa also has a multiple user version (Teams) that starts at $19 per month per user. Learn more about Chrometa 4.0.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers an iPad trial presentation app (see article below), an iPad keyboard case, iPad word processor, a redundant storage product, and practice management software. Don't miss the next issue.

TRIAL PRESENTATIONS SANS LAPTOP

The legal world isn't going tablet. It's going iPad. While other tablet platforms have a scant number of legal apps, nary a week goes by without at least one new iPad app for lawyers. The trial presentation field is particularly blessed probably because of the iPad's portability advantages. For example, it fits perfectly on lecterns, handles a wide variety of document formats, and has 10 hours of battery life so you don't have to worry about running out of juice right before you unveil the smoking gun.

TrialDirector for iPad … in One Sentence

Launched this week, inData Corporation's TrialDirector for iPad is a trial presentation app.

The Killer Feature

The concept behind TrialDirector for iPad is that you can use the Windows software to create more elaborate exhibits than is possible with iPad only apps while benefitting from the same portability that those apps provide.

However, TrialDirector for iPad doesn't require TrialDirector. You can use it to display documents, demonstrative evidence, and video. You can zoom in on text or call it out, as well as highlight, redact, write freehand, and employ a "laser" pointer. There's also a virtual whiteboard with shapes, lines, and other drawing tools.

Other Notable Features

You move files (including TrialDirector presentations) to TrialDirector for iPad via iTunes or Dropbox. Bookmarks enable you to rapidly call up key exhibits. Thus, you're not limited to a linear presentation.

You display your presentation via a traditional projector/television connection or wirelessly via AirPlay and an Apple TV.

When presenting, you can freeze the external display while you queue and prepare your next slide on your iPad. You can display two exhibits side by side. The app also supports video up to 1080p, including closed captioned deposition videos. Supported video formats include H.264, MPEG-4, and QuickTime.

What Else Should You Know?

TrialDirector for iPad is free. inData provides free telephone support to help get you up and running. If you want to use it in conjunction with TrialDirector 6, pricing starts at $695. Learn more about TrialDirector for iPad.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers a new version of the original PDF software (see article below), a multifunction inkjet printer, an ediscovery suite, an iPad stylus, and an iPhone PDF app. Don't miss the next issue.

PDF COMES FULL CIRCLE

The PDF format has proven itself a durable technology. It predates the Internet but survived it. It's living in harmony with native files in the evolving ediscovery world. It has become the most popular format for scanned records, and competes with word processing formats for document exchange. At this point, the PDF format will probably survive the Sun's red giant phase five billion years from now (we won't, at least not in this solar system). One reason for its durability is that the company that gave birth to the format continually gives it new capabilities.

Acrobat XI Pro … in One Sentence

Launched earlier this week, Adobe's Acrobat XI Pro is PDF software.

The Killer Feature

Adobe originally created the PDF format so that you could send people a mirror image of a document even if they didn't have the software used to create the original. In the early days, clients and colleagues "collaborated" by printing PDF files and marking them up with a pen. Then Adobe added annotation tools to Acrobat as well as the ability to make small edits (e.g., fixing a typo).

In the new version, Adobe has significantly beefed up Acrobat's editing capabilities. For example, you can search and replace text, and add, move, and remove large amounts of text with automatic paragraph reflow. These editing tools now appear instantly when you click anywhere in an editable document. If clients and colleagues edit PDF files, you can see their changes using Acrobat's document comparison.

Realizing that these tools may engender more collaboration in PDF format, Acrobat enables you to update the original Word document with the changes made to the PDF file. You can choose which changes to accept or reject during this process. As always, you can secure PDF files such as records that you don't want anyone to alter.

Other Notable Features

Adobe has enhanced a number of other tools that legal professionals use. For example, you can complete more tasks from the Ribbon in Microsoft Word such as sending a PDF file for review or invoking an Action.

Before merging documents, you can preview the pages in the different documents and re-arrange them. It's also easier to create PDF Portfolios, which enable recipients to extract the original component documents if they want. In both cases, you need not convert documents to PDF format first.

Not surprisingly, Acrobat has gained some cloud smarts. It can work with documents in Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint. It also integrates with a number of Adobe online services such as EchoSign (digital signatures) and Adobe Send it Now (securely send large documents).

What Else Should You Know?

Acrobat XI Pro works on both Macs and Windows PCs. The Windows version features a "Touch Mode" that you can toggle on when using it natively on a Windows 8 tablet or virtually on an iPad via Citrix Receiver. Acrobat XI Pro costs $449 unless you already have version 8, 9, or X in which case you can upgrade for $199. Learn more about Acrobat XI Pro.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers an iOS app for litigation case management (see article below), a new iPad stylus, an iPad note-taking app, software for encrypting USB flash drives, and an online service for creating electronic document binders. Don't miss the next issue.

PUT YOUR CLIENTS AND THEIR CASES IN YOUR POCKET

Litigators have always led a mobile lifestyle. Trials don't occur in the conference room in your office after all. Even today, some litigators still walk into court toting paper documents in a litigation briefcase on wheels. But there's no need to risk a muscle strain as you climb the courthouse steps given the onward march of mobile technology.

