The advent of the Internet has made basic public information about the law freely available on screen, courtesy of the government.Many solicitors research, comprehensively, using the Internet.

If a solicitor wants to know the law on product liability as it affects manufacturers, a key word entered in the search software immediately produces all judgements affecting this area.

It gives cross-references to relevant legislation available, in full, electronically.The drawback is that only Australian and American judgements and legislation are fully available via the Internet.

The Australasian Legal Information Institute has led the world in putting core legal material on the Internet.

The benefits for lawyers are enormous.

Modern 'search engines' enable lawyers to delve into files using key words.

In this way they can quickly turn up information that might have lain undiscovered on the bookshelf.In this country, court transcripts are not available on the Internet.

The government's Court Service has a web page but it contains little more than basic information about the courts.

As for legislation, the newly privatised Stationery Office, in a recent concession, has said it will publish new statutes on the Internet in their original form, but any later amendments will not be recorded.

A University of Southampton website, 'new UK official publications online' (NUKOP), has a comprehensive list of Acts of parliament and command papers, but it does not have the text of the documents it lists.The main reason the UK is behind the US and Australia is that Crown copyright means the UK government can make a profit from publishing official information.

According to legal technology consultant Neil Cameron, the government is happy to carry the cost of publishing information electronically, so long as it can charge for access to that information.

'What the government puts on the Internet is what they already give away, such as press releases,' he says.The picture is not completely bleak.

Some official information of use to solicitors has made its debut on the Internet (though it has not been given much publicity).

Parliament, in particular, has sought to open up its proceedings to the public.

Since October, House of Lords decisions have been published on the Internet as soon as they are handed down.

This is the first step in the UK towards full Australia-style Internet access.Some government departments are also leading the way.

The Treasury, for instance, put details of the budget on its web page as soon as the Chancellor of the Exchequer has delivered his speech.

The Inland Revenue, Customs & Excise and the Department of Trade and Industry all publish details of statutory and regulatory changes on the Internet.

Since September, the Data Protection Registrar has given free online access to the register revealing electronic information held by organisations on individuals.Christopher Millard, a partner at Clifford Chance's IT and communications practice, says solicitors can save both time and money using this kind of resource.

All the fee-earners in his practice have unlimited access to the Internet and, he says, they use the Data Protection Register regularly, particularly for compliance work.

They also use the list of government press releases, the home page of telecommunications regulator Oftel, and the growing range of European Union web sites.The government is preparing to make the Internet a standard means of publishing information.

In a green paper entitled 'government.direct: prospectus for the electronic delivery of government services', it gives a clear commitment to making all kinds of information av ailable electronically.

This could have great implications for solicitors.

The government sees electronic publishing as a way of opening up a range of information on a geographical basis.

A pilot of such a scheme is currently being run in Scotland by the land records agency Registers of Scotland.

Under the Scottish Land Information Service (ScotLIS) scheme, information about any area of Glasgow, including ownership, land use, listed buildings, utility services and planning consents will be available online later this year.Solicitors will welcome projects such as ScotLIS.

But, says Mr Cameron, the key question still to be addressed is that of what constitutes core legal information.

'government.direct' asks for views on whether 'any difficulties [are] caused by the present Crown copyright arrangements'.

Solicitors would certainly say 'yes'.WEBSITE ADDRESSES-- Hansard and Parliament: http://www.parliament.uk-- HMSO (Acts of parliament): http://www.hmsoinfo.gov.uk/hmso/document/Acts.htm-- Data Protection Register: http://www.dpr.gov.uk-- Inland Revenue: http://www.open.gov.uk/inrev/irhome.htm-- Registers of Scotland: http://www.open.gov.uk/ros/roshome/htm-- Court Service: http://www.open.gov.uk/courts/court/cs--home.htm-- The government: http://www.open.gov.uk/-- Australasian Legal Information Institute: http://www.aheia.edu.au/ALII.htm-- Nukop: http://www.soton.ac.uk/nukop/data/parl.htm