With smartphones, capable of digital dictation, document management and time recording, flooding the legal profession, Rory O'Neill discusses what the next generation of technology will bring to the profession

One of the first industries to ride the mobile email wave was the legal sector. Busy, often travelling and with a constant influx of calls and emails to manage, lawyers soon recognised that pocket-sized mobile devices were the ideal tools to remain connected to clients and colleagues and manage hectic diaries while out of the office.

Access to email on the go is often credited with improving client service, greater efficiency and increased productivity. We are now witnessing a quiet revolution in the way its technology is being utilised by law firms.

Tip of the iceberg

Smartphones are increasingly being used by forward-thinking firms who have confidence in their mobile technology investment and are looking to securely extend their existing business processes. By mobilising key systems, firms can not only improve productivity and client service, but also increase the return on their initial mobile investment. In a tough market, this offers firms a compelling opportunity to set themselves apart from competitors by enabling their lawyers to access the information and tools they need, wherever they are.

While smartphones have traditionally been used for email, calls and calendar access, they can now offer lawyers instant access to a wide range of key business systems, from digital dictation to document management and time recording. For example, the days have since past when a lawyer would have to return to the office, make a dictation at their desk and then ask their secretary to type it. Mobile dictaphones have enabled lawyers to make a dictation wherever they are, however, the lawyer still needs to return a tape or memory card, or dock their device in the office, to get the recording into the dictation workflow process. There are now applications that allow users to record a dictation and send it instantly back to the office directly from their smartphone so that support staff can process it immediately. These applications enable firms to securely and quickly initiate documents or instructions into workflow systems, reducing document turnaround times and significantly improving client responsiveness – plus for lawyers, they only need to carry one device. LG recently deployed BigHand Mobile on its lawyers' smartphones with the aim of increasing productivity. The solution has received excellent user feedback and the firm's solicitors are now even more productive.

Recording every six minutes of the working day is a part of the daily grind for a lawyer. If you speak to any fee earner they will probably raise the time recording aspect of their job as tiresome and time consuming but ultimately the most important, as it feeds into client billing and inaccuracies can be costly both in terms of profitability and client relations. We are increasingly seeing firms looking into smarter ways to help their lawyers record their time more efficiently and effectively. Mobilising time tracking systems gives lawyers the ability to record billable time as it happens, thereby reducing revenue leakage and speeding up the billing cycle. The latest applications are integrated with the smartphone's key features, rather than just mirroring desktop time capture systems on a mobile device. For example, finish a client call and be prompted to log it with a couple of clicks; send an email and assign it to a matter and client. Addleshaw Goddard has already capitalised on this opportunity. Its in-house IT team identified the need to accurately capture chargeable time while lawyers were on the move and working out of the office and therefore developed its own time recording application. The application allows staff to log their time directly using their smartphones, which not only saves time but also improves billing details and reduces inaccuracy as time is recorded as it happens.

Mobile document management solutions have also seen wide adoption in the legal sector as they provide lawyers with a single easy-to-use solution to securely access client documents, correspondence and their firm's knowledge assets when on the move. The ability to file and access this information remotely boosts productivity and improves the firm's ability to capture and centrally store key information.

Companies can develop their own custom built applications, as well as the availability of thousands of off-the-shelf applications and third party software providers – such as BigHand, PensEra, and Autonomy – which firms can work with to deploy specific applications. Research In Motion makes application programming interfaces (APIs) available to in-house IT teams, enabling them to develop their own software applications tailored to the specific needs of their business. It was this development method that Addleshaw Goddard chose when it mobilised its time recording system.

However, for any company considering mobilising key business systems, security should continue to be the number one consideration. Law firms naturally demand integrity and confidentiality for sensitive information and any mobile project undertaken must not put those requirements at jeopardy. IT managers can centrally set and roll out to users a number of security features, including password protection, disabling the smartphone's camera and restricting access to systems at certain times of day. In addition, if a device is lost or stolen it can be remotely wiped so sensitive information does not fall into the wrong hands.

Convergence: the future of mobile

As we look to the future and consider what may be next for mobile technology in the legal sector, it is clear that the trend for convergence will continue. We are likely to witness further convergence between companies' fixed line and mobile communications. This will see the traditional distinction between the two become increasingly blurred. By unifying fixed and mobile voice communications, individuals will have a simpler, single point of contact which will make it easier for the IT manager to centrally control costs, functionalities and compliance. It will also give legal staff one phone number and one voicemail, regardless of whether they are in the office, at their desk phone or hot-footing it in a taxi to a client meeting.

It is clear that mobile applications are here to stay and will continue to make a considerable impact on the legal sector. The future is exciting; we expect to see increasing integration between mobile applications that mirror the needs and working patterns of lawyers. This integration will lead to even further efficiencies and will streamline processes, freeing up valuable billable time for fee earners.

Rory O'Neill is director, solutions and alliance marketing, EMEA at Research in Motion.