How Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion Can Help Make Your Law Firm More Productive

Cameron Tyler
May 23, 2012

Wondering how to make your law firm more productive? Less than a year after the release of OS X Lion, Apple has unleashed another update to its desktop OS, this time dubbed Mountain Lion. This iteration continues its predecessor’s trend of incorporating more of the iPad’s features into OS X, thereby tightening the Apple ecosystem for those of us that might own multiple Apple devices. If you regularly use iPads in your work, a Mountain Lion upgrade is probably a no-brainer for the summer, but the software offers some benefits for those looking for an operating system that has a surprising amount of productivity applications baked in, so you don’t have to fill hard drive space with whatever cocktail of apps you’ve collected from the Internet.

The new Apple operating system OSX Mountain Lion is loaded with new features that can make your firm even more productive and efficient. Laced with goodies like cloud options and the ability to stream content seamlessly from your computer to an HDTV, the new Mountain Lion operating system can help take your firm’s productivity to the next level. Here are a few features that could see the most use.

iCloud
More and more businesses are turning to cloud computing to allow for easy sharing of data at a reasonable cost. Apple’s iCloud was introduced in Lion and since then, numerous companies have entered the cloud game. Many of them have brought in some good ideas – YouSendIt’s folder sync, for example – and the best of those have been incorporated into this updated version of iCloud. Employees can use their Apple IDs to set up email, contacts, calendar, messages and FaceTime, and also sync their applications and data among their desktop computer, laptop, iPad and iPhone. iCloud documents will push all updates of company documents to all devices so that everyone is literally on the same page.

Notification Center
Whether it’s an email from a client, an instant message about a verdict or court ruling, a calendar alert or other update, Mountain Lion’s instant Notification Center will help keep you and your employees current and in the know. Best of all, your updates will appear all in one place on your desktop in a way that won’t interrupt your workflow.

Reminders
The Reminders feature is another iOS import that will create lists of all your important tasks and send automatic reminders at whatever intervals you wish. You can check off items as you go and sync your Reminders lists among your computer, iPad, iPod touch and your iPhone. With Reminders, nothing will slip your mind!

Gatekeeper
Your firm’s data and case files are sensitive and require secure handling and storage. Just one single security breach could be disastrous to a case and the reputation of your law firm. Gatekeeper will help to protect your company’s files from web-based threats including harmful applications.

AirPlay Mirroring
AirPlay mirroring is a feature aimed at people who want to watch movies from their computer on their HDTV, but the feature comes in handy for anyone who wants to project the contents of their laptop screen wirelessly with an HDTV. With AirPlay Mirroring you’ll be able to easily present video testimony, depositions and animated demos from the conference room to the courtroom.

These are just some of the ways that the Mac OS X Mountain Lion operating system can improve the day-to-day inner workings of your law firm. Loaded with timesaving features, Mountain Lion can help work to seem less like work.