Barriers to participation in the creation and use of the intranet include computer phobia, unwillingness to share expertise for personal reasons, and unwillingness to put in the time necessary to contribute to the creation of intranet content. Each of these problems can be solved. Lawyers unable or unwilling to use computers must learn to use them. Day by day, it is becoming more and more difficult to practice law competently without using a computer. That may be an unwelcome reality, but it is a reality nevertheless.
Training can assist in changing old habits and giving lawyers new computer age skills.
The launch of an intranet is a good opportunity to push for full participation in such training. Lawyers unwilling to share their expertise for fear that by doing so they will be compromising an important personal asset should look more carefully at the intranet opportunity. Sharing expertise does not necessarily mean relinquishing the position of expert. Indeed, the more widely an individual's expertise is known within the firm, the more likely that people will seek out that expertise when opportunities arise. The more broadly expertise is shared, the less likely that the firm will fail to respond properly to challenges that require expert knowledge.