This technology is best suited for ready reference questions. Looking up a court clerk's phone number or getting the URL for a Web site are just a few examples of requests that can be handled quickly and efficiently with instant messaging. If an attorney is on the phone with a client or another attorney and needs to check a fact or a case, such technology would allow the librarian to be alerted to this need and proceed with the research while the attorney continues his or her call. Instant messaging can reduce the load on e-mail and telephone traffic as well. In a firm that has branch offices in different cities or states, this can reduce long distance bills between offices.
Instant messaging is very portable technology.
If an attorney needs information during a deposition or during a court break, he or she can, with a laptop computer and Internet access, request a librarian's assistance. One feature that the software provides is a means to send an instant message and to control what the receiving person sees on their Internet browser window. Although this is not a substitute for in-person training by a librarian, it can certainly help when a librarian needs to help someone immediately with a Web site or Internet research request. Security is always an issue in the practice of law, and many software packages market to that concern. Some instant messaging programs, such as Legal Forum, are being marketed specifically to the legal community.