Solicitors embrace technologySURVEY: 80% have access to their own PC while 77% log onto NetThe age of the legal technophobe seems to have gone for good, with major research showing that more than 80% of solicitors have access to their own PC, with a further 77% having access to the Internet.

The Law Societys annual omnibus survey of 1,220 solicitors (see [2001] Gazette, 26 April, 1) showed that only 5% of solicitors have no access to a PC at all, with a further 12% having access only via a secretary or assistant.The solicitors who did have a desktop computer used it most frequently for e-mail correspondence (88%), word processing (88%) and checking precedents (82%).

Use of IT for case management and time recording was less extensive, with only 51% and 48% respectively of solicitors employing the relevant technology.

Less than a third (29%) used IT for budgeting. Compared to last years findings, use of the Internet and e-mail showed a marked increase, with 77% on-line compared to 69% the previous year.

Solicitors access to the Internet varied according to the size of the firm, with 62% of sole practitioners connected compared to 90% of those in firms with 11 or more partners.

However, 9% of those who had Internet access had never accessed it in practice.

The percentage of solicitors using e-mail also increased this year, most markedly in the government sector, with 82% using external e-mail up from 61% last year.

Solicitors use of IT varied with different employment sectors: all solicitors in commerce and industry had access to a PC, in comparison with government-employed solicitors, 16% of whom had no access at all.

Within private practice, the likelihood of a solicitor having access to a PC increased roughly with the size of the firm, although at 94%, sole practitioners were the most likely to have access, compared to 91% in two-to-four partner firms, rising to 97% in five-to-ten partner firms and 100% of solicitors in firms with 11 or more partners.Victoria MacCallum