My full-time employment is teaching at a K-4 elementary school, frequently referred to as my “day job.” I also teach an adjunct course at a local university. To that, I have now added a part-time law practice. For the moment, I am concentrating on wills, estate planning and adoptions. I am using my iPhone, and in some cases my iTouch, to stay on top of things. There is one drawback to using the iTouch alone, you have to be connected to a Wi-Fi source to use the communication functions, such as email. If your primary need is for calendaring and making quick notes, the iTouch may serve your needs. When I bought my iTouch, those were my primary work requirements for it. I am using my iPhone 3G for my main iDevice for work because I can stay in contact without being dependent on Wi-Fi.

What about keeping all of my information current? Mobile Me is my current answer. If you have an iPhone, I recommend buying a Mobile Me subscription for its “Find My iPhone” feature. I have been very fortunate in that I have never really lost my iPhone, but there have been times that I have come close. While I was in law school I got rid of my landline. Between work school and law school, I was never at home until very late at night. I finally figured out that the landline was an expense I could do without. Anyway, since I am relying on my iPhone for my primary source of telephone communications, I need to know where it is. There have been a couple of times when my iPhone has slipped between the couch cushions. The first time that happened, I used Find My iPhone to find its location, because I was sure that I had it with me when I came home. Find My iPhone confirmed that it was on the premise. It displays a map showing where your iPhone is located. Once I confirmed that I had not left it in some forgotten location, I sent a message to it and caused it to emit a sound. One time I did this and did not hear the sound. That was really scary to me, but I had accidentally left it in my car. Mobile Me is worth its cost, to me, just for the comfort of knowing that I can use it to find my iPhone when I have mislaid it. You can purchase Mobile Me directly from Apple, or from another source, such as Amazon (my choice) or eBay.

My primary use of Mobile Me is to keep my calendars and contacts synced. Since I am working full-time with two part-time jobs, keeping my calendar up-to-date is very important. Keeping track of where I need to be and what I need to be doing is important. You can also use Mobile Me to organize your photo albums. If you have an iPhone, or an iTouch, you can download the iDisk app to help manage your documents. I also use Dropbox to manage my documents. More on Dropbox later.

Using technology to manage your practice or keep things organized as a law student should not be a burden. If it is, something is wrong and needs to be adjusted. The tech stuff should not take away from what you need to do. An iPod Touch or an iPhone can make work a little more fun. There is nothing wrong with having a little fun.

Philippa (@PTLaw)

Normal was the state you were in prior to entering law school. Forget about going back. Once you have suffered what my torts professor called, “. . . the disability of a legal education . . . .”, you are never the same. Thomas Wolfe was right, you cannot go home again. Law school and the bar exam may be over, but you will never be the person you were before entering law school. You have been changed in some way. Hopefully, that is a good thing. My life was good before, but completing law school and passing the bar have made things better. For one, my life has been touched by people I would never have met, had I not gone to law school. I hope the same is true for you. Friendships have been forged that never would have existed had it not been for law school and the bar exam.

Now is the time to decompress. You have been through a lot, mentally and probably physically too. The Lawyerist is one of my favorite blogs. A recent post addressed life after the bar exam. I highly recommend reading it. It may not hurt to have some family members and friends read it too.

You are entering another phase of your life. A good one and I hope, a prosperous one. Congratulations on achieving another milestone in your life! Being a lawyer gives you an opportunity to do good and live well while doing so. There is nothing wrong with living well and I hope your career as a lawyer enables you to do so.

Philippa (@PTLaw)

It was a three-day conference. Here is what I took with me: my 13” MacBook Pro, iPhone 3G, iPod Touch, iPod Classic, wireless keyboard, wireless mouse. The day before I left, the new bag I ordered from SFBags arrived – perfect timing. I bought a laptop sleeve, shoulder strap, piggyback pouch, and a case for my wireless keyboard. It was a great setup for traveling. Perfect for traveling light. Check them out at www.sfbags.com.

My goal was to travel light, yet have the things I need to get my work done and have a little fun. I did not use my laptop to take notes at the CLEs I attended. Technology is fun, but I also enjoy writing with my various assortment of pens. This time, my pen of choice was the Uniball vision micro. No fountain pens this time. I must admit that I did not want to dismantle my laptop setup in my room. There were several others at the conference who did use laptops during the sessions and I noticed that Apples were holding their own during the presentations. Several attendees were using MacBook Pros and an iPad put in an appearance too.

How did things work for me? There was a minor downside – the daily cost of using the hotel’s wireless network. I could have used the Internet for free, if I had used the hotel’s business center. Doing so would have saved me $10 a day, but would have defeated part of the purpose of bringing my tech setup. The advantage of having my setup with me was that there would be no waiting and I was free to work whenever I wanted. I could also watch television while I worked in the comfort of my room. For the record, I did not notice a lot of people using the business center for Internet usage, beyond some people who were obviously on vacation. There was also a fax machine available in the center and a printer. I did not need either of those services, but it was nice to know they were available.

What did I use the most? My laptop and iPhone. What did I use the least? My iPod Touch. Out of fairness to my Touch, I have not consolidated my iTunes library and most of my music is on my iPod Classic. When I do combine everything, I will use my Touch more for listening to music and watching TV shows.

While attending sessions, my iPhone came in very handy. It was useful when I needed to look up information, check email, make calls, or update my calendar. What I would like to try on a future trip is using my iPod Touch in a similar manner. Using my AirDrives™ or another type of headset with a microphone, plus a VOiP account, I should be able to do it.

Now that I have more time available for traveling, I am looking forward to more tech excursions.

PTLaw (@PTLaw)

I have some thoughts about the iPhone 4 that I will post later today. First, I thought you might enjoy this article that I found, thanks to iPhoneJD.com. It is about the third original partner in Apple. Interesting story.

PTLaw (@PTLaw)

Flood waters came within two blocks of my location, but I was spared any power outage. My inconvenience was losing cable and Internet connections. Minimal inconveniences compared to many of my friends, colleagues and students.

More information and pictures later.

PTLaw (@PTLaw)

PTLaw (@PTLaw)
Tapped on my iPhone

PTLaw (@PTLaw)

I’ll post links to these articles later.

PTLaw (@PTLaw)
Tapped on my iPhone.

PTLaw (@PTLaw)
Tapped on my iPhone

Interested in ways lawyers are using the iPad? Check out today’s post at MacLitigator.com for a report on using the iPad at trial. Good stuff. I love reading other blogs and learning new things. One of the things I picked up was about PDFtoKeynote. It will convert multi-page PDFs into Keynote presentations. I am looking forward to trying it out.

PTLaw (@PTLaw)
Tapped on my iPhone