Every high street solicitor should be aware that 14 to 20 October is 'Solicitors make a will week'.

Apparently timed to coincide with this event, a Which? report on will writing criticized a small number of solicitors for making a poor job of will writing.Whatever the findings of the report, it is clear that clients' expectations of a better service at lower costs are higher than ever.

Probate practitioners have been under pressure to perform to higher standards for some time.

With the rest of the profession, threats to their livelihood appear at every turn.Yet many solicitors have not turned to computers to assist them in their work.

At a recent probate conference, James Mackintosh, a probate solicitor and computer consultant, provided a convincing argument as to why practitioners had to embrace information technology to keep ahead of the competition.Information gathered about an estate should be accessible to the solicitor and others who might have to look at the file, Mr Mackintosh advised.

It should be possible to use the information where relevant without having to write it out again.'How wasteful it is, if you have bothered to collect a piece of information -- say about a bank account -- that, having recorded it once for the purpose of an inheritance tax return, you have to record it for an asset log, an estimate of the size of the estate for beneficiaries, an estate tax return or interim and final accounts,' he contended.Automation could prove invaluable as long as it was flexible enough to allow changes where necessary when progressing through fairly standard steps within the flow of work in an estate administration, Mr Mackintosh added.

Where legal expertise was required, speedy access to information sources was essential to keep up with changing rules and forms: 'To the rescue comes IT, in the shape of a variety of on-line and on-disc information sources and, for what you get, compared with the costs of being as well informed without electronic assistance or being sued for negligence, the costs are modest,' he argued.Clients were less likely to be patient in waiting to find out about their financial position, Mr Mackintosh warned.'How, without information technology, can you be meticulous in your accounting and yet be able to provide at reasonable cost (to you and the client) the quality of information that will impress?' he asked.Computer software systems were available to improve the work of probate practitioners, said Mr Mackintosh.But there were pitfalls: 'Don't bother introducing information technology unless you can see what benefit it will give you.

However, please do not dismiss IT as something that is not relevant to you or something that can wait for the next generation.

The pressures for change are happening now and are going to increase,' he said.