The solicitors' profession is going through a period of radical transformation.

By now, all of us acknowledge that the days of easy deadlines, impenetrable billing calculations and detailed, academic arguments are long gone.Much of this change has to do with the emergence of new technologies.

The proliferation of legal web sites and the widespread use of e-mail are undoubtedly playing a key role in this process.

However, the real change is not just about doing research on the Internet, launching a web site or adopting e-mail as a means of communications to deliver legal services.

The real change - and challenge - is about infusing creativity into the lawyer's traditionally cautious approach.The so-called e-commerce revolution has brought with it a new type of client.

Call theme-businesses or Internet start-ups, this new breed is as attractive as it is intricate to deal with.

These e-clients' expectations are not easily met from a traditional lawyer's point of view.Essentially, what they want is to be able to get on with their businesses, while ensuring that their legal advisers look after them in an effective, commercial and pro-active way without making a big fuss.

However, the demands of these clients are strongly influenced by their own pace and business approach.For the e-commerce client, our ability to deliver professional and reliable legal advice is assumed.

Their interest lies in our ability to respond in 'Internet time', propose flexible fee structures and be aware of the commercial impact of the advice we give.

In a nutshell, they look at legal services procurement as a management issue and, therefore, they seek practical, no-nonsense advice on how to comply with the law or protect their business, more than a carefully drafted summary in Halsbury's Laws.In the new e-commerce economy, missing a strategic deal today means failing to achieve global expansion tomorrow.

Given that the speed of response is such an essential feature, anticipating the way in which e-businesses need to comply with the law is the only way to offer effective solutions.

This means that legal advice is not provided in response to clients' instructions, but suggested in anticipation of the challenges and concerns they face.In a world where money has become so volatile, static fees are a thing of the past and flexible payment mechanisms become critical.

What was a four-figure job a year ago is today almost given away with the brochure.

Sensible pricing has become a moving target.

Charging is no longer a process of 'what you can get away with', but a difficult task which involves dynamic thinking and a sound understanding of the clients' perspective.Perhaps the most difficult task of all is to make sure that lawyers are perceived as business facilitators.

Telling an e-commerce client what the regulator thinks or what the law prohibits will not clear the path.

Our advice must address the issues in the same imaginative ways our clients think.

The onus is on us to present the law as an opportunity to give businesses an edge, not as a necessary evil.Legal services increasingly need to be aimed at meeting these expectations.

Interactive and standardised services delivered over the Internet are a small but important step into the future of the provision of legal advice.

If future advisory services are to be provided in a seamless and cost-effective way, the use of online technology should be a response, not to a growing trend within the legal profession, but to a call for an imaginative way to deal with business needs.It is still too early to know what the real impact of package-shaped web-based services will be.

However, in a field such as the legal profession - allegedly lacking in creativity - it is not only interesting to experiment, but it may be the only way to survive.