I really like writing in plaintext. Whenever I write in Word, I am always stopping to fix formatting problems or tweak the styles. With plaintext, there are no styles or formatting. It helps me to stay focused.

All I need is a little Markdown (or HTML) to designate emphasis, headings, lists, and blockquotes, and I can plow through blog posts and memorandum drafts.

Text files are also my favorite answer to the problem of compatibility. If you have ever tried to create or edit a Word document on an iPad, you have probably experienced small formatting problems. Since plaintext files don’t have formatting, this is not a problem.

For these and other reasons, plaintext has been growing in popularity with non-programmers in recent years. This seems to be especially true among Apple users, for some reason. The App Store is overflowing with text editors, while last time I checked, there were virtually none in the Google Play Store, and only a few options for Windows users.

I have tried a lot of text editors, and I like a lot of them, but Byword, Nebulous Notes, and Drafts have consistently been my favorites. Here is why.

Byword

Byword is the text editor I use for writing, and therefore the text editor I use most. I have it set up to connect to the Writing folder in my Dropbox account, where I keep all the blog posts, books, and other things I am working on.

What I like best about Byword is its the way it dims Markdown elements to make it easier to focus on the text, not the markup. Headings show up as bolded, blockquotes show up as indented, and italicized words show up in italics. (This is purely visual; nothing is changed in the contents of the text file.)

You can sync files to Byword via iCloud or a Dropbox subfolder. The upside to this is that Byword is very efficient at keeping your files in sync, and you don’t have to spend time managing files (looking for them, sorting them, moving them).

The downside to this is that you have to keep all the files you want to edit in Byword in the same folder. (You could probably sync up your entire Dropbox, but you might run out of space on your iPhone or iPad.) So unless you want to keep all your text files in the same folder, you will need something besides Byword. If you want to be able to edit text files all over your Dropbox, get Nebulous Notes.

Nebulous Notes

While Byword only syncs up one folder, Nebulous Notes can open any text file in your Dropbox. You will spend more time managing files, but you can also get to all of them. Instead of syncing the contents of an entire folder, like Byword, Nebulous Notes only syncs the files you work on in the app. That means you can have text files from all over your Dropbox synced up to your phone.

Nebulous Notes is a really good text editor, too, with a good variety of fonts, colors, and a few themes you can modify. If you want a pink background and yellow text set in Marker Felt, you can have it. As well as many combinations that are easier on the eyes.

It is a great text editor that I use for working on things like taking notes or drafting briefs. Still, there is one other text editor that has some pretty compelling features.

Drafts

Unlike Byword and Nebulous notes, Drafts is a one-way app that lets you send your drafts to nearly everything else. You can draft your tweets or Facebook updates, but you can do so much more. In fact, there is a pretty huge action directory full of useful shortcuts.

For example, I like to make a note whenever I weigh myself. With Drafts, I just type my weight and any notes/excuses I want to add (“Wearing steel-toed boots.”), and select “Prepend to weight.txt,” an action I set up that adds a timestamp and and my weight to the beginning of a text file, weight.txt, in Dropbox. I also have actions set up for my workout and blood pressure logs. Another action creates a new text file in the Notes folder in my Dropbox, naming it with a timestamp and the first line of the draft.

Of course, if I want to edit any of those files, I use Nebulous Notes, because Drafts does not have a way to import files from Dropbox. It’s just for pushing your drafts out to other apps, services, etc.

Just One, or All Three?

If you only want to have one text editor on your iPhone or iPad, get Nebulous Notes. It is definitely the most-versatile text editor.
But if you are a writer, Byword is an excellent text editor to use with your writing folder. And Drafts is great at capturing ideas, quick rough drafts, and online comments, and pushing them out to all the apps and services you already use. All three text editors have their strengths, and you might want to have all of them on your iDevice.

Featured image: “Vintage typewriter isolated” from Shutterstock.

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We talk a lot about how encrypting your files is ethically and professionally critical, but the truth is that sometimes it is much easier to trade convenience for safety. Often, it is so much easier to bring your iPad to a meeting or a coffee shop rather than lugging around a laptop.

Insight Notes aims to make using your iPad a bit more secure by locally encrypting your notes and allowing (if you want to pay the extra $14.99 for cloud storage) you to back them up to a secure, encrypted server. It was designed for healthcare professionals to take notes in the field, but could work for attorneys as well.

Besides being encrypted, Insight Notes looks fancy. You can type, draw, or scan notes on the iPad and it will organize the records by date and client. It bulk exports notes (and keeps them encrypted while it does) and will put your note on letterhead with signature and contact info if you like.

Insight Notes is $9.99 in the App store. (Sorry, no Android version.)

The post Insight Notes Brings Encrypted Notetaking To Your iPad appeared first on Lawyerist.com.

