The app, called Corrs Briefcase, was developed by the firm's legal technology solutions team in order to allow lawyers to access thousands of documents when away from the office.

Corrs' legal technology manager, Graeme Grovum, told Lawyers Weekly the app is especially useful for litigation lawyers, and is designed to make it easy for lawyers to quickly locate specific information and documents in court or elsewhere.

Grovum, who developed the app with legal technology solutions director Brian Borskjaer, said he is not aware of any similar app for lawyers in Australia.

Just yesterday (30 November), America's Law Technology News (LTN) reported that "painless document review" is missing from the "lawyer-iPad symbiosis".

"Despite all manner of PDF reader apps ... not much document review is done on tablets. The open-source legal technology community should consider building such applications," LTN reported.

Corrs' new app weighs a little over 600 grams when viewed on the latest iPad, and has the potential to see trolleys and briefcases - transporting thousands of documents to court - made redundant. The plan is also to have an iPad available for the judge should they need to review a particular document in court.

Grovum and Borskjaer said a major function of the app is also to facilitate more open communication - without the need for bulky documents in the room - and to significantly cut down the time spent looking for and organising documents, thus improving work/life balance.

Further, because the app is hosted internally, it can be accessed without 3G or Wi-Fi connections and the Corrs IT team can wipe its contents if security is breached.

Grovum said the team would continue to update the app in line with lawyer feedback and eventually develop further app functions to suit different practice groups.

"I think we will see lawyers who have to travel using the app more and more," said Grovum.

Corrs partner and CEO John Denton welcomed the product, saying it "will create a new way for lawyers and professionals with document intensive needs to practice flexibly and efficiently".

The idea was formulated in March this year by Corrs IT team and the app was fully operational by September. It is currently being rolled out within the firm.