What kind of software application packages are used in law?

A student here is wondering what kind of application software packages are used in the law, and the only thing I could think of was Microsoft Office. However, they need to list 5 packages!



Are there specialized suites built to suit lawyers? Thanks!What kind of software application packages are used in law?That is an awfully broad question, like asking how much does a car cost. The cost of the car depends on the make, model, year, etc. so a lot more details are needed. The same with the kinds of application packages attorneys use (I am an attorney). Microsoft Office is certainly one but many attorneys and law firms still use WordPerfect and Corel packages. Mainly they use it because in addition to being very slow to change, attorneys are very cheap and seldom like to invest in a new product and back in the early 90s, almost everyone used WordPerfect.



Many attorneys use Quickbooks or Quicken for accounting and bookkeeping. Some use Microsoft Money but few use anything other than those 2 main ones.



Attorneys rely on anti-virus protection from Norton or McAfee since the internet is very important for communication with clients as well as research.



For research, some attorney's use Lexis-Nexis and other search engines for researching case law. Some state bar associations have free search engines (like South Carolina has Casemaker free). There are other search programs available too.



For real estate closings, attorneys often use Blackacre, SoftPro and similar packages that will help prepare the closing documents and generate a HUD statement as well as sometimes help with the trust account.



Some attorney use TimeSlips to keep track of their time and there are other programs that also do that.



I hope that helps.