TrialDirector is a simple, cost-conscience solution for effective iPad trial presentation. Unlike some of its competitors, TrialDirector is free to download from the App store. It also has multiple methods for getting evidence into the app and provides lawyers with intuitive feature controls.

In this article, I will show you how to use TrialDirector for iPad for your next trial.

Getting Evidence into TrialDirector

The first step in using TrialDirector is getting your evidence into the app. TrialDirector provides two options for this task: Dropbox and iTunes. However, when it comes to ease of use, these methods are not equals.

Using Dropbox

Dropbox is undoubtedly the easier method and there are two reasons why:

1. iTunes can be finicky, particularly on Windows computers, and even though Macs are becoming more common among lawyers, Windows PCs still dominate.
2. Unlike iTunes, you do not have to be connected to your computer to use Dropbox; all you need is a Wi-Fi connection. This means that your trial preparation can be spontaneous and portable — which any busy lawyer values.

To use Dropbox for importing your evidence, you simply save your evidence to a folder of your choosing in Dropbox. This is where you save all of your evidence, e.g., PDFs, pictures, video, audio, etc.¹ Then, once you have added all of your evidence to the designated Dropbox folder, open TrialDirector, and click on the plus sign in the bottom left corner. Clicking this will present you with an option to import from Dropbox.

At this stage, you will be asked to type your email address and password to link your Dropbox account. The screen that will follow is a snapshot of your Dropbox account. In the below screenshot, you will see an evidence folder called “Faux v. Real Evidence,” which has been created for illustration purposes. Clicking on the folder containing your evidence will automatically start the download.

Note that the names of the pieces of evidence have a sampling of the different types of nomenclature you can assign to the evidence before importing. The most common naming system uses the document’s anticipated trial exhibit number followed by a brief description.

Using iTunes

If Dropbox is not an option and you must use iTunes to get your evidence into TrialDirector, the first step is to create a folder on your computer as you normally would and put all of your evidence in that folder.

Once all of your evidence is loaded into the evidence folder, you connect your iPad to your computer, open iTunes, and cue the evidence folder for syncing with the iPad. Below is a screenshot from iTunes where there are four steps to readying the “Faux v. Real Evidence” folder for syncing.

After your computer and iPad sync, the evidence folder (including all of the discrete pieces of evidence) will appear when you open the TrialDirector app.

Viewing Evidence

Now that all of your evidence has been loaded into TrialDirector, it is time to learn how to use it.

Inside your case folder, you will see all of your evidence listed in alphabetical order on the left. Depending on the types of evidence in the folder, TrialDirector will assign different icons. PDF evidence bears an icon with the familiar red Adobe logo; the picture evidence icon has a small picture with the file extension; audio evidence has a speaker and the video evidence icon is a film strip. This makes it easier for you to present the desired piece of evidence to a jury.

You can also quickly access one of four categories of evidence:

1. All Evidence
2. Documents/Pictures
3. Audio/Video
4. Bookmarks

As you would expect, when one of the categories is selected, TrialDirector filters the evidence and displays only those files that meet the parameters of the filter. With the click of a single icon, you can filter evidence and find the audio file you need to impeach a witness and do so without ever leaving the lectern.

Presentation Tools

In addition to the features that are designed to make accessing your evidence easier, TrialDirector has several great trial presentation tools. The toolbar is located below the main display box and has nine markup tools, as well as icons for side-by-side display, accessing a whiteboard, undoing the last edit, and clearing all edits.

TrialDirector’s markup tools are simple, easy to use and do a fantastic job of replicating the kind of markups lawyers routinely do during trial. Here is a short description of them ordered from left to right:

• Pointer: This icon enables TrialDirector’s pinch-to-zoom feature, which is familiar to most iPad users.
• Highlighter: As expected, this icon enables the highlighter and allows the user to put yellow highlighter directly on the evidence.
• Freehand: Clicking on this icon will enable a pen-like feature and allow the user to write on the evidence just like a pen.
• Straight Line: This allows the user to draw a straight line on the evidence — which is a great feature for underlining text.
• Purple Circle/Orange Box: These icons allow the user to draw a purple box or orange box.
• Laser Pointer: This feature works just like a handheld laser pointer; simply click on this icon and point any where on the selected evidence and a red laser will appear.
• Redaction: When selected, this features allows you to place a solid gray box over sensitive information that may appear in a document.
• Callout: This feature cuts out and magnifies an area you would like to emphasize.

The below screenshots shows how each of the markup tools look when put to use.

And, unlike some of TrialDirector’s competitors, the markup tools work even on a callout. The markups on the callout example below were made after the callout feature was applied. This unique feature to TrialDirector is great because it allows the user to progressively narrow the focus of a piece of evidence.

