Do Lawyers Need Their Own Special Keyboard?

Should there be a special keyboard just for lawyers? One company–Pro-Boards LLC–thinks so, and has developed its own legal keyboard, the LegalBoard. The new invention is debuting this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Are lawyers interested in a lawyer-specific keyboard? @legalkeyboard is proposing one. https://t.co/BV6Q3N9Yy2 pic.twitter.com/snOdUexhe6

— LawPay (@LawPay) January 7, 2017

The LegalBoard would include a lot of the specific symbols that lawyers often use, like the paragraph symbol and copyright symbol. And while it’s possible to make those symbols on normal keyboards, it often requires a series of shortcuts or clicks to render them. The LegalBoard would also create shortcuts for common features like bullets, or the words “plaintiff” and “defendant.”

The LegalBoard was invented by Brian Potts, a lawyer who noticed how annoying it was to have to stop working in order to insert certain symbols, and was inspired. He told Law Sites Blog:

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.

Potts’ invention sells for $65, which seems reasonable for lawyers who want to save some time on keystrokes. And it makes a lot of sense–so many professions have specific technological tools that help them, but keyboards have remained standard for many professions for years. While you can get some specialized keyboards for different languages, there aren’t a lot of other specific keyboards.  Potts also recognizes that lawyers aren’t the only people who may want these kinds of special keyboards, including doctors and journalists. In professions like the law and medicine, every moment can make a difference, so keyboards that save a few strokes could very well be worth it.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.