There’s no question that if there’s anything that exists in abundance, it’s the omnipresent “app.” From the complex to the simple, from the widely popular to the secret weapons, mobile applications have revolutionized the ways in which we interact and get things done. No personality type, interest area, or professional field is exempt from the Great App Infiltration of the 21st Century. These ever-innovative and often ingenious tools are a cornerstone of modern convenience, and they are amplifying efficiency across fields at exponential rates, causing “best app” lists to constantly require updates in order to remain current. Attorneys are, of course, among the countless professionals who stand to benefit from mobile apps. Here are seven of the best legal apps with the most bang for their (often nonexistent) buck.

Asana

Asana is both a website and mobile app designed to help firms and companies of any size stay on top of their tasks and general productivity. With Asana, create group or individual task lists with one-time, repeating, or daily deadlines. You can also create and view timelines of task completion, allowing you to keep abreast of every step in the process your employees take to get their work done. With Asana, firm-wide coordination becomes as easy, intuitive, and automated as can be, making it one of the best legal apps- actually, one of the best business apps in general- of the year. 

Slack

As far as ideal setups go, this is definitely secondary to having a practice management software with a built-in internal chat function. However, Slack is still a useful enough application to any entrepreneur that it’s entirely worth to mention. Slack not only allows for streamlined internal communication via a company-wide chat database, but it also allows you to message coworkers individually, in groups, or all at once. Slack also enables you to create channels including specific groups of people or dedicated to specific contacts, matters, or departments within your firm. It’s essential for any business to adopt a means by which all employees are able to instantly and effectively communicate, and Slack is certainly an excellent option.

Box and Dropbox

Box and Dropbox are perhaps two of the most popular applications available to attorneys, but they’re so game-changing that it’s worth the mention for those who have yet to hop on board. Both Box and Dropbox are document storage and sharing platforms that are tremendously useful for any firm looking to minimize or altogether eradicate its dependence on paper. Through either of these databases, attorneys are free to hold their firm’s and clients’ files, sharing them with the appropriate involved parties with the utmost security. We definitely recommend not only adopting Box or Dropbox into your firm’s arsenal but also looking for a practice management software that integrates directly with either (or both!) of them, thereby making your file management as easy and streamlined as possible.

Zapier

If your practice management software integrates with software, then you are absolutely poised for a firm-changing experience. This platform connects your software with over a thousand of your favorite apps and platforms, enabling you to incorporate them into your practice management software even if a direct integration does not already exist. You can access a more extensive explanation of how this works by clicking here, but suffice it to say that Zapier serves as the bridge between your software and other apps, allowing you to avoid working around your software, instead of working through it, in order to incorporate your favorite platforms into your workload.

Evernote

To reduce Evernote to the description “note-taking application” is to do it (and those interested in its functionality) a tremendous disservice. In short: Evernote can be harnessed to take notes, yes, but also to annotate documents, save articles and publications, and sync up to all of your devices so that your notes can be accessed anywhere and anytime. Evernote allows you to separate your notes in different notebooks, and your notes can contain a variety of content, including text, images, emails, documents, and online content. You’re free to organize your notes with tags in addition to (or instead of notebooks). This short list comprises only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the numerous services Evernote offers legal professionals. Actually, our CEO David Bitton’s new book, The Secrets to Marketing and Automating Your Law Practice, features a chapter, written by Heidi Alexander, that is exclusively dedicated to the functionality of Evernote.

Conclusion

The omnipresence of applications in our world has rendered the options available to professionals in automating their workload virtually boundless. Although the nature of this market makes it so that apps are constantly one-upped, updated, and passed over. However, this shortlist is comprised of the best legal apps with evergreen functionalities whose usefulness to attorneys is not just undeniable, but long-term.