Apps for Lawyers

The Idea
Design an inexpensive device with 10-15 buttons simply tracking the amount of time spent on various tasks, enabling a lawyer or other time-billing professional to push a button to switch billing to a particular client. At the end of the day, the time setting would read the hours to be billed to that client down to the second. Send this information to a mobile phone via Bluetooth and design apps to make the lawyer's life better. Make money selling the device as a conference give-away (promotional item).

Origins
Lawyers are not known for being particularly tech savvy, but they have lots of information tracking needs. They also spend lots of money on services. I heard a friend complaining about not being able to track his eleven different clients at the end of the day, and I thought of this idea.

How It Works
Companies selling to lawyers will want to use this item as a promotional item because it would be very likely to be kept. The manufacturer would make additional advertising revenue from the apps.

Resources Required
Hardware design expertise, app design expertise, contacts in the promotional items industry

Sustainable Competitive Advantage (If Any)
Brand will be an important differentiator, as lawyers are brand-sensitive. Having the device that integrates to the apps makes it harder (but not difficult) to break into the app space for a competing app.