E-readers, despite some limitations, are a popular product to help busy people find the time to read. From students to busy professionals, being able to load one small device with a variety of reading material is a dream come true.

One of the earliest devices, Amazon’s Kindle, remains a top seller. The Kindle debuted in November 2007. The Kindle 2 arrived in February 2009, with The Kindle DX, a larger version optimized for newspapers and textbooks, following in May 2009. Now that Target, the second largest retail store in the US, has started selling the Kindle, its popularity should only increase.

In fact, some analysts believe that Kindle and e-book sales could generate $1.2 billion for Amazon in 2010, a significant increase from the $153 million earned in 2008. Amazon has released software to allow users to read Kindle books on other mobile devices, like a smartphone, so even if Kindle device sales fall, Kindle books aren’t likely to be going anywhere.

How can a lawyer use a Kindle?

Law reference books: Take your legal library with you wherever you go. Amazon’s Kindle store has thousands of law books available in most areas of legal practice. Although not all are aimed at lawyers, even legal publisher West has released more than two dozen of their books in Kindle versions. You can even bookmark your most-referenced sections for quick access.
Case documents and depositions: Stop lugging around piles of files. From depositions to sensitive case files, have everything you need right at your fingertips. Amazon’s Digital Text Platform tool makes it easy to transfer any document to a Kindle.

Take notes: You can make notes and highlight text right on the documents in your Kindle, so you can still have everything you need in one place. This function is not available for PDFs on the Kindle DX.

In short, the Kindle is a very useful device for anyone who needs easy access to a lot a reading material, which describes lawyers perfectly.