Lawyers and Web 2.0

I have noticed a particular aversion or apathy to new technologies amongst the legal staff where I work. My, the library and the organisation's attempts to introduce web 2.0 tools and education have invoked comments such as - "blogs, wikis, RSS: I have no idea what they are, maybe some of you younger ones do" chuckle chuckle.... Until these tools are seen as being more widely accepted by the legal community, the lawyers here won't invest time and energy to investigate them and the possible benefits. Let's face it, they are busy and are bound to be more so this year with the fallout from the economic downturn. Unless there is a valid reason for them to become involved, there is no impetus, especially in government/public sectors. A few Australian law firms are introducing RSS Feeds, blogs and wikis, though mainly for internal use, as they have a commercial reason to 'keep up with the Jones's' and to engage with their clients. These initiatives are often driven by the IT or Library/Information areas within the firm rather than by the Partners.

I am currently tracking several US Legal Blogs or Blawgs and their numbers are increasing, in stark contrast to the lack of blawging going on here in Australia. There are US blogs on different practice areas as well as general discussion on court decisions, proposed legislation, judicial appointments and other topics of interest to practitioners. Lawyers in the US are also embracing the use of Twitter to communicate with colleagues and to debate and discuss legal issues. This blog entry from Real Lawyers Have Blogs summarises my thoughts on why lawyers have been slow on the uptake of web 2.0 technology.

Digital Darwinism?

Older lawyers running law firms fight change.

Lawyers in general feel they are above the fray - 'others may be harnessing innovative technology, but we're dealing with the law. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn? We're proud to say we're a non user.'

Courts have not adopted ways to cite free case law and blogs as secondary sources.

Businesses in the legal industry who do not understand Web 2.0 and social media support with advertising moneys hard copy legal periodicals.

Though legal blogs are flourishing, there may not be the quality of legal content online we see from the general publishing industry.