iPhone, Blackberry, Et Al., & the Law

The latest Web 2.0 trends aren't limited to computers! Web-enabled phones and PDAs have helped make today's interactive web even more ridiculously accessible. These developments offer legal practitioners new tools to do their jobs.

Lawyers, law students, paralegals, and other legal professionals with smart phones like the iPhone or Blackberry have at their disposal almost unlimited resources, such as the entire searchable/scrollable text of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Appellate Procedure, the Constitution . . . criminal procedural rules, patent prosecution rules, Sarbanes-Oxley, and even state-specific evidence and civil procedure rules . . . a jurisdiction-specific "court days" calculator . . . West has even released its popular Black's Law Dictionary via app-form for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  And for you law students out there:  just last month, West introduced BARBRI Mobile for students enrolled in the BARBRI bar review course.  This month, the ABA Law Journal gives a helpful review of 70 "lawyer-friendly" apps for your PC, PDA, and smartphone.

I enjoy the news apps I have on my iPhone, which help keep me updated on legal issues in the headlines (as well as the ongoing Michael Jackson saga, details of the latest Cyclone football heartbreaker, and trashy celeb gossip on things like Lindsay Lohan's latest diet and John Gosselin's latest stupidity . . . ). I especially like AP Mobile, which is also available for iPod Touch, BlackBerry®, Palm® Pre™, Nokia Devices and Android Market.  I'm also a fan of the Thomson Reuters, Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times apps (if you're looking for that celeb gossip I mentioned, check out the TMZ app).  The recently released (free!) iPhone app from JD Supra, Legal Edge, offers streaming legal news organized by subject. 

Any law student, practitioner, or other legal professional out there with an Apple iPhone should check out iPhone J.D. -- a blog specifically designed for attorneys with iPhones. A New Orleans lawyer maintains the site, which is a fantastic resource with in-depth reviews on iPhone "law" apps and other commentary of interest to lawyers with iPhones.

All these great tools help attorneys do law in new, efficient, and innovative ways. Web 2.0 seems to be introducing us to Law 2.0!