Smart phones such as iPhone and Droid have become ubiquitous tools tools for lawyers; with over 80% of lawyers reporting using them for business use, according to the ABA Journal Law News Now. They have also become rich sources of evidence. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reports, Survey of Nation’s Top Attorneys Reveals Spike in Smart Phone and Text Evidence During Divorces. Forensics evidence labs are also reporting a spike in requests for retrieval of their data for discovery purposes, according to Ride the Lightning, from Sensei Enterprises.   

Like the rest of the digital world, lawyers blogging about smartphones have divided themselves into two camps. The Droid Lawyer, posted by Oklahoma attorney, Jeffrey Taylor is designed for users of phones employing the Android operating system. For those aficionados of Apple products is  iPhoneJ.D. published by Jeff Richardson, a New Orleans attorney. There may be a new contender for lawyers’ loyalty if the rumors from GigaCom and others about Facebook creating its own smartphone are true. Predicted trends for smartphones include enhanced voice recognition and mobile payments.

Unfortunately, with enhanced functionality smartphones also present increased risks for identity theft as Aaron Kase points out in an article posted at Lawyers.com. Legal Talk Network has posted a podcast outlining the security issues presented by smartphones and providing suggestions for attorneys.

Legal search engines have also jumped on the mobile app bandwagon. Fastcase, supplied as a benefit to ISBA members made news by releasing the first mobile app for legal research, as reported in Legalgeekery in January of 2010. In fact, the availability of their mobile apps enabled them to replace Casemaker as the bar sponsored legal search engine for North Carolina, reports Robert Ambrogi. Since then, Thompson West and Lexisnexis have released their own apps for mobile devices. Dan Friedlander reviewed the Westlawnext app at his Law on my Phone blog.  The Harvard Law School library also lists the top mobile apps for legal research and productivity.

"Legal Tech in the Blogosphere" is written by members of the ISBA's Standing Committee on Legal Technology (COLT).