Legalese at your fingertips
A new computer keyboard has been designed specifically for lawyers.
The brainchild of US litigation lawyer Brian Potts, ‘Legalboard’ has a number of key features that differentiates it from your standard run-of-the-mill keyboard.
For $65 (£50), the computer hardware allows lawyers to add common legal symbols and phrases quickly via special keys. Created with the US legal market in mind, the keyboard features special character keys including §, ¶ and ©, and a big button that says “court”.
According to Legalboard’s website, the fun doesn’t stop there. Other key features include: change line spacing, turn track changes on and off, ignore email from partner, add a footnote or comment, and “much more!”
Speaking to website Law Sites, Potts — a partner at Washington-based commercial law firm Perkins Coie — said:
I was furiously writing a brief when I went to insert a section symbol. As was my custom, I had to stop what I was doing, use the mouse, go to insert a symbol, find the section symbol and hit insert. This process stopped my train of thought, took up my precious time, and more than anything else, was incredibly annoying.
The keyboard, which disappointingly does not have a gavel key, is only compatible with Windows, rendering it pretty useless to Mac loving lawyers.
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