Solicitors to tune into Big Brother to switch off stress

Soaps set in law firms and a legal version of televisions Big Brother may not be too far off, after the launch of new Webcast technology.

Legal Web TV, pioneered by Legal News Media and Rollingball Digital Television, is a bid to move away from traditional text-led information provision to a televisual medium.

The service is free, and can be accessed through a normal modem by downloading Wordplayer software from the site.And the service, which currently features Webcasts providing information on the latest legal technology and new media law, follows research by Legal News Media owner Charles Christian, which revealed that more than 40% of solicitors think new technology has made their lives more stressful.

Mr Christian said he hoped the service would prevent them from wilting under the strain.He continued: The first Webcast will focus on dealing with Internet stress and large volumes of e-mails.

We found that around 40% of lawyers are getting more than 40 e-mails a day, and even if you only spend a minute looking at each of them, it creates a lot of work.The developers are looking to expand into areas including on-line continuing professional development courses, Mr Christian added.

This is a big issue for law firms, which pay several hundreds of pounds a day for their lawyers to attend training conferences.

With this technology, they could log on at any time, so it would be a lot cheaper and more convenient.LINKS www.legalweb.tvPaula Rohan