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With ABA Techshow right around the corner–a conference focused on how lawyers can use technology in their law practices–the effects of new and emerging legal technologies on the delivery of legal services will soon take center stage. Many of the technologies that discussed at the conference will be tools designed to untether lawyers from their desks and offices, giving them increased flexibility and mobility.
Two of the primary drivers of this change are mobile devices and cloud computing. Mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches, offer lawyers convenient access to law firm data and documents from any location, allowing lawyers to practice law no matter where they happen to be.
Of course, mobile devices are constrained by a number of factors, including their processing power, memory, and battery life. But when combined with cloud computing, processing and data storage can occur outside of mobile devices. So, when mobile and cloud computing are used together, the possibilities are endless!
These technologies have leveled the playing field for solo and small firm attorneys, providing them with unprecedented access to powerful, affordable software programs, the likes of which were once only available to large law firms with deep pockets. Solo and small firm attorneys can now compete like never before and it’s all because of cloud and mobile computing.
So it’s no surprise that solo and small firm lawyers are rapidly adopting cloud and mobile tools into their law practices, with the numbers increasing every year according to the results of the American Bar Association’s latest Legal Technology Survey Report. In fact, the number of tablets available to solo lawyers in their law firms has more than tripled since 2011. And the number of lawyers using cloud computing in their practices nearly doubled during that same timeframe.
For more interesting statistics about how lawyers are using mobile and cloud computing in their law firms, check out our latest infographic below. (As always, we encourage you to share and blog about our infographics. You can grab an embed of this infographic from Slideshare here).
–Nicole Black
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Luke Ciciliano
April 7, 2015 — 12:04 pm
The interesting thing I would take from this is that, as a whole, attorneys are still behind the average person in terms of using the tools above. To read that only about 50 percent of attorneys are using smartphones for communication access shows how far the profession still has to go.
More than anything, I think the slow adoption of what is now mature technology really goes to show that the attorneys who “get it” and embrace change will be the ones to truly clean up going forward.
nikilblack
April 8, 2015 — 6:34 am
Great points. Lawyers can often be slow to adopt to change, but with mobile they’re moving more quickly than usual. But it does appear that as a whole, they are adopting a bit slower than the general population. And no doubt those who acclimate the fastest will have an edge in today’s digital marketplace.
Dan Jaffe
October 12, 2015 — 8:19 pm
Niki,
Great infographic and post.
From what we’ve seen the cloud and mobile have really reached a tipping point. While it took longer than we had hoped, there are very few lawyers that we talk with today, in late 2015, that don’t get that the cloud is more secure, cheaper and more efficient than any method of computing based on a physical server in a law office. We regularly talk with lawyers who now see the standard of care in both security and competence as embracing cloud and mobile.
Although I would have loved to see lawyers arrive earlier than they have, they are here now.
I saw a great presentation at the University of Arizona College of Law a couple of weeks ago by Attorney Alex Lane, who is doing amazing things with his iPhone and other Apple products in his practice. The fact that this happened in and of itself is awesome, but that it happened at a Law School is super-awesome!