We began looking last time at some of the factors that can help create a 'comfort zone' for lawyers who are less than computer literate.

By comfort zone, I am not advocating that you all try to become keyboard whizz-kids.

Far from it, in fact the last thing any firm can afford is lawyers who spend so much time playing with computers that their fee-earning work starts to suffer.

However, what you do need to achieve is a happy balance so you at least know enough about working with your computer that your relative lack of skills also does not hamper your fee-earning ability.

For example, if you have clients who regularly use e-mail, you at least need to be able to open their messages and reply to them - rather than have them printed out by a secretary and then dictate your reply, as a lot of solicitors still do - if you are to provide them with the quality and speed of service they require.

The same considerations also apply to other areas of activity.

For example, if you do not know how to save files and documents properly, you risk losing them - and therefore having to re-do some fee-earning work.

Similarly, you are going to be straining the patience of your colleagues if you are forever asking them for assistance with your computer and, in the process, distracting them from their work.

Indeed, in my dealings with solicitors' practices, I am now encountering a growing number that are adopting a 'shape up or ship out' hard line with their more Luddite colleagues.

Or, to put it another way, modern law firms increasingly have no room for computer-illiterate lawyers.

In terms of what skills should be encompassed by your IT comfort zone, these include: having a rudimentary understanding of the Microsoft Windows operating system, including the use of a mouse and where and how files are stored; how to switch on, switch off and restart (reboot in IT jargon) a PC; how to recover from a PC 'crash' - typically by restarting it; how to 'launch' or open the applications you need to work with; how to open, amend, save and print documents; how to update your diary pages; and how to send, receive and reply to e-mail messages.

If you also have a computer at home or ever use a laptop PC - and want to avoid sitting in front of a blank screen waiting for a reply from some computer suppliers' telephone helpline - mastering all these skills should be regarded as a mandatory rather than discretionary exercise.

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