Legal Apps

The School of Government is considering whether to enter the world of smartphone and tablet apps as a vehicle for conveying legal information. Given my love of gadgets, you can imagine how enthusiastic I am about this possibility! For example, we could develop an app that would serve as a mobile legal reference for law enforcement officers, or an app that would assist lawyers in making structured sentencing calculations.

However, my personal excitement about this project is no substitute for actual market research. We would like to know whether there is an audience for apps, and if so, among which groups of people. Please take a moment to help us make an informed decision about whether to go down this road. Note that we are surveying officers and lawyers separately below.

If you are a law enforcement officer, please vote in the following two surveys:

Do you have a smartphone or tablet?

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Would you consider purchasing a high-quality, moderately priced legal app?

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If you are a lawyer or a judge, please vote in the following two surveys:

Do you have a smartphone or tablet?

View Results

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Would you consider purchasing a high-quality, moderately priced legal app?

View Results

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Finally, if you have specific ideas about criminal law apps that you would like to see, please send me an email or post a comment. We have several concepts already, but are certainly open to others.

16 thoughts on “Legal Apps”

  1. The app sounds like a great idea, but it’s all about the price. Smaller firms and solo practitioners (like myself) are concerned about the overhead. I may be stepping out on a limb here, but I would say that the vast majority of criminal defense attorneys are in small firms or are solo practitioners. Also, a one time fee would be better than a re-occurring monthly fee. While I may be stating the obvious, I wanted to at least put my opinion on the record.

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  2. I would be very interested in an iPad app version of NC Crimes. Not an e-book/kindle, unless there is a properly hyperlinked TOC and index.

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  3. Please replace the “blue book” quick reference with a School of Government publication. The current version contains many errors and is not updated in a timely manner. For instance, the 2012 edition contains no reference to synthetic cannabinoids. One would have thought that becoming effective mid-year would have been plenty of time to make it to press.

    Thanks for all you do.

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  4. Why am I not surprised that access to the Laws which govern appear to be reserved to only Law Enforcement, Judiciary, and Privileged Attorneys?

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  5. I understand the Search and Seizure app was only released in iPhone version. I vote for an Android version. Looking at the survey results, 85% of respondants were users of either iPhone or Android. I would think that would support it being built on both platforms (50% iphone/35% Android).

    Reply

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