College of Law LPC student, Timothy Leigh, just launched an “iPhone” application which claims it enables users to access “the full text of all revised legislation available”. The £20 app (soon to be £40 apparently), which is called iLegal Legislation, took three months of Leigh’s spare time to develop and received much initial praise from the media. Roll on Friday even held a promotional competition with 5 free giveaways.

Unfortunately, one potential user has investigated the app in more detail and is decidedly unimpressed. Nearly Legal reviewed the product claims and asked some searching questions of its creator about the source of the information it contained and how up-to-date it was. Basically could it stand up to the claim that it gave users “the full text of all revised legislation available” i.e. the latest up-to-date legislation, as amended.

The conclusion (short version), no, not really – so for “as amended” statutes practitioners might prefer to rely on the paid-for databases they are used to. Read Nearly Legal’s harsh but fair critique to see if it’s any good for you.

For Mr Leigh it might be time to revisit a seemingly a good idea with a view to improving on its potential shortcomings. And here’s some inspiration from Batman Begins to help him on his way: “Why do we fall? So we can pick ourselves back up.” – Bruce Wayne’s dad.

Hat tip CharonQC