Lawyers have a lot on their plate, from managing clients, cases, and schedules to doing legal research, preparing legal documents, and attending case hearings. While this may seem nightmarish for the uninitiated, most lawyers use a variety of apps for lawyers to effortlessly manage these activities.
Most lawyers can and do work remotely via laptops, PCs, and smartphones, they must use the best app for lawyers to ensure productivity and efficiency. As there are numerous legal apps that lawyers can use, choosing the best one can be challenging.
That’s why we bring you a list of top lawyer apps you can use to improve your productivity and manage your daily tasks without any hassles.
Top 10 Legal Apps That a Lawyer Must Use
1. Clio
Clio is an all-inclusive, cloud-based law practice management program that provides all the support you need to remotely practice your profession. It also comes with a mobile app that helps you stay connected and access any details stored in your server from anywhere you need.
Here are a few advantages of using Clio:
- It helps you stay organized with features such as case, document, contact, and task management. Clio has a calendaring feature to keep your schedule up-to-date.
- With Clio, you can bill your clients efficiently. Clio helps you manage billing, accounting, online payments, and expense and time tracking.
- Using Clio also guarantees better relationship with your clients, as the app help you with client intake, CRM, appointments, workflow, and email automation, etc.
Pricing
Clio offers a free trial for seven days. You can choose any of the following paid plans based on your requirements during this trial period:
- EasyStart plan at $39/month per user
- Essentials plan at $69/month per user
- Advanced plan at $99/month per user
- Complete plan at $129/month per user
2. Feedly
In today’s internet era, it is easier to drown in content placed on social media by content creators. This is a challenge that lawyers and law firms need to overcome when looking for real-time, worthy content for research, marketing, and competitor analysis.
With Feedly, you can address this issue effortlessly as it enables you to sieve and streamline your feed with insightful and value-adding content per your needs on iOS and Android platforms.
A few advantages of using Feedly are:
- It helps you effectively remove the noise to find and organize pertinent content that adds value to your profession and business.
- The AI of Feedly, Leo is a self-learning robot that you can train to remove unwanted content. Once you train it, Leo will take care of the rest.
- You can also use tags and streams to neatly arrange your content feed to find what you are looking for in no time.
Pricing
The plans offered by Feedly are affordable and value-adding, and they are:
- Pro plan at $6/month (billed annually)
- Pro+ plan at $8.25/month (billed annually)
- Enterprise plan that offers custom pricing
3. Evernote
Another top application for lawyers to keep notes and recordings is Evernote. This app has an easy-to-use interface and simple layout that makes it easy for lawyers to take full advantage of it.
For a lightweight app, Evernote ensures a range of benefits, such as:
- Evernote allows users to take, edit, save, and organize notes on the go. As it can be easily installed on your phone, lawyers can use it anywhere.
- Evernote also can be synced across multiple devices. This ensures that once you update a note, recording, or image on one device, you can access it on all the connected devices.
- With Evernote, users can also take images of receipts, papers, whiteboards, etc., and edit, crop, rotate and store them in the app.
Pricing
Evernote offers three plans, as given below:
1. Free plan to sync two devices with 60MB monthly uploads
2. Personal plan at ₹208.25/month to sync unlimited devices with 10GB monthly uploads
3. professional plan at ₹308.25/month to sync unlimited devices with 20GB monthly uploads.
4. OneDrive
OneDrive offers collaborative and personal cloud storage for its users. The tool allows users to save all types of files and images into the OneDrive cloud and these files can be accessed anytime you wish on any connected device.
Some advantages of using this tool are:
- You can integrate OneDrive easily with Microsoft 365 app and take advantage of the Microsoft environment for creating, editing, and sharing files.
- OneDrive is also one of the most secure applications in the market and has strong personal data securing systems and protocols to prevent unauthorized access.
- It also allows users to work and collaborate on live documents, which makes it easier for teams to work together on case files, documents, etc.
Pricing
Microsoft OneDrive offers two exclusive plans.
1. OneDrive for Business (Plan 1) at ₹ 395.00/month
2. OneDrive for Business (Plan 2) at ₹ 785.00/month
You may also get access to OneDrive when you subscribe to Microsoft 365 plans
5. Legodesk
If you are a lawyer working in India and looking for a virtual assistant to help, Legodesk is the best. As an integrated law firm software, Legodesk is more than just a workflow automation tool designed for lawyers and law firms.
The app allows lawyers to sort case files and related documents, automate case management, send essential reminders, and manage client billing, effortlessly.
A few advantages of using Legodesk are:
- It helps you carry out case tracking quickly and efficiently to stay current with the critical updates and progress of your client’s litigations in Indian courts.