TrialWorks Mobile App … in One Sentence
Launched earlier this month, Lawex's TrialWorks Mobile App, which works in conjunction with the company's TrialWorks case management software, enables you to access your entire case file on your iPad and/or iPhone.

The Killer Feature
Most practice management systems understandably try to appeal to all practice areas. By contrast, TrialWorks focuses on litigation. Thus, in addition to organizing information like contacts and calendar events by matter, it also accommodates litigation-specific information. For example, it tracks dates such as incidents, statutes of limitations, and trials. It also stores medical records and contains a settlement calculator.

The TrialWorks Mobile App enables you to take this information with you on your iOS device. Most notable is the Case History function as it contains all case data in chronological order. Through Case History, you can access any calendar item, document, note, and more. Additionally, you can email documents such as a court opinion or pleadings directly from the app to the judge, opposing counsel, etc.

"The TrialWorks Mobile App is a game changer," Lawex president Robb Steinberg told us. "The ability to review the entire case history, including documents, notes, deadlines, contacts, and email, from your iPad or iPhone, enables attorneys to be productive anywhere anytime."

Other Notable Features
When you launch the TrialWorks Mobile App, you first see the Dashboard. You can quickly select a recently-viewed case or find and select a case you have not previously viewed in the app. A toolbar enables you to access other features of the app such as Contacts, Docket, Notes, and Timekeeper.

When you pull up a contact, you can tap a telephone number to place a call. The Docket enables you to review court dates and tasks. Notes store information related to a matter added by you and your colleagues. With Timekeeper, you can enter time on the go as it occurs.

All the features in the TrialWorks Mobile App are bidirectional, which means you can both access existing information as well as enter new information (calendar events, new client intakes, expenses, notes, tasks, time, etc.). The app securely syncs with TrialWorks in your office when your iPad or iPhone has access to the Internet.

What Else Should You Know?
The TrialWorks Mobile App is free for TrialWorks users who have an active maintenance agreement. It features its own login screen for added security. Learn more about the TrialWorks Mobile App.

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Today's issue of TL NewsWire covers an iPad app for voir dire (see article below), a smartphone stand, an iPad note-taking app, and speech recognition software. Don't miss the next issue.

VOIR DIRE FOR THE MODERN LITIGATOR

Lawyers win or lose trials because of many factors, but jury selection might be the most important, especially if both parties are evenly matched financially. Given the importance of voir dire, it's ironic that most litigators still use stickie notes and other archaic means of keeping track of potential jurors. Up until now, software has failed to make much of a dent in this process because laptops have poor battery life and are not conducive to being used while standing and walking. The iPad solves this problem — provided you have an app that's more reliable than the old paper-based methods.

JuryStar 2.0 … in One Sentence
Launched earlier this week, Litigator Technology's JuryStar 2.0 is an iPad app for managing the jury selection process (voir dire).

The Killer Feature
Because Litigator Technology is not just an app developer but also a provider of an online jury consultancy program, it tested the first version of JuryStar with hundreds of juries. The company also received feedback from dozens of lawyers and paralegals who used version 1. Litigator Technology applied this real-world feedback to the new version.

For example, Litigator Technology learned that jury panels can differ dramatically in layout and size depending on the type of case and venue. Thus, you can configure the new version of JuryStar for any seating scenario, and change it dynamically if the environment changes during voir dire.

The full screen view displays up to eight rows of eight seats per row (64 prospective jurors). If more seats exist than you can display, you can scroll up, down, left, and right. Numbers along the sides and top (think stadium seating) help you find your place when confronted with large jury panels.

"We learned a great deal from our early clients since launching JuryStar 1.0 in the fall of 2011," Litigator Technology CEO Nancy Patterson told us. "It was the feedback from attorneys, paralegals, and trial consultants that helped shape this major version 2.0 update."

Other Notable Features
The new version of JuryStar makes it easier to get up and running thanks to a video tutorial within the app, as well as a redesigned user interface that minimizes the number of taps so that you can enter data quickly as you poll jurors.

JuryStar features a new "Choose Topic" library in which you can store questions by topic for reuse in similar cases. The app includes a "Default Trial" with three sample topics and associated questions that pertain to most trials (remember, JuryStar was created with the help of jury consultants).

You can track jurors by number or both name and number. You can also apply one of three colors to each juror — blue for male, red for female, and green for a custom label of your choosing (e.g., Challenge for Cause). In addition to entering this basic juror information, you can apply other details using customizable fields.

For both individual and group voir dire, you can quickly rate each juror using a scale of -5 to +5, as well as strike one or more jurors simultaneously. JuryStar tracks both your peremptory challenges as well as those of the other party. Once a juror is struck, you can re-assign that juror's number and seat if another prospect takes their place on the panel.

What Else Should You Know?
JuryStar 2.0 costs $39.99. It works on all iPads, but performs best on the iPad 2 and later models. Learn more about JuryStar 2.0.

How to Receive TL NewsWire
So many products, so little time. In each issue of TL NewsWire, you'll learn about five new products for the legal profession. Pressed for time? The newsletter's innovative articles enable lawyers and law office administrators to quickly understand the function of a product, and zero in on its most important features. The TL NewsWire newsletter is free so don't miss the next issue. Please subscribe now.