Family Law

Family Law News 2017, Issue 1, Volume 39, No. 1

Technology Corner

David M. Lederman

David Lederman is the current State Bar of California Family Law Section (FLEXCOM) Chair. He also served as FLEXCOM’s Legislation Chair and is the immediate past Vice-Chair. He also served as the Contra Costa County Family Law Section President (and is its current Legislative Director). A Certified Specialist in Family Law since 2001, he is the current Association of Certified Family Law Specialists’ Technology Director. Mr. Lederman is a frequent speaker and writer on family law and technology issues and speaks Mandarin.

This issue of Technology Corner is "Dave’s Top 10 List" of mobile apps and other useful features for the iPhone and iPad. It is not intended to be exhaustive, and others may have other favorite apps. It is also not exclusive to law practice management. If anyone thinks of any app that should be on this list, please send your recommendations to the Editor.

  1. DissoMaster. This is the most expensive product on this list at almost $50 a year. I find it useful to run support hypotheticals with clients at court (and not need to use the court’s computer or my laptop). It is particularly helpful to illustrate strategic approaches (such as the impact of new mate income on a support calculation). My caveat with the online version is that there tends to be a deviation between the app calculation compared to the full Windows version.
  2. Attorney’s Briefcase. It is great having Attorney’s Brief case on my phone and tablet. I like having the Family Law Week in Brief on my tablet and it appears to be current. It has great content, however the app is still at version 1 which was last updated in 2014. There are some bugs and conflicts with IOS 10.1.1.
  3. MileBug. This is a great simple app. to track business miles. There are a variety of similar products (not all of which I tried). MileBug has great reporting features and it allows me to send a user defined report (for example year-end business miles) to a CPA.
  4. Arlo. This is just cool. It is an inexpensive video-monitoring system you can set up at home that sends live video feed to your mobile device. I initially bought this product when my kid said he heard footsteps outside his window. The app allows for several family members to have real time video feed from a single to multiple cameras. If a camera detects motion is sends a ten-second video clip to the mobile app.
  5. Frequent Locations. This is not an app. On your phone, go to Privacy, then click through to Location Services, then scroll down to the bottom and click System Services. Now, click on Frequent Location, (note that "ON" is the default setting). What do you see? Now, if you actually want some privacy, clear your history and turn it off. Ponder…. What can you do with this information? How about this hypothetical:
  6. Wife ("Wilma") accuses husband of stalking her in front of her apartment on September 16th, 2016, at 10:15 PM. Husbands ("Harry") says he was "at home." The parties are at hearing and the questioning proceeds as follows:
    Attorney: So, Harry, that’s a cool looking iPhone. How long have you had it?
    Harry: I’ve had it about six months.
    Attorney: Do you carry it with you at all times?
    Harry: Yes.
    Attorney: Please enter your password on the phone. Now click on your settings. Click on your privacy tab. Great now click on your "System Services" tab. Now click on "Frequent Locations." By the way, please connect your phone to that little wire over there connected to the projector. Awesome, thanks. What city do you live in?
    Harry: San Francisco.
    Attorney: And you know that Wilma moved to Marin, right?

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