LawStack Provides Seamless Access to Legal Rules and Statutes on your Mobile Device
All of you probably use your iPad for legal RESEARCH in apps from services like Lexis, Westlaw, and Fastcase … but today I want to talk more specifically about legal REFERENCE… with one app that I am constantly sharing with attorneys called LawStack.
I actually reviewed the LawStack app about 5 years ago, but obviously over the years there have been some excellent improvements with the app it was definitely time to re-visit the app.
Android App Now Available
Perhaps most importantly, the company now offers the LawStack app for Android devices on the Google Play store.
I remember they were working on this for a while, so it’s wonderful to see that they followed through on the promise to offer an Android app.
The Purpose of LawStack
The whole purpose of the LawStack app is to give you updated and accurate access to Federal and State rules directly on your mobile device! This is much better than the books we used to have to use, which were rarely updated.
Plus one of the main reasons that LawStack is so great is that the rules can be downloaded and accessed OFFLINE, meaning that you do not have to be connected to the Internet in order to use them, or wait for a hotspot or something – they’re right there at your fingertips.
Sign Up for a Free Account
I recommend signing up for a free account on LawStack, even if you don’t plan to pay for a subscription. The account allows you to track what rules you’ve downloaded and gives you access to support.
The LawStack app is developed by a company called Tekk Innovations, and they continue to generously offer many Federal Rules completely free, with updates!
In fact, I recently had Kasim Te, the developer of LawStack on the Apps in Law podcast and he explained that the mission of LawStack is really to ensure people have access to the rules of law … it’s just not about an app.
Adding Rules to your “Stack”
You can also download and add State Rules to your “stack” which are now available as inexpensive subscriptions. The cost of the subscription helps to cover the time and expense of finding those rules, and keeping them updated. Each state handles their rules in different ways.
When you tap into the Library, you can browse the rules that you can add to your “stack.” If a set of rules is free, you can tap to download them immediately.
If a set of rules requires a subscription, you can tap the “Try” button … which helpfully shows you exactly what it will cost if you choose to continue with a subscription.
Updates Your Rules Too!
Now when rules are in your “stack” and there is an update, you can tap into Updates to download the updated content which is just extremely helpful!!
PLUS, you can actually see older versions of rules which can be useful in certain situations.
By the way, if you do NOT see your particular state, do NOT hesitate to reach out to Kasim Te, the developer as they are able to ramp up rules based on demand and requests.
Navigating Around Your Rules
Once you tap into a rule you get exactly what you’re expecting, here with the Titles … and it is helpful that rule numbers are reflected on the right side.
But a new toggle here is what I like call the “rule exploder” but I believe it’s officially a toggle between “flat-view mode” and the “hierarchy mode” but “rule exploder” sounds so much better.
The toggle basically explodes out the rules for easy reference, and you can scroll up and down on the right side of the screen.
You’ve got several ways to navigate around the content:
1. You can tap back in the upper left corner
2. Use the arrow buttons at the bottom
3. I like tapping on the center top where it will show you sort of a breadcrumb trail
Rule Sessions
Lastly, if you need to compare two different rules, you can add “Sessions” by tapping the button in the bottom right. Then you can quickly switch back and forth between open sessions which is MUCH faster than navigating all the way back to a previous rule that you were viewing.
Bookmarks and Highlights
The little open book at the bottom will keep track of anything that you highlight, or add as a bookmark
Use the plus sign to add a bookmark on a section that’s important to you, so you can revisit it quickly later.
You can always change or edit those later.
Search All Your Rules!
The search capabilities are amazing … you can’t do any of this in a paper book!
Tapping the search box brings up options that allow you to search JUST the titles … or FULL-TEXT
You can search through the ENTIRE Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or if you are in a specific Title or section, you can tap the “Narrow Search” toggle to search JUST in that Title!
At any time, you can also tap Search Tips for some helpful hints
If you’re all the way down into a specific rule, the search box changes context to allow you to search JUST in that rule.
Then it HIGHLIGHTS the words for you!
Copy and Share Content
Now what do you do with content when you find it?
There’s a really nifty new tool is the “paragraph copy” button – whatever current paragraph or sub-section that you’re currently viewing will be reflected up in this little button.
When you tap it, a confirmation box pops up to show you that it has copied JUST that text from that sub-sub-section to the clipboard, which means now that you can PASTE that content into a document, email message, etc.
If you need other sharing options, this little button in bottom right has a nice breezy animation for you to Print the rule, email the entire text, or share it to other apps as necessary.
Get 10% off your first LawStack subscription by visiting www.lawstack.com/burney