Everywhere you look these days, people are using tablet computers. In planes, trains and cabs, on exercise bikes at the gym, and even at home in beds, recliners and likely even bathrooms, people can’t seem to get enough of the simplicity and accessibility that their tablets afford. The availability of email, Internet, photo sharing, video messaging, and apps and games galore make tablets the ultimate digital Swiss Army knife. But when looked at in the context of use in corporate legal departments, the question remains whether tablets can evolve from portable entertainment device to useful professional tool. So far, the jury is still out.
Because the tablet marketplace is still relatively new, and with mobile operating systems still being optimized as the underlying technology rapidly continues to improve, it’s still a bit early to predict what the role of the tablet will eventually be for in-house legal professionals. On the law firm side, however, among the many tablet options available, the iPad is already becoming de rigueur. An informal September poll at Chicago-based law firm Levenfeld Pearlstein indicated that 43 percent of its attorneys already own and use iPads in their practice.