- As a case management app for lawyers, Legodesk enables businesses to efficiently manage contacts, case documents, finance and billing, and time tracking.
- With Legodesk Zapier integration, legal businesses can take advantage of diverse platforms to manage and grow their business quickly.
Pricing
- Legodesk offers a custom plan for its users according to their needs.
6. Fastcase
If you are practicing in the US and want to access the American Law Library, Fastcase is the best app for lawyers. Fastcase is an all-in-one software solution for law firms to serve clients better, manage cases efficiently, and quickly grow.
The application allows users to search for statutes, conduct legal research, create data-driven law practices for better litigations, and enrich their marketing and client resources.
A few of the top benefits of using the app for attorneys are:
- Fastcase helps users to find and curate relevant legal news quickly. This endows attorneys and law firms to keep themselves updated on the developments happening in the US legal sector.
- Fastcase also offers AI sandbox where businesses can use custom AI tools with data from Fastcase for a range of client management, litigation, and business expansion strategies.
- Another benefit of using Fastcase is that it helps businesses generate deeper insights from the data collected within the platform. These insights can help law firms and attorneys to make informed and data-driven decisions.
Pricing
- Fastcase offers three plans, and they are:
- Appellate plan at $65/month
- Premium plan at $95/month with a free trial
- Enterprise plan at a customized rate
7. DocXtools by Litera
Though there are many lawyer apps online, attorneys find it hard to discover an app that offers adequate features to collaborate, review, repair, and compare legal documents to produce top-quality legal documents. DocXtools is the best solution for those lawyers. Using the app, lawyers can effectively collaborate and compare diverse documents easily. And the best part is that all these can be done on multiple devices.
Some important advantages of the app are:
- It helps users manage their documents and collaborate on the same. With DocXtools, the changes made in the documents are shared across all devices.
- The app also makes it easier for lawyers and legal firms to manage, edit, stylize, and organize their legal documents and files effectively.
- As the tool also hosts a variety of sensitive documents, it also has a range of privacy and data protection systems.
Pricing
- You can request a demo and pricing of DocXtools by Litera at their website.
8. Tripit
Although it is hard to find a law firm time and billing software solution that can help with travel tracking, Tripit can do it for constantly traveling lawyers who have no time to keep them all updated manually. All that the user has to do is to book, and Tripit will take care of everything else.
Some advantages of using Tripit are:
- Tripit is designed to deliver its users timely reminders about everything they need to do. Hence, you don’t miss anything. Further, all these are logged and can be accessed later.
- Setting up your itinerary is easy with Tripit, which is one of the major reasons most lawyers use this app.
- In addition to being available on the web and mobile phones, it can also be used in wearables to make it even more convenient for users.
Pricing
There are two plans with Tripit:
1. A free Tripit plan
2. A paid Tripit Pro plan at $49/year with a free trial
9. Any.do
As a lawyer, you know the importance of completing and managing your tasks well. If you are looking for such a tool that can help you with everything from completing, organizing, managing, and updating your task, Any.do is the best solution you have. An intelligent and intuitive app, it makes your working hours hassle-free.
Key advantages of using the app are:
- You will never miss an appointment, meeting, or schedule as Any.do can act as an intelligent and effective reminder app for lawyers.
- With Any.do, you can effectively sync your tasks across multiple connected devices. Hence, it is easy for you to carry out your tasks on your smartphone, laptop, or PC.
- Any.do offers lawyers the peace of mind they need to carry out their tasks professionally and efficiently without worrying about managing them.
Pricing
There are three plans that Any.do offers:
1. Free plan for everyone
2. Premium plan at $3/month per user billed annually
3. Teams plan at $5/month per user billed annually
10. 1Password
There is no doubt that lawyers may need to access numerous websites and applications using a variety of passwords. It would be hard to remember all of them, and what is even more damaging is to use the same or similar passwords for all of them.
1Password is the best solution for this dilemma, as it is a secure and powerful vault for all your passwords. It is easy to use and can also protect your passwords from any security breaches.
A few advantages of using the app are:
- The application is available for all major mobile platforms, such as iOS, Android, and Windows, and other desktop operating systems, such as Windows, Mac, and Linux.
- The app uses a safe offline component to improve its safety, and not being connected to the internet makes the password even more secure.
- It has multiple plans for individuals, businesses, and corporate users. This ensures that people can subscribe to the service as per their needs.
Pricing
1Password offers three plans.
1. Team Starter Pack for a team of up to 10 people at $19.95
2. Business plan at $7.99/month per user
3. Enterprise plan that businesses buy at custom rates.
Why Should You Use Legal Apps?
