Mobile Apps in the Top 200 Law Firms: Unveiling Insights from the 2023 Report

A comprehensive overview of the key findings, trends, and benefits of mobile apps in the legal industry.

The legal landscape has been evolving rapidly, and one area that’s gaining significant momentum is the use of mobile apps by law firms. To explore this intriguing trend, we recently hosted a webinar, Mobile Apps in Law Firms: How the Top 200 Law Firms Use Apps.

In this blog post, we’ll delve into the key findings and trends from our research, shedding light on the most popular app types, their benefits, and the reasons why law firms are increasingly turning to app development platforms like FlipIet.

Summary of the Research

To ensure the accuracy and relevance of our study, we focused on the Global 200 law firms listed on law.com. By examining the public app stores of both Apple and Google, we collected publicly available data and utilized search engines to gather additional information. Our research excluded web apps, webpages, widgets, or internally published apps via private app stores or MDMs. This data collection took place in May 2023.

Key Findings and Trends

We discovered that an impressive 39% of the top 200 law firms have apps published on app stores. Among these published apps, we identified 191, with 131 available on both Apple App Store and Google Play. Additionally, 47 apps were exclusively on the Apple App Store, while 13 were exclusively on Google Play.

If you’re inspired by these findings and keen on venturing into app development for your law firm, we’ve got just the resource for you. We recommend checking out our comprehensive blog 7 Steps to Making an App for iPhone in Less Than a Day. This insightful guide will walk you through the process, providing valuable tips and tricks to create your iPhone app quickly and efficiently.

Most Popular App Types

After carefully categorizing the apps, we unearthed the following top five app types:

1. Events (36.5%): These apps primarily support in-person and virtual events, catering to activities such as partner conferences, staff events, client events, corporate events, and webinars.
2. Reference, News & Learning (31.8%): Providing information, resources, and guides through these apps is their primary focus.
3. Emergency Management (13%): These apps facilitate coordinated responses during emergencies, often public-facing and focused on crisis management, cyber assistance, data breach, and PR and reputation crises.
4. Community (4.2%): Community apps connect and engage specific groups of people, offering secure and private communication channels.
5. Client Portal (3.6%): Secure and private distribution of apps and content, consolidating multiple solutions for clients.

Law Firms Top App Categories

Let’s take a closer look at the key features and benefits of the most popular app categories:

Event Apps

Designed to support events both in-person and virtually, these apps encompass agendas, schedules, floor plans, directories of speakers and attendees, chats, and notifications. They also feature check-ins and check-outs for attendees, providing valuable data for reports and analytics. Event apps enhance engagement, networking, and communication while accommodating multiple events within one app.

If you’re intrigued by the potential of event apps and want to explore the best options available, we recommend checking out our curated blog post titled “25 Best Mobile Event Apps You Need in 2023.” This blog presents an in-depth review of the most cutting-edge event apps that can transform your event management process and create memorable experiences for your attendees.

Furthermore, we have an enlightening case study that showcases the real impact of implementing Fliplet’s innovative Event solution. One of the top 30 law firms in the UK made the switch from another event app platform to Fliplet, significantly streamlining their event management process. By leveraging Fliplet’s user-friendly interface and powerful tools, they reduced the time required to input event details from 40 minutes to a mere 10-15 minutes. Read the full case study to discover how they created it and the results they gained.

Reference, News, and Learning Apps

These apps cater to clients, staff, and practices, facilitating learning and access to relevant information. Reference apps with document libraries, decision trees, and discussion forums, along with features such as quizzes, notifications, and award certificates, enhance engagement and knowledge sharing.

Discover how to make a learning app on a budget.

Emergency Management Apps

Focused on client-facing solutions during emergencies, these apps prioritize quick and coordinated responses through features like reporting emergencies, checklists, directories of experts, collaboration, and notifications. The benefits include rapid responses, localized jurisdiction support, and error mitigation.

To help get you started on creating your Emergency Management app, check our our free resources:

• 15 Top Emergency Management Software To Manage Any Incident
• The Top 10 Innovation Management Software for Enterprise Organizations
• Action Plan: 5 steps to prepare for a Dawn Raid

Community Apps

Supporting secure connections and communication, these apps serve various groups, such as alumni, departments, teams, clients, social groups, and project groups. Features like user profiles, discussion topics, posts, comments, notifications, and gamification foster enhanced communication, engagement, knowledge sharing, and networking.

If you’re looking to boost communication and collaboration within your law firm, custom apps can be the key to achieving this goal. By creating tailored solutions for various groups within your organization, you can ensure seamless information exchange, real-time discussions, and enhanced engagement among your team members. Custom apps offer a centralized platform where employees can connect, collaborate, and stay informed about the latest updates, ultimately leading to increased productivity and a more cohesive work environment.

For more insights into the world of communication apps and community engagement, we recommend exploring our two informative blog posts: The 15 Best Team Communication Apps of 2023 and The Top 10 Community Apps to Engage and Monetize Your Community.

Client Portal Apps

A secure and private method for distributing apps and content to clients, these apps offer authentication, dashboards, document sharing, project management, and reporting. Centralized access improves client experience, communication, collaboration, and app scalability.

Firm Information Apps

Although less prevalent, these apps provide practice areas, directories, attorney contact details, and key resources such as podcasts.

Discover how the non technical teams at Gowling are able to rapidly create and deploy apps.

Trends in Law Firm Apps

Law firms are embracing app development and exploring multiple categories, including events, emergencies, reference, news, learning, community, and client portal solutions.

These apps are also being tailored to accommodate multiple languages, jurisdictions, and scenarios, enhancing accessibility and reach. Additionally, integration with AI and collaboration tools is on the rise.

Watch this inspirational session to hear from Adam Curphey, Senior Innovation Manager at Mayer Brown who discusses their journey with Fliplet, innovation and how AI fits in.

Why Do Law Firms Use FlipIet for App Development?

FlipIet stands out as an online tool enabling rapid app development across Apple, Android, and web platforms. Law firms appreciate the customization options, security and control features, integration capabilities with existing systems, ability to create public or private solutions, offline functionality, and ease of maintenance for non-technical staff.

Furthermore, FlipIet’s pre-built solutions and support for AI-powered apps have made it a preferred choice among law firms. Fliplet is a proven solution that helps law firms streamline operations, improve productivity, and enhance the client experience. Our customizable solutions can be tailored specifically to the needs of your law firm.

Summary

The legal industry is undergoing a transformative shift with the increasing adoption of mobile apps by law firms. As our research revealed, these apps serve various purposes, from enhancing engagement and communication to streamlining emergency management and knowledge sharing. Law firms are embracing the power of app development, and platforms like FlipIet are empowering them to create unique, secure, and tailored solutions for their clients and staff.