Clio, the leading cloud-based practice management solution, has released the results of their 2013 ‘Apple Devices in Law Offices’ survey. The survey, detailing Apple device usage in law firms across North America, shows exactly how far the influence of Cupertino extends in the legal industry.
The annual survey saw a marked increase in Apple adoption, with a 10 percent leap in both office Mac OS usage (from 56 to 66 percent), and iPad usage (from 57 percent to 67 percent), with iPhone usage spiking 12 percent to 74 percent (while Android and Blackberry both saw decreases in law firm usage compared to global adoption rates). Why the dramatic increase? Coupled with a number of exciting product releases and OS updates, 52 percent of respondents stated they chose Apple options because the technology was more reliable and secure, with usability coming in next at 28 percent. Familiarity due to home use of Apple products was 10 percent, and aesthetics and design climbed back up to the 3 percent mark set two years ago.
Since the iPad debuted on the market, legal services penetration has risen from the initial 10% at product launch to an incredible 67 percent within three years. A demand for a mobile workforce and an industry that never sleeps have both been driving factors in iPad adoption, as well as a proliferation of offerings andapps targeted at improving law firm productivity and efficiency.
“For the fourth year in a row, the Apple in Law Firm survey results show the iPhone and iPad as two devices that have reshaped the legal technology landscape, with two in three law offices using either an iPhone or iPad,” said Clio CEO and co-founder Jack Newton. “Few technologies have achieved this level of ubiquity in a law firm.”
2013 was also the year cloud services came into their own in the legal sector, with each respondent averaging two cloud services used. Dropbox topped the charts in terms of cloud adoption with 26 percent of respondents saying they use the storage service, with Clio, everyone’s favourite cloud-based practice management system, coming in next at 21 percent. iCloud and Google Apps rounded out the cloud solutions list at 18 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
Proving that cloud and iDevice adoption is no longer the exclusive domain of tech-savvy solo practitioners, the survey was completed by 800 legal professionals across a wide variety of disciplines, from partners at mid-sized firms to law students and office managers.
Clio’s survey results indicate that legal professionals are demanding greater access to data on the move and choice of devices. Furthermore, that Apple devices and cloud services continue to be the two defining characteristics driving the legal technology renaissance.
