LAW LIFE: iPhone personal assistant offers time-savers for lawyers

By Correy Stephenson The Daily Record Newswire The iPhone 4S offers lawyers a valuable new tool that can speed up tasks and simplify phone use. Launched in October, the tool, called Siri, is Apple's self-described "personal assistant." Siri responds to human speech using voice recognition technology and is able to answer questions and understand commands that allow a user to interact with his or her iPhone. "I love it," raved Jeff Richardson, a partner at Adams and Reese in New Orleans and author of the iPhone J.D. blog. "Siri is useful in so many ways." For lawyers, the most popular uses of the iPhone include sending and receiving e-mails and writing documents and calendar entries, Richardson said, all tasks made quicker and easier by Siri. Siri enables users to save time by minimizing the number of taps needed to complete a task, Richardson said. For example, to set an alarm pre-Siri, a user needed to go to the clock app, choose the time and set it. Now, with Siri, Richardson tells his iPhone: "Set an alarm for 7 a.m." and the process is complete. Richardson uses similar voice commands when setting appointments, writing short text messages and e-mails and using word processing apps. "The accuracy is incredibly high," he said. "It is really nice to be able to dictate to your phone." Searching is also made quicker and easier by requesting information instead of having to launch an application and then type search terms. And Siri can provide directions or locate things when instructed to: for example, "find the federal courthouse." Richardson is also a fan of the reminders app, which gives users the ability to tell Siri to remind them to complete tasks, like returning opposing counsel's phone call or filing a motion at a certain time. Siri will also work with the iPhone's GPS system to issue reminders based on location, piping up to tell users they are supposed to stop by the dry cleaners after they leave the office. Siri isn't perfect, Richardson acknowledged, and sometimes makes mistakes from dictation. But the playing-card size iPhone poses challenges when trying to type a message as well, "so the fact that I may have to correct a mistake or two with Siri is not a big deal. I probably would have mistyped a few words anyway and Siri is faster," Richardson said. Another drawback: because Siri is voice-activated, there will be public situations and settings where speaking commands into a phone is not appropriate ("File lawsuit against XYZ Co. this afternoon," for example). But Richardson noted that Siri can be flexible. If the environment isn't conducive to speaking commands, a user can begin typing. But if the area becomes safe for dictation, simply put the iPhone close to your face, similar to making a phone call, and the infrared sensor will activate Siri. "As long as you are in a text input screen, you can pick up the phone and jump into voice recognition mode," Richardson explained. He is looking forward to future iterations of Siri. "This is just the 1.0 version and it does so much," said Richardson. Future versions will likely work with other apps on the phone, particularly third-party apps, he predicted, offering lawyers even more time-saving opportunities. Published: Tue, Jan 3, 2012