Recently I wrote of the benefits of upgrading from Adobe Acrobat Standard to Acrobat Professional for the features that are useful in the law office, such as batch OCR processing.  The upgrade is $160 (or less) very well spent.  You should have at least one copy of Acrobat Professional in your office.

However, you may not need Acrobat Professional on every computer in your office (or on your travel notebook/netbook or home PC).  Indeed, depending on how you use your PC, you may not need the Standard version of Acrobat either.  There are alternatives that let you read and create PDF documents.  Some of those alternatives are free.  A few offer nice features for legal users.

One example recently featured in the always-interesting Lifehacker blog  is the free version of Nitro PDF Reader.  Unlike more basic free PDF readers and creators, Nitro has a full range of features that allow you to add annotations to PDF files (excellent for taking notes on transcripts, briefs, or documents you are reviewing), markup text (for marking necessary changes to draft documents), and fill-in PDF forms (becoming increasing common on court web sites).  You can also scan your signature and sign PDF documents, saving the need to print a paper copy solely for the purpose of signing it, then rescanning it for transmittal via email attachment.  Beyond viewing and annotating, Nitro includes a PDF print driver that lets you create PDF files from almost any Windows application.  I particularly like the ability to drag any file and drop it onto the Nitro desktop icon to create a PDF file.

Perhaps what truly sets Nitro PDF Reader apart from other free PDF viewing and creation tools is its use of a ribbon interface similar to Microsoft Office 2007.  If you have become familiar with using Word 2007, using Nitro PDF Reader has the same look and feel.  I installed it on one of my computers that also has Adobe Acrobat Standard.  Although there are some things Acrobat can do that Nitro PDF can’t, such as create bookmarks in PDF files, I like the simple uncluttered interface of Nitro better than Acrobat and will probably use it instead of Acrobat when I don’t need full Acrobat functionality.  For example, as an appellate lawyer, I often take notes and incorporate those directly into the PDF document when reading trial transcripts or reviewing documents that make up the trial court record.  Nitro PDF seems easier to use for that purpose.

Nitro PDF Reader is not a complete substitute for Adobe Acrobat, particularly the essential Professional edition of that application.  But as a PDF tool on a secondary, home, or travel computer, it is worth serious consideration for the added features lawyers and law office staff will find useful.