Another terrific feature of TrialDirector is the side-by-side display option. This feature allows the user to select two different documents for display at the same time. This feature is a terrific tool for showing consistencies or inconsistencies in two different documents.

Publishing Evidence to the Jury

All lawyers know that evidence cannot be published to a jury until he or she is given permission to do so by the judge. And a violation of this well-established rule can land you in hot water. Therefore, learning how to use the publication features of TrialDirector is an absolute must.

The first step is to activate Airplay on your iPad. This is done by accessing Control Center from the bottom of the iPad screen. Once Control Center is displayed, click on Airplay and select your Apple TV. You will also need to activate the Mirroring feature.

Once Airplay is enabled, a narrow blue line will appear at the top of your iPad; TrialDirector will also reveal a new icon in the top right corner. Clicking on this icon will put TrialDirector into publication mode and reveal three options: clear, pause, and show.

These three options are used to control what the jury sees on the TV screen. Selecting “Clear” will display a black screen, removing whatever had been previously displayed. Selecting “Pause” will freeze the display to the jury, while allowing you to navigate to the next piece of evidence. And finally, “Show” will display the selected piece of evidence to the jury.

Obviously, your level of familiarity with these options will dictate how seamlessly you can move from one piece of evidence to the next. Therefore, it is a good idea to use TrialDirector in your trial preparation.

Who Should Use TrialDirector

TrialDirector for the iPad is the perfect app if you want to ease into presenting with an iPad without breaking the bank. Further, the array of tools offered are familiar and easy to use. Even if you are a novice user, TrialDirector is not going to overwhelm.

Featured image: “Businessman standing posture hand holding blank tablet (modified)” from Shutterstock.

1. Go ahead and give these files meaningful names. This will make it easier to find what you’re looking for while in the midst of battle. ↩

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iOS apps for lawyers abound, whether for case management, billing, or trial preparation. This page has every legal app for iOS that we could find in the App Store.

There are just a few exceptions. This does not include apps that have not been updated since 2011 and have few or no reviews in the App Store. Apps that are simply mobile versions of a legal publication aren’t here, either, since the app doesn’t do anything over and above the website. Finally, the App Store is full of applications that simply repackage freely available content, such as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Unless an app added some significant extras (such as the ability to annotate or cross reference) to that type of content, it’s not here.

The table below is searchable, and you can sort by each column. Use the comments to let us know if we missed an app.

Originally published 2014-06-16. Last updated 2015-07-20.

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There are plenty of Android apps for lawyers including apps for case management, billing, trial preparation, and legal research. This list includes every legal app for Android that we could find in the Google Play store.

There are just a few exceptions. This does not include apps that are dead links in the Google Play store. Apps that are mobile versions of legal publications aren’t here either unless they aggregate content in an unusually useful way. Additionally, the Google Play store has a large number of applications that just repackage freely available content such as codes and statutes. Those are not here unless they provide some sort of added value like the ability to annotate.

The table below is searchable, and you can sort by each column. Use the comments to let us know if we missed an app.

Originally published 2014-06-24. Last updated 2015-08-06.

The post Every Legal App For Android appeared first on Lawyerist.com.

Jodi Ettenberg left for a vacation, and never came back. On today’s podcast, she talks about how to do the same (even if you’ve got a shorter timeline). But first, did Ohio just issue the dumbest ethics opinion ever?

Ohio, Seminars, and Solitication

[A]ttorneys giving seminars to the public cannot engage in dialogue with people who come up to them after the seminar asking legal questions. These poor muted devils are limited to “advis[ing] that person to contact the office to make an appointment or to seek legal counsel of his or her choice.”

That is, to put it charitably, absolutely bonkers.

That’s from Avvo general counsel, Josh King, who writes the Socially Awkward Law blog. It’s the latest in a weird collection of ethics opinions trying to figure out what is direct solicitation and what isn’t. Like this one from Florida, where text messages are considered direct solicitation.

Jodi Ettenberg’s Never-Ending Vacation from Law Practice

After practicing law for a while, Jodi Ettenberg left to pursue her dream of traveling around the world for a year … and she never came back. Today she talks about how that happened, what work looks like when you’re far from home, and how she manages her finances. She also talks about how to finally run off and have your own adventure — even if you don’t intend to be gone for years.

Thanks to Ruby Receptionists for sponsoring this episode!

Listen and Subscribe

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To make sure you don’t miss an episode of the Lawyerist Podcast, subscribe now in iTunes, Stitcher, or any other podcast player. Or find out about new episodes by subscribing to the Lawyerist Insider, our email newsletter. We will announce new episodes in the Insider, and you can listen to them right here on Lawyerist.

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Sam and Jared Correia discuss the impact of smartphones on our daily lives and why it may be best for you to give it up in favor of being in the moment. (And don’t worry, you can give up your smartphone without being considered a luddite.)

