There are essentially two Internet technologies that ought to be employed by lawyers in their research. Email is useful to lawyers for several reasons. It allows fast communication within a law firm and with the client. Separate documents can be easily attached to an email message bypassing post mail or fax. Methods of electronic authentication are readily available so that transactions can be executed completely electronically.
Email also offers a source of information for lawyers through listservs and newsgroups.
Listservs and newsgroups are both types of electronic bulletin boards. A message sent to a listserv is automatically received via email by all subscribers to the listserv. A message sent to a newsgroup is posted to a site and anyone with an interest may access the site to read the list of messages. Listservs are subscriber based mailing lists which create a global discussion group. A lawyer with an email account may join a listserv to easily and inexpensively gather timely information in one of thousands of areas of expertise.