Gone are the days when you had to spend hours in a library catching up on case law or waiting for evidence to be served. Apps have changed all of that, making it possible for anyone to access legal resources at their fingertips. Apps can be downloaded onto laptops, smartphones, and tablets, allowing attorneys and paralegals to work remotely wherever they go.
Here’s our list of ten apps that will prove incredibly useful in your practice:
- Case Law Access – This app makes it easy to search US case law from within WestLawNext. Once installed, this app requires an active Westlaw subscription. The App is compatible with AndroidTM 3.0+, Apple iOS 6+ smartphones & tablets, Kindle Fire HDX, Kindle Fire HD, and other devices.
- Sentencing Law Guide – This app allows you to quickly reference various drugs, quantities, offenses, enhancements, and punishments. The content is searchable by all federal sentencing guidelines as well as state laws in New Jersey. It also contains the commentary for each guideline that provides guidance on how to interpret them. One handy feature is that this app will update automatically when new material is released by either the USSC or states, which occurs several times a year!
- Federal Criminal Discovery Manual – This guide was created to provide an introduction to criminal discovery in federal cases along with practical guidance specific to federal criminal practice. This app includes information about what documents are discoverable; what must be turned over by the government to the defense; and how to handle materials protected by the attorney-client, work product, or other privileges.
- Criminal Jury Instructions Apps – There are a few different apps that provide criminal jury instructions across states. The advantage of using one of these apps is that you can access the most recent instructions regardless of your location, which is important given the frequent updates made to jury instructions.
- Process Server App – If you’re working on a case that involves a serving process, there’s an app for that! This handy tool will help you track when and where you’ve served documents, as well as create reports to help with your billing.
- Research Apps – Apps such as WestlawNext and Lexis Advance provide access to legal documents at the push of a button.
- JotNot Pro Mobile Scanner – Apps like this help with making your life easier by giving you a scanner on hand where ever you go
- My Case app – Keep track of cases and clients in one convenient place!
- FindLaw Lawyers & Legal Help – Apps like these can be great for finding local attorneys and getting legal advice quickly (for free!).
- CaseLaw – This app contains all the data in the popular legal resource, FindLaw’s Cases and Codes.
Final Note
Using any of the apps can help make your legal work a little less complicated and a lot more organized. So next time you’re gearing up for a case, be sure to check out the app store for some helpful tools!
