Mobile Apps for Law
Can’t get enough of Judge Posner? There’s an app for that! The Little Book of Plagiarism by Richard A. Posner for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad (I’m still waiting for The Quotable Judge Posner app).
Flummoxed by “noscitur a sociis”, “uberrimae fidei”, “nulla poena sine lege”, or writs of “scire facias” or “capias in withernam”*? There’s an app for that! For a mere $49.99, you can get West’s Black’s Law Dictionary for iPhone for quick and handy access to legal definitions.
Need the Constitutional provision dealing with quartering of soldiers? There’s an app for that! The Constitution of the United States for 99 cents. (But Professor David Currie reading the U.S. Constitution? Priceless!)
Other law-related apps (mostly for iPhone) include Fastcase for iPhone (the app is free, but you need to register an account), LexisNexis Get Cases and Shepardize, Westlaw, WestlawNext, Sum and Substance study aids for constitutional law, contracts, and criminal law, ABAJournal (FREE), Legal News, Nolo’s Plain English Law Dictionary (FREE), LawStack: a legal library in your pocket (FREE), Social Science Research Network (SSRN), including the Legal Scholarship Network (LSN)(FREE), and PocketJustice FULL (U.S. Supreme Court decisions, audio files, voting alignments, biographies of justices, and a FREE version).
Law apps for BlackBerry include the Law Pod’s federal rules and BEIKS Bouvier’s Law Dictionary.
For Android, there’s the DroidLaw legal reference app.
There are mobile apps for federal, state, and local government information, including for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of State, Congress, and the White House.
Additionally, Mobile Applications for Law Students and Lawyers lists apps for productivity, fun (Pandora!), as well as more BlackBerry and Android apps.
iPhoneJD identified 60 iPhone apps for lawyers recently, among them some fun ones like “More Cowbell”.
And, if you, like me, have been missing the Vuvuzela sound, there are iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android apps for that!
Wired reviews four Vuvuzela apps for iPhone with Annoyance ratings included, and links to a video on the history of the Vuvuzela. Vuvuzela 2010 (has ads) and PocketVuvu both have their charms. And there’s even a way to Vuvuzela-ize websites you visit, so everywhere you go, it’s Vuvuzela Time! See e.g.:
You can check out our D’Angelo Law Library research guides and feel like you’re at a soccer/football game at the same time!
*See J. Duncan M. Derrett, “Withernam: A Legal Practical Joke of Sir Thomas More,” 7 Cath. Law. 211 (1961).
