Web helps trap clients

Solicitors are gradually becoming more Internet aware.

Research shows that about 10% of law firms in England and Wales have a Web presence, and new sites spring up by the day.

The field is increasingly sophisticated, with many solicitors' firms launching specialist sites that cater to specific areas of work.

This week we report on the growth in referral sites, which could open a new stream of work to lawyers.

The launch of the Law Society's site, solicitors-online.com, has focused attention on the more than 20 other referral sites aimed at the public.

Legal IT guru Charles Christian has predicted that solicitors-online will run the competition out of town, an analysis disputed by many of the other referral sites.

We shall have to wait and see how the market moves.

But the vibrancy in this field raises crucial questions: is some form of regulation of referral sites necessary? and will solicitors' firms without a Web presence be increasingly handicapped?

Even if people will still want their legal services delivered face to face rather than via a computer screen, the Web is destined to replace the Yellow Pages for initial information, whether it be firms' own sites or other referral sites.