Big Data, Tiny Screens – Mobile Applications Debuting at LegalTech New York 2010

25
Jan
2010

Great things often come in small packages, like the ignition key to a Ferrari, an engagement ring, a winning lottery ticket, or…an iPhone!  The business of practicing law is being transacted more and more on handheld devices, cell phones and pocket computers.  E-mails now deliver massive amounts of information onto Lilliputian-sized gadgets and this has become critically important to meeting client demands of 24/7 availability.

“I didn’t get the memo” has gone the way of “The dog ate my homework” as a valid excuse for not being informed.  There are so many ways to be connected back to the office, even if you’re on a beach somewhere.  While this phenomenon can be viewed as depressing for some, it can also be seen as a major plus and convenience.  Perhaps it means that a beach could be in your future after all this winter!

LegalTech New York (www.legaltechshow.com) is officially imminent on the horizon.  This year’s extravaganza will be held February 1-3 at its usual haunt, the Hilton New York Hotel.  At LegalTech, the best and brightest vendors will be showing their wares to legal IT consumers.  Not surprisingly, one of the big areas for new product debuts this year is mobile accessible applications that deliver the benefits of software to handheld devices for round-the-clock use.  The companies behind the products mentioned here will be on display at LegalTech and its sister event, the Chief Information and Technology Officers Forum “CIO/CTO Forum” (http://tinyurl.com/ycchg7t), so keep your eyes peeled.

Ready, Set, Clio
Themis Solutions out of Vancouver, BC is introducing new support for mobile platforms that will deliver Clio (www.goclio.com), the company’s web-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) practice management system on mobile devices.  Clio now supports major touch-screen devices like iPhone, Palm Pre, and Android-based phones like Google Nexus One. 

Lawyers who have broken ranks with the Blackberry crowd and are using iPhones will be happy to know that they can log in to Clio and access their data using their phone.  Clio’s mobile application for the iPhone was recently highlighted in the iPhone J.D. blog by attorney Jeff Richardson:  http://tinyurl.com/ybpuzy8

Attorney and Clio user Brian Pedigo of the Pedigo Law Corporation (www.pedigolaw.com) comments, “The Clio iPhone application enables me to retrieve key practice data, whether it's a contact's address, my calendar, or information regarding a specific matter, in real-time. This gives me the power of accessing information wherever I happen to be, whether I’m on the road or at lunch with a client, whenever I need it.  Having access to my practice data on my mobile in real-time is invaluable.”

Publishing Silverlight Deep Zoom with IGC’s Net-It
The “cool” factor of the iPhone is fairly unrivaled.  When my sister takes me through a slideshow with the whisk of her finger, it is still totally mesmerizing to me.  If you have ever seen Microsoft® Silverlight Deep Zoom, that technology has a similar effect on the senses.  Deep Zoom allows users to zoom into and pan across large high-resolution images, using their mouse to navigate rather than their index fingers.
At LegalTech, Arizona’s Informative Graphics Corporation (IGC) is introducing a new capability to publish any file format, including CAD drawings, as Silverlight Deep Zoom images using its Net-It Enterprise automated publishing application.  (http://www.infograph.com/net-it.htm).  This makes it possible for attorneys specializing in construction, real estate or architecture law to view and zoom into oversized CAD files from their mobile devices while they are on-site or in the field.

Conflicts Reports on the Go from Frayman
Mobile application development has found its way into the risk management and conflicts clearing process as well.  The consulting arm of The Frayman Group “TFG” (www.fraymangroup.com) has developed a mobile conflicts reporting capability so lawyers can review and respond to custom-developed conflicts reports from their Blackberry smartphones.  Conflicts analysts can perform conflicts searches using LegalKEY® Conflicts Management and distribute them to lawyers who need to be in the loop.  TFG is discussing this and other enhancements to the LegalKEY Conflicts Management application at the aforementioned CIO/CTO Forum, at the Hilton Feb. 2-3.
 
According to TFG's President and CEO Yuri Frayman, "Securing timely responses from all involved parties is crucial to the effectiveness of the conflicts process, so this mobile capability is incredibly important, given that today’s attorneys are frequently traveling and need to review and respond to conflicts clearance requests from their Blackberry devices.”
 
Mobile conflicts reporting capabilities are already deployed at a major law firm, ensuring that they would integrate both with the firm’s LegalKEY and TFG's Compliguard™ Flow New Business Intake System.  The new mobile conflicts reporting functionality transforms voluminous conflicts reports into quick, comprehensive summaries that deliver speed and efficiency without compromising thoroughness.  Lawyers stand to benefit greatly from accessing properly formatted conflicts reports from their Blackberry devices, and ultimately, the firm benefits by speeding up the conflicts clearance process significantly.

Access to Documents with Worldox/Web Mobile
Longstanding LegalTech denizen Worldox® (www.worldox.com), the document management system (DMS), was launched in 1993.  Its parent company World Software Corporation® has been around since 1988, making it one of the true pioneers of legal technology.  Given the fact that law firms produce documents for a living – literally – several years ago, Worldox introduced the Worldox/Web Mobile interface that enabled access to documents and searching capabilities from an Internet browser.  Initially intended for use from home PCs or laptops, Worldox/Web has now expanded support of mobile devices to include Blackberry, iPhone, Palm Treo, Windows® CE PDAs and cellphones. 

Ray Zwiefelhofer, World Software’s President, emphasizes the importance of document access on the go.  He notes, “In addition to working from their offices, today’s lawyers are constantly traveling, working from their homes, hotels, airports or restaurants – anywhere they can get a wireless connection.  Since documents are the lifeblood of the legal industry, they need to be constantly available, not trapped on someone’s office workstation.  Worldox/Web Mobile is designed to offer document management anywhere at any time, and it is becoming more essential to the practice of law by the day.”

This year’s LegalTech and CIO/CTO Forum prove to be exciting as always, with many new products and services joining the industry landscape with new bells and whistles.  Software is becoming increasingly mobile, which brings increased freedom, productivity and efficiency to legal workflow.  As you wander up and down the Exhibit Hall aisles this year, keep an eye out for more ways to stay connected using mobile technology.  Certainly, that will help you to think big – and go small!