According to most surveys, more than half of lawyers use an Apple device or computer every day. Three quarters use an iPhone. Meanwhile, much of the legal software world is still wedded to the Windows/PC/Internet Explorer world.
But in our experience, its easy to put together a suite of applications that give you all of the litigation support and legal software you need to run any law firm.
Everybody is Using Macs
Last years, Clio surveyed the legal market and saw a sharp increase in Apple adoption:
- 10% leap in both office Mac OS usage (from 56 to 66%)
- iPad usage (from 57% to 67%)
- iPhone spiking 12% to 74%
If you are a lonely Mac user in an office of PCs, check out the MILO (Macs in the Law Office) Google Group.They even have an annual meeting in Orlando. There are also a number of great legal blogs for Mac users.
Your Virtual PC
There was a time not too long ago when collaborating with PC users from a Mac was nearly impossible. But that chasm has been closed. If you absolutely have to access information stored on a non-Apple computer or device, there are a number of options for remote access.
Virtualization software allows you to run a computer inside another computer. You basically have a full-featured PC inside of your Mac.
Virtualization software options include VM Fusion and Parallels.
NOTE: Both require the user to reserve space on their hard drive for the creation of a Windows machine. Alternatively, remote desktop software allows you to access, control, and to use a computer in a different location than your own. Two popular choices for remoting into a Windows machine from a Mac are a program called CoRD and Microsoft’s own Remote Desktop.
To the Cloud
As a cloud provider of litigation software, we have to talk about the cloud. Simply put, cloud software shares and manages your data on any device or machine. The security and scale of cloud applications is simply greater than any software you can put on your desktop or install in an office.
- Rocket Matter, Clio, and other practice management and legal billing software
- Backup solutions such as Mozy, Carbonite, DropBox, and Box
- eDiscovery & litigation software like, say, Nextpoint
The world of Macs and PCs are increasingly blended. For example, make a Word document on a PC. Make it as crazy as you want, with tables, headers, footers, you name it. Then open it using Word on a Mac. There will be no difference between the two documents.
Best of all, Macs come with built-in security features that combine to provide their users with maximum protection, including Gatekeeper, FileVault, Find My Mac, and more. That’s why we’re an Apple office and why more and more lawyers are now fully onboard with Apple.