iPower: Using an iPad Pro to Power Up Your
Practice
The FDCC Evolve Committee submits this paper in conjunction with a
presentation set to occur at the Winter 2022 meeting on Monday, March 7, 2022 from
7:00 to 7:55 a.m. The presenters for this program are as follows:
Ned Currie
Currie Johnson & Myers P.A.
Daniel R. McCune
Childs McCune LLC
Paul J. Schumacher
Dickie McCamey
Richard S. Dukes, Jr.
Turner Padget Graham & Laney P.A.
Jimmy B. Wilkins
Watkins & Eager PLLC
I. Introduction
Since its introduction in 2010, Apple has continued to innovate and improve the iPad.
With the introduction of the iPad Pro in 2015, the iPad Pro should be given
consideration by FDCC lawyers as an organizational and productivity tool to be utilized
in law practice. This paper will discuss utilizing the iPad Pro in daily law practice and will
give specific use cases for annotating and editing documents from the tip of your hands
anywhere, at any time, through the iPad Pro. The paper will also discuss the benefits of
using the iPad Pro to perform tasks such as editing legal bills, pleadings, and status
reports. The paper will also give specific use cases for utilizing the iPad Pro to be more
effective in organizing documents for use at a deposition or trial. The goal of the paper
is to share with FDCC members the benefits of utilizing the iPad Pro for note taking,
annotating documents, marking up PDFs, importing documents, organizing documents
for easy access, and sharing documents. Lastly, the paper will discuss projects that are
more suited to take advantage of the touch features and large spatial canvas of the iPad
Pro in ways that cannot be done on a smart phone or laptop and how these touch
features and spatial canvas can be used to promote organization in law practice at the
highest levels. The paper will discuss a few apps including but not limited to: 1)
Notability by Ginger Labs; 2) Muse by Muse Software, Inc.; 3) PDF Expert by Readdle
Technologies Limited; 4) iAnnotate 5) Liquid Text by Liquid Text, Inc.; and 6)
Documents by Readdle Technologies Limited.
II. Applications
There are several outstanding note taking applications that can be utilized on the iPad
Pro to assist the lawyer in his or her law practice.
A. Notability by Ginger Labs
When discussing note taking applications, Notability by Ginger Labs is at the top of the
list. The developers of the application describe it as “powerful, yet wonderfully simple
note-taking and PDF annotation” application. The Notability application has many
features that are useful to a practicing lawyer, including:
(1) Simple note taking. Notability allows the user to create a blank sheet of paper and
take notes in a variety of different colors including blue, black, light blue, dark blue,
yellow, green, light green, dark green, purple, red, and brown. The app also allows the
user to choose from a variety of different point thickness for the ink. The application also
allows the user to highlight notes in a variety of different colors including yellow, orange,
red, pink, light green, dark green, light blue, and dark blue. The application also allows
in addition to handwritten notes there can also be typewritten notes. Further, the
application also allows the user to choose traditional notepad and allows for changing of
grid spacing on the lines. Thus, the template for note taking can be traditional notebook
and the lines can be adjusted according to the user’s preference.
(2) The application also has a sophisticated feature where the user can also take notes
and record the lecture at the same time. The user can then replay the audio recording
and tap anywhere on the note to hear what was said at the moment the recording was
made.
(3) Importing PDFs. Notability also allows the user to import PDFs, documents,
photographs, and PowerPoints. The user can then write on the imported PDF and easily
share the annotations made on the PDF or photographs with others.
(4) The application also allows the user to import web pages and make annotations to
the imported web page.
Notability has been used by a significant number of persons all around the world.
After eleven years of outstanding usage, Notability has now switched to a subscription
model beginning November 1, 2021. Those persons who purchased Notability prior to
November 1, 2021, will be granted lifetime access to all of the existing features and any
content previously purchased in the application. Some of the new features by Notability
includes are nested dividers which makes organization inside of Notability a lot easier.
Now, users of Notability can create dividers inside dividers and can also create subjects
within the same name.
The uses that a lawyer can have with Notability in his or her law practice are
endless. This paper will cite a few examples of how Notability can be used to enhance a
lawyer’s law practice including: (1) meeting with a witness at a scene and taking a
snapshot of the scene and then importing the photograph into Notability to allow the
witness to mark and document where things were at a scene after a crash. (2) Taking a
deposition exhibit or trial exhibit and then having a witness mark on the exhibit in the
Notability app to demonstrate various important things about the exhibit that are
pertinent to the case. (3) Recording an interview or meeting (with permission) and
taking extensive notes and then using the sync audio and sync notetaking features to tie
the notes to the audio for easy reference. (4) Importing a PDF legal document into
Notability such as a draft of a brief or a legal bill and making changes and indicating
changes through highlights or markings and then sharing the changes with members of
your team.
Below is an illustration of Notability in use. The illustration below shows the many ways
the attorney can make notes on documents using Notability including highlighting,
writing, typing etc.
