12 Best Smartphone and Computer Tricks for Lawyers
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 4:31 am
"Gone are the days when 'Luddite' or 'caveman' lawyers could practice with impunity," wrote Georgetown Law's Karin S. Jenson, Coleman W. Watson, and James A. Scherer. The Model Rules specifically recognize the need for technological competence.
Computer Tricks for Lawyers
To be a competent lawyer, you have to be technically competent. But you want to learn these skills quickly. Unfortunately, working on a computer is a pretty solitary process, so it's hard to pick up tips and tricks by watching your peers.
That's why I scoured the internet for tips and tricks that would help lawyers work faster and more efficiently.
Computer Tricks
1. Find information faster with Ctrl + F.
According to Alexis K. Madrigal, co-editor of The Atlantic overseas chinese in canada data and author of Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology , search is the most important function of our networked computers today (word processing is a close second).
Want to speed up your search? Research shows that people who use this trick are, on average, about 12% faster in all their search activities. “It doesn’t sound like much,” said Dan Russell, who studies how people search and research, “but it’s one of the biggest improvements we’ve *ever* seen. It’s a huge improvement over people who don’t know this little trick.”
Russell also called Control + F " the most important thing you can teach someone about search."
If you didn't know about this tip, don't worry. 90% of internet users didn't know about it in 2011. So, today is the age of adoption of lawyer technology.
How to do it
Press and hold the Ctrl key, then press the F key. If you're using a Mac, hold down the Command key.
A small search bar will appear in the upper right or left corner of the screen. Left or right depends on which app you are using.
Type the word you want and you'll be taken to the first instance. You'll see how many times the word appears, and you can see each one using the up and down arrows.
Advice at the master level
Add a space to exclude irrelevant results. For example, typing "search" will highlight every instance of "research." To exclude them, type "search."
Alternative Use Advice
Use "control f" to indicate a search . Example: "Control over bonus".
Computer Tricks for Lawyers
To be a competent lawyer, you have to be technically competent. But you want to learn these skills quickly. Unfortunately, working on a computer is a pretty solitary process, so it's hard to pick up tips and tricks by watching your peers.
That's why I scoured the internet for tips and tricks that would help lawyers work faster and more efficiently.
Computer Tricks
1. Find information faster with Ctrl + F.
According to Alexis K. Madrigal, co-editor of The Atlantic overseas chinese in canada data and author of Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology , search is the most important function of our networked computers today (word processing is a close second).
Want to speed up your search? Research shows that people who use this trick are, on average, about 12% faster in all their search activities. “It doesn’t sound like much,” said Dan Russell, who studies how people search and research, “but it’s one of the biggest improvements we’ve *ever* seen. It’s a huge improvement over people who don’t know this little trick.”
Russell also called Control + F " the most important thing you can teach someone about search."
If you didn't know about this tip, don't worry. 90% of internet users didn't know about it in 2011. So, today is the age of adoption of lawyer technology.
How to do it
Press and hold the Ctrl key, then press the F key. If you're using a Mac, hold down the Command key.
A small search bar will appear in the upper right or left corner of the screen. Left or right depends on which app you are using.
Type the word you want and you'll be taken to the first instance. You'll see how many times the word appears, and you can see each one using the up and down arrows.
Advice at the master level
Add a space to exclude irrelevant results. For example, typing "search" will highlight every instance of "research." To exclude them, type "search."
Alternative Use Advice
Use "control f" to indicate a search . Example: "Control over bonus".