Photo: Shutterstock

As the digital world moves more and more into our mobile devices, legal services, true to form, have been slow to move with it. While mobile device users are widely aware of shopping and news apps, a recent report sponsored by LegalShield found that far fewer are searching their mobile app stores for legal services or identity protection service apps.

Although 91 percent of those polled own a smartphone or tablet device, a mere 12 percent of 2,000 polled consumers report use of identity protection apps. Just 5 percent use legal services apps on their mobile devices.

LegalZoom was the most commonly used legal services app, with 46 percent of those who use legal services apps reporting use of it. Forty-four percent of legal services app users use the LegalShield app, 17 percent use Avvo's app, and 11 percent use another legal services app.

The report identified potential room for growth around legal services apps. Sixty-six percent of mobile device owners said that they would be at least somewhat interested in an app that provides essential legal services. Millennials and people with children in the household expressed slightly more interest in these services, with 73 percent and 76 percent of those communities respectively indicating they'd like to see a comprehensive legal services app.

“With technology usage ever on the rise, and no shortage of legal questions and issues, it appears a mobile app that helps with common legal problems would be a welcome addition to the world of apps, embraced most of all by Millennials,” the report concluded.

Representatives at LegalShield could not be reached before press time.

Respondents were most interested some services more than others. Assistance with warranty or insurance claims, creation of a last will and testament, and emergency calls to attorneys ranked highest among potential legal service app users, while adoption services and work-related matters ranked lowest.

Men, according to the report, report a much higher usage of legal services apps than women. Just 2 percent of women polled reported using a legal services app.

Law firms and companies have increasingly looked to consumer-facing mobile app development as a way to drive in business and highlight their commitments to innovation. “Are we going to get clients because of it? I don't know,” Locke Lord chief marketing officer Julie Gilbert previously told The American Lawyer. “But if we make something easier for clients and others, we get name recognition.”

Those concerned with access to justice are also struggling to make legal content mobile-friendly, and to draw mobile users' attention. “Virtually all of these websites were originally created with the notion that people would be accessing them from a desktop [computer],” Legal Services Corporation (LSC) head James Sandman previously told LTN. “Often, they don't translate well to mobile.”