Lawyerist Announces Its First Ever Event: TBD Law

In exciting Lawyerist news, Sam and Aaron talk about TBD Law, an event for solo and small firm lawyers. Lawyerist has teamed up with with Matt Homann and Filament to create a two-day program to begin determining the future of solo and small-firm law practice—both for those present and for the profession at large.

How and Why You Need to Ditch Your Smartphone, with Jared Correia

Before joining LOMAP, Jared managed CLE publications and the Casemaker research engine for the Massachusetts Bar Association. He has also been a practicing lawyer, in small firms, where he mostly focused on personal injury, real estate and disability law.  Jared is a frequent speaker for local, regional and national lawyers’ groups. Follow him on Twitter and Linkedin.

Thanks to Xero and Smokeball for sponsoring this episode!

Support the Podcast

We love our sponsors, but they only cover part of what it costs us to bring you this podcast. So we need your help. If you enjoy the show, please click this button and make a contribution:

SUPPORT THE PODCAST

Listen and Subscribe

To listen to the podcast, just scroll up and hit the play button (or click the link to this post if you are reading this by email).

To make sure you don’t miss an episode of the Lawyerist Podcast, subscribe now in iTunes, Stitcher, or any other podcast player. Or find out about new episodes by subscribing to the Lawyerist Insider, our email newsletter. We will announce new episodes in the Insider, and you can listen to them right here on Lawyerist.

The post Podcast #67: How and Why You Need to Ditch Your Smartphone, with Jared Correia appeared first on Lawyerist.com.

I’ve been an iPhone user since the first iPhone came out and for the most part, I’ve  been pretty happy with my experience. But there’s always room for improvement and I recently discovered 2 apps, the YouMail app for your voicemail and the TouchBase app for your calendar, that do just that and greatly enhance the iPhone’s native voicemail system and calendaring system. If you’re a busy iPhone-toting lawyer, then you’ll appreciate these apps since they make it all the more easy to organize and stay on top of your voice messages and hectic schedule.

YouMail

First, there’s the free YouMail app, which I first learned about courtesy of Ross Kodner, legal technology consultant extraordinaire, at his blog Ross Ipsa Loquitur. I’d been searching for an app to supplement the iPhone’s native voicemail app for sometime, ever since the unfortunate demise last October of the Yap voicemail app, which I’d loved.

The YouMail app supplements the native voicemail in a number of useful ways. First, YouMail provides visual caller ID, so you’re able to see the name and location of the person calling you.

Another nice feature is that you can create and assign different greetings to different contacts, so if you’re a lawyer and have a client who calls you repeatedly if you don’t reply right away, you could create a greeting just for that client that sets limits in the message as to how quickly you’ll be able to reply.

For those annoying salespeople who just won’t leave you alone and are always trying to sell you new legal products, there’s the “ditch” function. You mark their number as ditched and then can assign a specific prerecorded greeting to all ditched numbers, such as an “out of service” greeting. You can also prevent ditched numbers from leaving voicemails.

YouMail also makes it easy to organize your voicemails. You can create sub-folders (ie. “follow up,” “clients,” “law firm,” “personal,” or “family”) and then file voicemails into specific folders after you’ve listened to them.

You can also forward voicemails to your phone, a feature that I find to be extremely useful, since my email tends to operate as my “to-do” list and voicemails which sit on my phone sometimes tend to fall by the wayside. But if I email them to my main email account, then it serves as a reminder that I need to follow up on the message.  You can always email a voicemail to someone else as well, if need be.

Additionally, if you upgrade to one of the YouMail Pro editions, you can receive transcriptions of your voicemail messages. The Pro plans start at $4.99 per month for the first 20 seconds of thee first 20 messages received.

Finally, if you’re an Android user, you’re in luck. YouMail is also available for Android devices.

TouchBase

Another app that I recently discovered that has greatly improved my workflow is the TouchBase Calendar app, which costs $2.99. This is a great app that interfaces seamlessly with the native iPhone calendaring app. It also has built-in synching that works with Google Calendar, Exchange, or any other calendar that works with the iPhone.

You can schedule an appointment through either the TouchBase interface or the iPhone’s calendar. The when you open up the specific appointment in TouchBase, the app automatically detects and links to relevant people listed in your iPhone’s “contacts.” It also detects the location of the meeting, if you provided that information when you entered the appointment.

This means that assuming the app has detected the correct location, you can simply map out the location with a touch of a button, from right within the app.

You can also send, directly from the app, pre-written texts or emails to meeting attendees advising them that you’re running late, etc. And, you can revise the default message templates to include different pre-written messages.

Finally, you can initiate a phone call to attendees from within the app as well.

And, good news for you Android loving lawyers, an Android app is being developed as we speak!

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