For example, compare an intranet's capabilities, Tredennick says, to an older system of having a notebook on the shelf containing information about a specific legal issue you work on frequently. The notebook might include pertinent statutes, useful articles, copies of pleadings in prior cases, and so on. If they do, they can borrow it. I wonder what happened to the missing articles. With intranet connections, that material can be available to everyone in the firm all the time.
Solo practitioners can benefit in different ways, through external connections to colleagues.
Still, lawyers across the country are only beginning to tap into the opportunities for collaboration the Internet offers, he adds. One attorney who is exploring those capabilities is Bob Hagness, a solo practitioner in Mondovi. I'll work with construction company clients on contracts, for example, where it's silly to think I know as much as they do about how some parts of it should be done. Likewise, there are parts I should do. He also collaborates with other lawyers on cases, shuttling documents back and forth through email.