By Michael Aneiro
The American Lawyer
October 31, 2005
When The American Lawyer published its first AmLaw Tech Survey in 1996, legal technology was on the cusp of drastic changes. Some lawyers had started to tote laptops; most still didn't bother. Some were getting comfortable with e-mail, but when it came to voice communication, the landline telephone still ruled. In their offices, attorneys were making their first forays into cyberspace, aboard bulky desktop machines powered by 486 chips, while on the other side of the door their secretaries were busy typing documents in WordPerfect and crunching numbers in Lotus 1-2-3.
What a difference a decade makes. Where firms were first dabbling in mobile tools in 1996, they are now armed with full arsenals of on-the-road productivity devices -- cell phones, PDAs and laptops that keep lawyers connected at all times. Despite the explosion of cell phone use, e-mail's impact may have been even greater. For proof, just visit any law firm conference room, where BlackBerrys discreetly tap out volumes of timely information during even the most eventful meetings. The Internet, meanwhile, has gone from uncharted curiosity to vital information source, with a full boom-and-bust cycle in between. And that 1-2-3 spreadsheet? It probably got thrown out with the SyQuest 88MB disk it was saved on.
Technology has matured, and a lot of trends and products have come and gone since the first AmLaw Tech Survey. On the occasion of our 10th survey, we look back at the biggest technological shifts over the past decade, while using this year's results to gather some clues about where legal technology may be headed.
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