Once upon a time, IT, in the eyes of most lawyers, was something mostly handled by a shadowy individual who tapped a few keys and miraculously unlocked a computer screen – or not.

How times have changed. E-commerce is now a government watchword. The Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) talks about divorce information disseminated via interactive screens, while implementation of civil justice reforms hinge not on the lawyers, but on new IT systems.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have their own association – they met for lunch in the Commons last month. And even the venerable Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee is holding a high-profile inquiry on e-commerce.

If the Luddites among you remain unconvinced, then just take a look at New Labour's own policy priorities.
Stephen Byers, the new Secretary of State at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), will soon announce the appointment of a new e-commerce supremo, who will co-ordinate the Government's bid to meet Tony Blair's target: a quarter of all government business to be conducted electronically by 2002.

E-commerce was on the agenda during US vice president Al Gore's recent whistle-stop at Downing Street. Even Gordon Brown and the Treasury are beginning to talk directly to IT manufacturers and telecoms companies.

This combination of government will and rapid technological development leads us to the inescapable fact that by 2005 the client-lawyer relationship will change significantly. This is already happening.

But technology will both hasten the change and place further demands on lawyers, particularly those at City firms.

UMTS, the third-generation mobile technology soon to come on-stream, will mean clients being able to conduct video conferences, receive and send e-mails, view presentations, surf the Web and access legal publications on screen – all from their laptops, or even from a mobile phone with a small screen.

The technology already exists. DSL technology – high speed voice and data access through existing phone lines – will make all the aforementioned services and more available on your home desktop or TV.

Clients will inevitably require access to legal services at their convenience, at any time of day or night and in whatever time-zone. And many of these services will be provided electronically.

This is not pie in the sky – we have almost reached the stage today when more data than voice calls are made over the telecommunications network.
We already face new, pioneering areas of legislation and of legal practice. Witness the Secure E-commerce Bill (due out in draft this year) and the e-commerce and copyright directives currently making their way through the EU legislative process.

Witness also the growth of departments in City firms dealing with Internet and IP/copyright.
Technology is here to stay. The trick for lawyers is to live with it and exploit it – or be defeated by it.