This Week In Legal Tech: 10 Tiny Tools To Simplify A Lawyer's Life

Tech columnist Bob Ambrogi discusses ten tools that simplify common tasks and let you squeeze more time of the day.

onSeptember 19, 2016 at 11:05 AM

lawyer technology legal tech Small can be big when it comes to productivity. For lawyers, there are a variety of small apps and programs that simplify common tasks and let you squeeze a few more minutes out of a busy day. Here are 10 worth checking out.

ActiveWords. This simple little utility turns words into actions on your computer. Just type a word to insert blocks of text, start a program, navigate to a web page, send an email, or perform just about any command you can think of. Type “word” to open Microsoft Word, then type “lease” to insert your standard lease provisions. Type “cnn” to open CNN’s website. Type “sig” to insert a rich-text or HTML signature block in any email program. You define the trigger words and actions. An annual license is $30.
Evernote Scannable. Whether or not you use Evernote, its free scanner app for iPhone and iPad is invaluable. The killer feature is that it is fully automatic. Just start it up and point it at what you want to scan – a document, receipt, business card, photo or whatever. It automatically finds and focuses on the document and captures the scan, and then automatically enhances the brightness, contrast and clarity of the image. You never have to touch a button.
CaseManager. There’s a dizzying array of practice management systems on the market, but if you are a solo who wants a cheap, no-frills alternative, consider CaseManager. It was designed by a solo lawyer to use in his own practice, and to work as well as on a mobile device as on a desktop. It includes the basics – case management, contacts management, calendaring, time and expense tracking, task management and even document storage (using Dropbox). But it costs just a one-time charge of $20 for the mobile app and $40 for the PC or Mac version.
Copy2Contact. This simple time-saver lets you grab information from anywhere on your computer with a single keystroke and place it into Outlook as a contact, appointment or note. Say you just received an e-mail to schedule a meeting. Highlight the meeting information, hit a button, and the appointment is added. Highlight the sender’s sig, hit the button again and a new contact is created with all the information in the correct fields. It works anywhere – a web page, document or in virtually any application. The basic price is $34.95 for a one-year license.
Redact Assistant. Redacting PDF documents is easy, because the leading PDF programs come with a redaction tool built in. But not so in Microsoft Word and Excel. To the rescue comes Redact Assistant. It makes it easy to redact Word and Excel documents and then save the redacted documents in their native formats. It also comes with several advanced features, such as redaction of multiple terms in a single operation and of multiple files at the same time. Redact Assistant costs $45.
Wolfram Lawyer’s Professional Assistant. If ever there was a Swiss Army knife for lawyers, it is this multi-function app for iPad and iPhone. From the “computational knowledge company” Wolfram|Alpha, this app can perform calendar computations, fee calculations, settlement calculations and interest-rate calculations. It includes legal reference tools, demographic data, international calculators, currency converters, real estate calculators, and more. All this for a price of $4.99. Regrettably, there is no Android version.
SimplyFile. Managing Outlook’s inbox is a constant struggle. But this Outlook add-in makes it easier. SimplyFile is an “intelligent filing assistant” that learns from your filing habits. As you read e-mail, it suggests the folder in which to file each message and then lets you file it with one click. If the suggestion is incorrect, click the QuickPick button to bring up a list of all your folders and select the correct one. The program also lets you quickly add an email to your to-do list or calendar. SimplyFile is $49.95.
Bestlaw. This free Chrome and Firefox extension makes Westlaw and Lexis Advance easier to use by adding features you wish they had. Among them: copy a perfect Bluebook citation with one click, enhance the readability of documents, prevent automatic sign-off, collapse and expand statutory sections, generate clickable tables of contents, jump easily between footnotes and main text, and copy any citation or docket number with one click, and more. A Pro version for $5 a month adds access to secondary sources, such as journal articles and other materials; free PDF downloads, enabling you to save cases offline without getting charged; and free printing, so you never pay for printing cases.
PerfectIt. This add-in for Microsoft Word is like having your own proofreader. It scours your document for inconsistencies in usages and styles and other mistakes. On top of that, it comes loaded with a style sheet specifically designed for lawyers, called American Legal Style. It checks spelling, capitalization, hyphenation and italicization of legal terms based on Black’s Law Dictionary; finds errors in citations based on The Bluebook; and suggests style tips from The Red Book: A Manual On Legal Style by Bryan Garner and The Elements of Style by Strunk & White. You can download a free 30-day trial. The one-time purchase price is $99.
Duet Display. If you’re like me and need a second monitor to feel productive, get this app. It turns your iPad or iPhone into a second monitor. It is ideal for working in hotel rooms or anywhere away from the office. Simply start the app on your iPad, connect the USB cable to your computer, and the connection is nearly instantaneous. Plus, you get the touch-screen capabilities of your iPad, even if your computer does not have a touch screen. The app costs $19.99 and is worth every penny for the boost in productivity.

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From Pilot and Above The Law

Robert Ambrogi is a Massachusetts lawyer and journalist who has been covering legal technology and the web for more than 20 years, primarily through his blog LawSites.com. Former editor-in-chief of several legal newspapers, he is a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and an inaugural Fastcase 50 honoree. He can be reached by email at ambrogi@gmail.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@BobAmbrogi).