The illustration below shows the additional features of Notability including the export,
typing, pen, highlight, erase, and record feature.
The illustration below shows the icon to look for when purchasing the Notability app.
Notability can be purchased on a subscription based formula. Your Apple iTunes
account will simply be charged for Notability on an annual basis. The developers of the
app state that prices may vary based on location. An annual subscription option is
available for $11.99 a year for a limited time only. The makers of Notability indicated
that the pricing shift with an annual subscription model allows more frequent updates
and features. The makers indicated that the prior one time paid up front model made it
most difficult to continue to advance and innovate the application. According to the
makers of the app, everyone who purchased Notability prior to the switch to a
subscription model on November 1, 2021 would have lifetime access to all existing
features and any content previously purchased in the application.
B. iAnnotate 4 —PDFs & more
iAnnotate 4 is an application designed and developed by Branchfire, Inc. The
developers of the application state that the app allows the user to read, annotate, and
share PDF’s, Microsoft Office files, and images which includes allowing users to take
notes, sign agreements, highlight documents, and insert stamps. The application is
used by over one million users. The application has several unique features including
allowing the users to scan documents and take notes, search documents, and has the
advanced controls which allows for rotating pages and merging documents. The
application also allows the users to share documents including sharing annotation
summaries. The application also allows for the users to review and edit documents side
by side all on the iPad Pro. The application allows for the user to open a web capture
and find the site it wants to mark up and then it will be converted to PDF for annotation.
In the app, documents can be arranged by folders and sorted by date added, date last
opened, or in alphabetical order. Please see illustrations below demonstrating some
features of the app.
C. PDF Expert
PDF Expert is another excellent app that can benefit the lawyer in his or her law
practice. The developers of the app are Readdle Technologies. The developers of the
app state “PDF Expert is the ultimate PDF app you are looking for. It’s fast, intuitive and
powerful to let you effortlessly complete literally any PDF task.” To the extent that any
lawyer works with PDFs, the app is truly outstanding. The application allows for
excellent reading and annotation of PDF files. The app allows for the text of PDFs to be
edited. The app allows the lawyer to quickly open any PDF document from an email and
immediately begin to work with the PDF. The app also allows and can enable full text
searching, scrolling, and zooming in and out of PDF. The app also has a feature where
the lawyer can use the text to speech feature to hear the selected text read out loud.
The app also allows for filling in forms and does this with remarkable accuracy. The
app allows for the insertion of voice memos right inside of a pdf document. The app
also allows the lawyer to restrict access to the PDF file and allows the adding of
encryption and passwords to PDFs.
The illustration below shows what can be done with PDFs in the app which includes,
inserting pages, copying pages, rotating pages, deleting pages, extracting select pages,
emailing all or select pages, and sharing all or select pages with other apps.
The illustration below shows additional features of PDF Expert including being able to
copy, move, compress, merge, rename, and duplicate PDFs within the app. The
illustration below also shows additional features of PDF Expert including the ability to
create new folders, mark documents with color tag, and upload PDFs.
The illustration below merely shows the icon to look for when purchasing the PDF
Expert app.
D. Liquid Text
LiquidText is an app developed by Liquid Text, Inc. The application allows the attorney
to create a workspace and import file documents into one place. The attorney can then
pull excerpts from the documents into a project area or workspace. In the workspace,
the attorney can then add notes that are either handwritten or typed. The excerpts from
the documents can then be emailed or further organized into other applications. The
app has proven to be invaluable when a lawyer must work with PDFs that are large and
overwhelming in number of pages or when a lawyer has to work with multiple PDF
documents. The feature that allows the lawyer to pull excerpts from the documents is
absolutely invaluable to the busy lawyer and promotes organization at the highest
levels.
Please see some illustrations from the app appearing next.
E. MUSE – Tool for Thought
The next application that can benefit the lawyer in his or her law practice is Muse, which
is an application by Muse Software, Inc. The developers describe the application as a
“special canvas for your notes.” Muse is an outstanding app as it takes advantage of the
features that are unique to the iPad Pro. Muse was specifically designed for the iPad
and the Apple pencil. The good feature of the app is that it allows various components
related to a case to be placed on an unlimited board with an unlimited spatial canvas.
For example, the lawyer would be able to put photographs, maps, PDFs, videos, all
related to a case in one spatial canvas. This means that the content will be nested in the
application spatially which would allow the lawyer to navigate fluently between the items
that are placed on the board. For example, a single Muse board would allow the lawyer
to sketch, write, arrange images, work with PDFs, collect links or files, and work with
videos all on one board.
Benefits for the lawyer in using Muse are endless but below are a few Muse
cases:
(1) Using Muse to take a deposition and being able to have the deposition notice,
the deposition outline of questions, the highlighted medical records, the photographs of
the scene, and any videos that may be used at the deposition all in one board. This
promotes organization for the deposition at the highest level as everything is all on one
board and in one place for easy access by the lawyer.