Many lawyers are now using lawyer apps to manage their work, do legal research, and interact with their clients. However, not everyone does that. If you are a lawyer who is not currently using an app to bolster your productivity, here are a few benefits of using a legal app for lawyers and legal firms:
Help manage tasks better
As a lawyer or law firm, several tasks need to be carried out daily. Due to the very nature of the business, all of them are important, and one must not miss any of them. Using a lawyer app can help you manage these tasks well and without fail.
Automate and track routine activities
In addition to carrying out routine tasks, law firms and lawyers must also be able to track and manage these activities efficiently. However, it may be impossible to do it always without fail. Businesses can automate and track these activities with great effectiveness using an app for lawyers.
Support better reporting and analysis
All businesses need to analyze their activities and generate reports for various business and client management purposes. Legal firms also have such requirements. By using an intelligent app with adequate reporting and analysis tools, the process becomes easier for them.
Simple yet effective schedule management
Whether you are a business or a lawyer, you may have daily meetings, calls, and cases to attend to. Due to the busy schedule, it is important that businesses and lawyers must always manage their schedules well. Using an app for law firm calendaring makes schedule management easier.
Help in legal research and data finding
Legal search is an important part of most litigations and lawsuits. Therefore, failing to carry out adequate research can lead to losses. There are diverse legal applications that focus on helping lawyers and law firms conduct timely and top-quality legal research.
Effectively track your billable hours
Tracking hours and billable hours is extremely important for individual lawyers and law firms. When you have an app to help you with the same, you can produce accurate reports on billable hours quickly without needing to calculate and aggregate them for billing manually.
How to Choose the Best Lawyer App for You
There are several attorney applications that one can find online. Most of them claim to be the best in the market, too. There the dilemma in choosing the best law apps is understandable.
However, here are a few tips that you can rely on while choosing legal apps for yourself or your business:
Understand what you want from the legal app
When you start considering the app, the first thing you need to consider is your requirements.
As you begin, list all your requirements based on their priority. This list will help you get a clear picture of the features that your ideal law firm or lawyer application must have.
Doing so will make your research even more streamlined to reach the best app you can get.
Consider if the app for attorneys is scalable
Every lawyer and law firm wants to grow. Therefore, when you decide to invest in an attorney application, check if it can be scaled as your business grows.
Once you become familiar with an app and integrate your work into it, migrating to a different application can be challenging and time-consuming.
Therefore, always ensure that your app is scalable as your business grows.
Look at the learning curve of the application
This is another area that businesses and lawyers must consider when looking to buy a legal app. Once you install the same, you and the staff at the firm must be able to learn to use it quickly.
If the learning curve is too long, it may be hard for the team to master the tool, and you may not be able to take advantage of the app as quickly as you want.
Hence, go for an all that has a shorter learning curve.
Examine if the lawyer app has remote access
Lawyers tend to travel a lot, and it is important to stay connected to the application wherever they are. This helps them stay in the loop and know about everything happening in the app and at the firm.
For this to happen, the app must have remote access capabilities. Therefore, when you are browsing for a lawyer app, consider these elements, as well.
Check the features and how it helps your business
The features of the app are another important element that businesses must assess before purchasing the application. Ensure that the app you consider has the desired features and will benefit your business.
Take help from a technician who is familiar with these sorts of things in your sector if you have trouble deciding.
Analyze the budget allocated for the lawyer app
The budget that you have allocated for purchasing the app is another area that you must consider. Evaluate your operations and growth potential before allocating the budget.
Once the budget is allocated, try to get a solution that offers you the best value for your investment.
You should not overspend or underspend your budget.
Study the technical support of the service provider
This is another important element that you must take into consideration before making the final decision. If you find yourself in any technical trouble, you must be able to get timely support from the technical team.
Hence, check if the service provider has a chat support or 24×7 customer care team that can be reached. Examine if the service is paid or offer priority help.
Make the decision final only after you consider all these elements.
Conclusion
Technology can help lawyers and law firms in a variety of ways. This fact has been emphasized by the increasing demand for apps for attorneys in the recent past. As lawyers become busy and law businesses grow, it is imperative they move to a more robust, powerful, and cloud-based legal software platform. Adopting legal firm software platforms also helps businesses streamline their operations and expedite their growth.
While these lawyer apps can be of immense help, you need to be cautious when choosing the right one. The app must make your job easier and not more complicated. Therefore, before you make the decision, you must consider a few legal firm software solutions and choose the best one that fits your business specifically.
Check out this list of legal software on SaaSDart to make the best choice for your business.