Surely it's only a matter time before lawyers go web 2.0?
I'VE just read London-based self-styled "Blawger" Charon QC's latest entry online.
He recites a comment he left yesterday on Nick Holmes' Binary Law blog ("Legal information in the digital age") in which he rubbishes the notion that lawyers will ever embrace web 2.0.
Charon says he expects UK lawyers to "keep their noses firmly to the insular grindstone of UK legal work" and won't "lift their eyes off their limited horizon and actually self publish". After all, "UK lawyers are too busy making money or worrying about their jobs to be bothered with blogs et al."
He admits, though, it's their loss.
What's confusing me is this - Charon QC's blogroll of related sites is more than a foot long. It lists dozens of bloggers (not inlcuding this one) who contribute to the conversation lawyers are having in the blogsphere.
Besides, networking and keeping one step ahead of the competition are touchstones of the profession. Lawyers need clients to continue coming to them and they need to constantly innovate to ensure they're doing things in modern, efficient ways.
The lure of lucrative overseas work - garnered through deft use of the web - will surely captivate some of the bright young things' imaginations sooner or later.
Charon QC is quite right that US and Canadian lawyers are the globe's early adapters. But isn't it only a matter of time before we catch up?
Interviewing Rex Makin in his office, one of the stirking things is the absence of any computer.
But the octogenerian's firm, now in the hands of his son Robert, appears keen to update itself. Makin Jnr was in touch on the day of publication asking for PDFs of the article to post on the firm's website, currently going through a relaunch.
Baby steps I know, but certainly in the right direction.
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Ben Schofield
Ben Schofield is the Liverpool Daily Post's legal affairs reporter
Ben
Excellent... the more lawyers blogging and going on Twitter from UK the better. I wasn't really 'rubbishing' the idea - but ranting mildly. The lawyers who do post on the web do so with enthusiasm and many have superb technical legal content
Thanks for referring to my mild rant.
I have rectified the ommission of your blog from my blogroll!
Twitter next! Good effort for publicising the hope that UK lawyers will take up blogging and engaging, sensibly or casually, on Twitter.
Best wishes
Charon
Ben - Charon was commenting specifically on the take-up of the #legalitshow tag so I think his rant related to the prospects of Web 2.0 take-up in the short term. Of course it is "only a matter of time" (after all, lawyers did all take up word processing, CDs email and - with a few exceptions, no doubt - Web 1.0); but how much time? In the current economic climate many will be dead in the water if they don't adopt new ways of working pronto.