We were expecting power blackouts, banking systems failure, crashing aeroplanes, nuclear reactor malfunction and a stockmarket crash causing global recession.In the event, the most reported Y2K fallout case was that of a video shop customer in New York who was hit for a fine of £139,000 because the shop's computer indicated that his video was 100 years overdue.Many solicitors -- like those who manned the silent helplines of Herbert Smith, Tarlo Lyons and Allen & Overy over the holiday period -- anticipated problems.

But despite the smooth transition, there may yet be activity for the teams of lawyers who have been waiting for the fallout.Most of the experts are taking a cautiously optimistic view of the continued danger.

Charles Christian, editor of Legal Technology Insider, says the danger period expired on January 7, but adds that there are a few remaining dates which the bug experts will be watching.These include 29 February this year and 1 January 2001, which will show whether compliant systems are able to accept 2000 as a leap year.

It is difficult not to be optimistic, however; the danger is essentially over.Clive Seddon, IT specialist at City firm Masons, never thought there would be a stampede of companies trying to salvage their remains following Y2K burnout.

Masons' own Y2K helpline, which was on hand to give clients advice over the long holiday period, had no calls from companies claiming their systems had proved to be non-compliant.

The sole complaint came from a client who was dissatisfied with service received from contractors paid to supply a compliant system.Mr Seddon predicts that this is likely to be the future pattern of complaints: suppliers -- employed to help companies avoid the bug -- could find themselves on the receiving end of complaints where remedial projects have not gone to plan because of problems with 'functionality, price and program'.

But he adds: 'In cases where suppliers estimated costs for making systems compliant, and these costs considerably exceeded estimates, companies may take a close look back at their suppliers' work, and check to ensure that the jobs were carried out to specification.'Mr Seddon says companies would only sue their IT suppliers if relationships reached rock bottom -- adding that since most work extremely hard on their long-term client relationships, such litiga tion ought to be rare.Mr Christian believes that, notwithstanding the hype, the millennium phenomenon has caused a sea-change in corporate outlook.

The bug caused more companies to update their computer systems than ever before.

This came, he says, at a critical time.In spring this year the first e-commerce bill will give focus to the IT revolution that has been swirling around us for the last two years.

If the millennium bug caused an element of unnecessary panic, he says this is good: British business is now in an enviable position to exploit the markets in e-commerce, and to embrace online legal services, in a way our trading rivals are not.'Even in the US,' he adds, 'the potential for online legal services is less than in Britain because of the problem of inter-state regulatory differences.'His point is illustrated by Nolo, a US freeserve legal Web site.

The Texas Bar authority is seeking to block the Web site's coverage from the state on the grounds that it deems that the producers are holding themselves out as lawyers in offering advice, and therefore contravening Texan state law.

Each state has its own Bar authority, and disputes such as the one facing Nolo look set to characterise attempts to launch online legal services in the US.Mr Christian says that competition from mainland Europe is unlikely.

He says their 'parochial and localised legal structures' will not lend themselves to an explosion in online services.Europe, with its language barriers and narrow markets, is not where Mr Christian sees the future for British on-line services.

He says: 'Our strengths will lie in the enormous English-speaking markets worldwide, and emerging markets.'Some have suggested that, as the reality sinks in, there may be a danger that lawyers themselves may find themselves the objects of law suits brought by companies resentful of the time and money spent on the compliance process.But Mr Seddon doubts very much that this will happen: 'In the UK, legal advice relating to Y2K tended to be peripheral to the compliance process, and it is hard to imagine that lawyers could be brought into actions for overhyped service selling.'Mr Christian broadly agrees, but he points out that the systems suppliers most exposed in the UK are fly-by-night operators.

Action 2000, the government-sponsored Millennium Bug compliance body, raised awareness and encouraged companies to prepare their systems.But some private suppliers were, says Mr Christian, out to make a fast buck on the back of the growing public fears about the bug.

If -- as occasionally happened -- smaller law firms offered their services as part of a package with such suppliers, or recommended such suppliers to their clients, then they may find themselves becoming exposed to litigation.Emilios Kyrou, IT litigator with Australian firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques in Melbourne, recently identified potential global litigation growth areas deriving from the Y2K phenomenon.

He suggests insurance remediation claims -- already being launched in the US -- could take off.These actions are based on so-called 'sue-and -labour' clauses in insurance policies, which provide that if an insured takes steps to prevent imminent loss or damage to insured property, the insurer must contribute to the cost.

Plaintiffs in the US have argued that Y2K remediation costs fall within these 'sue-and-labour' clauses.

Insurers have raised defences, they claim for example that the year 2000 is not a fortuitous event, and is not therefore insurable.

These US cases have not yet been resolved.David Higgins, part ner at Herbert Smith and chairman of the City of London Law Society's insurance sub-committee, is currently involved in a major US remediation case.'A lot of companies are looking at this point,' he says, adding: 'The remediation issue hasn't been resolved in US law.

And there's no reason to believe British courts would follow suit if it was.

Traditionally the US courts' more flexible approach to the construction of insurance contracts has not always found favour with British judges.'The jury is still out on the remediation issue, but it does not look likely to catch fire in the UK.Mr Kyrou's second litigation prediction relates to patent infringement.

In September 1998 a patent was registered in the US relating to a windowing technique (a means of refurbishing software).

The patent is broadly described and would probably cover a lot of techniques used by companies worldwide in dealing with their Y2K problem.

The patent's owner may therefore seek damages for infringement from companies who have used this technique.

According to some reports, letters of demand have already been received by a number of organisations.None of this will be much consolation for those building themselves up for Y2K doom and disaster.

But they may take heart from Mr Kyrou's observation: 'While it appears that Y2K bug has been beaten, it is not out of the question that it may emerge from the shadows and pronounce that reports of its death were greatly exaggerated.'How unlike a litigator to be pessimistic.