(2) A Muse board can be used during the brief writing process to allow organization
for the lawyer. One section of the board may be used to house cases in support of
proposition A, another section of the board can be used to house cases in support of
proposition B, another set of the board can be used to house pleadings that will be
needed for the brief, and yet another section of the board can be used to house exhibits
that will be used in support of the motion.
(3) A Muse board can also be used to help the lawyer create a detailed client
presentation on a substantial case with many moving parts. For example, a lawyer can
place on the board slides related to the crash scene, slides related to damages, slides
related to strengths of the case, slides related to weakness of the case, slides related to
background information of the judge and jury all in different sections of a Muse board
that will allow for easy access and presentation to the client.
Below is an illustration of a Muse board with various components of a case all placed on
one board for easy access by the lawyer.
The next illustration merely shows the icon to look for when purchasing the app.
Muse is made by a very small team of five persons. Muse has several different pricing
structures including a pro membership at approximately 9.99 a month, a starter
membership at 3.99 a month, and a free membership. The pro membership allows for
board sizes of 10x10. The starter membership allows for 500 cards on a 6x6 board size
and the free membership allows for 100 cards on a 2x2 board size.
F. Documents – File, Web Browser, PDF
The next application for discussion is Documents, also by Readdle Technologies. This
application is an excellent tool for importing and saving files on the iPad Pro. The
Documents app allows the user to import files from his or her computer, cloud-based
services, or any nearby device. The Documents app also allows for storing email
attachments as well as saving web pages to read them later. The Documents app also
allows for managing a file and creating folders for the management of files. The
Document app can be used to download files in folders from your computer for then
usage in every aspect of your practice that utilizes the iPad Pro.
The illustration below merely shows the icon to look for when purchasing the app.
III. CONCLUSION
The Evolve Committee recommends that members consider purchasing the iPad Pro.
As of this writing, the current iPad Pros available are the 1) 2021 iPad Pro 12.9 inch (5th
generation) and the 2021 iPad Pro 11 inch (3rd generation). The 2021 iPad Pro comes
in a wide range of storage options and prices ranging from 128 GB to 2 TB with options
of Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi + Cellular. The iPad User Guide can be downloaded to the Books
app so you can consult it on an as needed basis. As a further resource, it is possible for
a person to download the iPad user guide written by Apple. The user guide according to
Apple has everything one needs and is a guide to help the user get started with using
the iPad with iPad OS version 15.2. The user guide discusses the many features of
utilizing the iPad, including using a new multitasking menu, slideover, and split view
window when working on multiple applications at one time. The resource also has a
good discussion on turning on and setting up the iPad for the first time. The book also
has an excellent discussion on useful iPad features such as screenshot, screen
recording, marking up files and photos, as well as drawing in apps.
Special thanks to the FDCC Evolve Committee which is comprised of the following
persons:
Robert L. “Bob” Christie (Founder)
Christie Law Group, PLLC
Julies Landing on Lake Union
2100 West Lake Avenue, Suite 206
Seattle, WA 98109
Phone No. 206-957-9669
Email: [email protected]
Scott Kreamer (Founder)
Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice, LLC
2400 Pershing Road, Suite 500
Kansas City, Missouri 64108-2533
Phone No. 816-471-2121
Email: [email protected]
Stephen Embry (Founder)
Tech Law Crossroads, LLC
14902 Landmark Drive
Lewisville, Kentucky 40245
Phone No. 502-295-7951
Email: [email protected]
Paul J. Schumacher
Dickie McCamy Attorneys At Law
600 Superior Avenue East, Suite 2330
Cleveland, Ohio 44114-2614
Phone No. 216-685-1827
Email: [email protected]
Amanda Cialkowski
Nilan Johnson Lewis
250 Marquette Ave S Ste 800
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Phone No. 612-305-7538
Email: [email protected]
Gregory Varga
Robinson & Cole, LLP
280 Trumbull Street
Hartford, CT 06103
Phone No. 860-275-8230
Email: [email protected]
Kevin Scanlan
Scanlan Griffiths Aldridge & Nickels
913 W. River Street, Suite 310
Boise, ID 83702
Phone No. 208-991-1200
Email: [email protected]
Richard S. Dukes, Jr.
Turner Padget
40 Calhoun Street, Suite 200
Charleston, SC 29401
Phone No. 843-576-2810
Email: [email protected]
Matt Cairns
Associate General Counsel at Textron
Email: [email protected]
Edward J. “Ned” Currie, Jr
Currie, Johnson & Meyers
1044 River Oaks Drive
Jackson, MS 39232
Phone No. 601-969-1010
Email: [email protected]
John “Jack” Delany, III
Delany Law
Phone No. 1-888-365-2973
Email: [email protected]
Daniel R. McCune
Childs McCune
821 17th Street, Suite 500
Denver, CO 80202
Phone No. 720-630-2960
Email: [email protected]
Jimmy B. Wilkins
Watkins & Eager, PLLC
P.O Box 650
Jackson, MS 39205
Phone No. 601-965-1966
Email: [email protected]
