Are keyboards only for secretaries? Although this attitude is most prevalent among male solicitors of a certain age, it is by no means restricted to grumpy old men.

There are also women solicitors who profess no understanding of technology (possibly on the grounds that if you want to be taken seriously in the law, you never let on to your male colleagues that you can type, otherwise they will just treat you like a secretary) as well as a surprising number of newly qualifieds, presumably trying to cultivate a young fogey image.

With such people, the problem is not so much technical - as in that they do not know how to use a keyboard - as psychological, in that they will not use one.

And, as is often the case with people problems, the solution will ultimately involve a degree of sensitivity as well as partnership politics finesse.

If your neo-luddite is a senior equity partner, then you may just have to accept their non-compliance.

However, for more junior staff it may be appropriate to crack the whip.

Three factors may add leverage to your powers of persuasion.

The first is to get the lawyers in question to appreciate that a computer system is not a typewriter (as mentioned previously, the economics of legal practice mean that as a general rule the last thing you want is qualified staff doing their own word processing) but the modern-day equivalent of their address book, diary and filing cabinet.

The second is to start delivering some services and information in a format that is only accessible via the computer.

It may just be little things, such as the replacement of the old central office diary by an on-line diary and meeting scheduler, or the introduction of screen- based time recording.

And the third approach is to lead by example.

Try introducing office automation in departments where staff are more enthusiastic about IT, as there is no better encouragement to start using IT than seeing your colleagues going home on time while you are working late in the office, still doing things the old-fashioned way.

Technology is an inescapable and increasingly essential part of modern law office life, but the combination of a carrot and a stick - so there are both advantages in adopting IT and disadvantages associated with not using it - should help persuade all but the most hopeless of lost causes to start using the systems on their desktops.

Charles Christian is an independent adviser to the Law Society's Software Solutions guide