Our App of the Week series covers productivity and lifestyle apps as well as legal apps, all leading to a more productive and mobile lawyer. This week’s edition takes a small detour to share the love with some other sites that cover legal apps.

iPhone JD – The title says it all. iPhone JD is a site for lawyers using iPhones and iPads published by Jeff Richardson, an attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jeff does a thorough job profiling each app with screenshots and insightful analysis. He also offers up useful tips and other tech news.

Mobile Legal Apps – Another title that leaves no guesswork about what this site offers up. Hosted by UCLA School of Law, the site lists legal and related mobile apps in a few categories including Legal Research and Law School.

Law Sites – Tracking new and intriguing web sites for the legal profession, the prolific Bob Ambrogi also writes about legal apps. Click on the Apps tag to view a list of legal app reviews.

Law Firm Mobile – This site tracks and reviews mobile apps developed by law firms. They also cover mobile-ready websites, and focus on what lawyers are doing to reach out to clients for marketing or business development purposes.

Any others?

Have an app you love and want to tell the world about? Write a guest post for our app of the week series! Click here to email us your idea and we’ll be in touch!

We have many acronyms in the software business, but my favorite relates to a process, not a techno-flavor of the month. It’s the DRY principal, and it stands for Don’t Repeat Yourself.

Legal form creation is one area that’s completely ripe for the DRY principal, and until now, there hasn’t been a good option for firms on a limited tech budget, Macintosh using attorneys, or those favoring cloud software. Today however, Rocket Matter, the sponsor of this blog, rolled out Document Assembly as part of their 2.0 release.

Consequently, document assembly technology, typically affordable only to firms with large budgets and/or Windows-based systems, is now available to the rest of the world. The long, cruel nightmare is over.

Embracing automatic document generation has many advantages, but here are the top five: (more…)

As I looked around this blog considering what to write (cool blog!), I began to think about why we are interested in increasing productivity. Ultimately, I realized, we are interested in being more productive because we think that, by doing so, we can get more of what we want in life. In other words, in spite of the challenges of law, we want to thrive – that overall sense that life is good in spite of the challenges (or maybe because of them).

There are some wrong turns we can take on the path to thriving, and one of them is to focus on making more money. In other words, we could believe:

More productivity = More money = Greater Thriving

Wrong! Research on well-being, what makes us happy, what gives us that sense of thriving in life has produced some pretty compelling evidence that beyond a fairly modest base, money makes little difference. However, most people get this point intuitively without the research. Try this. Imagine a lawyer with a household income of $80,000 who describes his or her life as follows: (more…)

Remember when we proudly exclaimed “multitasking” as a skill on our resume? That was before social media, and the abundance of online distractions that permeate our increasingly digital work life.

And not just our work life. Our social lives are interrupted with smartphone beeps, although in recent social situations it seems to be an increasingly accepted part of the experience. Treadmill desk are all the rage (I tried a stationary bike/desk contraption and it worked well for a time, but abandoned it for the gym. It’s good to step away from the desk!). Even movie theaters are putting in “tweeting seats”. Whatever happened to being present and enjoying the event and the company of the people right next to you? (more…)

Occasionally we cover “Lifesyle” apps which go to efficiency, wellness and other issues, leading to increased productivity. CardStar is such an app.

I’m not much of a shopper, but appreciate a deal when I see one. Often, those deals are connected to a loyalty card and even more frequently, those cards are either lost or left at home. The one item we’re never without is our smartphone and now with CardStar, our plastic.

Use your phone’s camera to scan in cards for hundreds of national and regional retailers, libraries and associations. If we don’t support a card, or if your card doesn’t have a barcode, it’s easy to add your own.

I’ve started using the app and it works beautifully. No more fishing around for cards or losing out on deals. And I’ve made a dent in eliminating clutter by gleefully dumping the plastic cards. (more…)

We’re consuming more information on our mobile devices, including blog posts.

As bloggers we know that content is king. We also spend a bit lots of time fiddling with the format, font, color, and a ton of other design features to enhance readability and make the experience for our visitors pleasant and efficient.

Unfortunately all of that formatting doesn’t translate well on a smartphone. What’s a blogger to do?

If you’re on the WordPress platform – which I highly recommend – it’s as simple as uploading and activating a plugin, choosing the settings you want (the default works just fine) and that’s it. All in less than five minutes.

The awesome plugin is WPtouch which formats your site with a mobile theme for visitors on Apple iPhone / iPod touch, Google Android, Blackberry Storm and Torch, Palm Pre and other smartphones. (more…)

When: January 26, 2012, 12:00PM – 1:00PM, EST
Speaker: Donna Seyle, Law Practice Stragtegy

Click here to register

Solo and small firm lawyers can level the playing field with both big law and the legal services industry by expanding their legal services delivery methods while ensuring the success and sustainability of their practices. Technology enables lawyers to provide competent representation at an affordable cost to clients without sacrificing their bottom line.

Join us and learn how to use cost-effective 2.0 technology, project management principles, and alternative fee agreements to start and grow your practice with efficiency in our evolving legal marketplace. (more…)

Our headquarters are in sunny South Florida, but when I get to spend time in my hometown in West New York, there are a few little things that I really look forward to doing. One of those things is snagging some fresh donuts (or, if you prefer, doughnuts) early in the morning from a local, family-owned bakery.  Sure, the donuts at the major supermarkets are fine, the ones at the chain store coffee shops are OK, but they’re just not as good.

So … how does this relate to software?

Well, one of the great things we’re going to see in 2012 is a proliferation of more software and technological tools for lawyers. As technology marches forward, as attorney adoption becomes inevitable (eventually required?), the software business becomes more attractive and naturally more players will enter the market.  Generally, competition is good and more choice is even better, but then again … (more…)

Yesterday, we discussed how lawyers could improve their law firm productivity and personal well-being by training for a triathlon or 5k, and the positive reaction told us we were on to something.

So today, we’re going to stick with the fitness theme for today’s mobile app:  Active.com.

Last year in my quest to keep in shape and stay disciplined, the Active.com app was a critical, invaluable asset. They publish new articles every day about different sports and feature lots of great advice.  Their regular website is great too:  check out their 5k and triathlon starter guides. (more…)

Lawyers, like other professionals, work better and clear a higher profit when they make better decisions.

And you make better decisions when you’re less stressed. And you’re less stressed when you exercise.

You also have more energy for work when you kick off the morning with a run or a circuit at the gym. And aside from the productivity and mental boost you get from exercise, there’s the clear benefit of better health.

Consistent exercise is elusive for many people, and it was for me as well. I would turn over a new leaf & work out hard for three months until travel or a cold would knock me off my routine. Then I would take three months off, or however long it took until I got back into the swing of things. (more…)