The inaugural Clio Apple in Law Firms Survey results are out and 835 people participated, 90% of which were practicing lawyers and 10% of which were law students. Fifty five percent of the lawyers, which ranged from solos to firms of 50+ attorneys, currently use Macs in their law offices.
In the final analysis, there was clear evidence to support the fact that lawyers are adopting Apple products -- from Macs to iPhones to iPads -- at an escalating rate. All legal professionals and law students from any law firm or law school were invited to participate in the survey, regardless of size and location. The survey aimed to determine to what extent lawyers and law students are now using Apple and Mac products, and whether there is clear evidence of an increasing trend of the legal industry “going Mac” in the future.
Out of 835 respondents who completed the survey:
48.8% practiced in a small firm (1-10 attorneys)
7.9% practiced in a medium-sized firm (11-50 attorneys)
16.8% practiced in a large firm (>50 attorneys)
10% were law students
3% were in-house counsel
Lawyer respondents
55% of lawyers responding to the survey currently use Macs
18% of Mac-using lawyers have been using a Mac for less than one year, 41% between 1 and 3 years, and 41% for more than 3 years
Why are you using Macs (not PCs)?
46% of respondents indicated that their decision to use Macs instead of PCs was because Apple technology is more reliable and secure; 32% of respondents indicated their decision was motivated by Mac's usability.
iPads in law offices
26% of respondents currently use iPads in their law office
42% of respondents that currently do not use iPads in their law office are considering purchasing an iPad in the next year
iPhones in law offices
50.3% of respondents currently use iPhones as their primary device. 27.3% use BlackBerrys; 9.8% use Android-based devices; 2.3% use Palm devices
27% of respondents plan on switching their primary mobile device in the next year,
Of those planning to switch devices, 65% plan on switching to an iPhone; 21% plan on switching to an Android device; only 7% plan on switching to BlackBerry
Switching to Macs within the next year
19% of respondents that are currently PC users indicated they are considering switching to Macs in the next year
High satisfaction with Macs
Of law offices currently using Macs in their law office, 98.4% would choose to use Macs again.
Desktop apps used by Mac law firms
The most widely-used app in law offices was Microsoft Office, with 37% of offices indicating they use Microsoft's productivity suite
iWork was second place with 19% usage.
Parallels was third at 11.3%
Student respondents
63% of law students that responded are Mac users
Only 10% of law students that responded are currently iPad users, but 70% of them plan on purchasing one in the next year
63% of law students that responded plan to use Macs for their law office's IT needs when they graduate
Clio plans on running this survey each year to benchmark the degree of adoption of Apple and Mac technology in the legal industry.
“There was a time when Macs were not considered a legitimate computing platform for lawyers, but that has clearly changed," says Clio President and Co-Founder Jack Newton. "We are charting this trend of lawyers ‘going Mac’ and will be very interested to see what the next year will bring as PCs and BlackBerrys try to hold on to their market share while Apple and Mac products threaten to take over more of their turf.”
Clio (http://www.goclio.com) is a cloud-based practice management Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product. It's specifically designed for solo practitioners and small law firms using Macs and PCs.
