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Information Technology and the Legal Practice Course.

Robert M Abbey

Associate Head of School and Legal Practice Course Director, School of Law, University of Westminster, 4 Red Lion Square London WC1R 4SR.
< abbeyr@wmin.ac.uk>

Copyright © 1995 Robert M Abbey.
First Published in Web Journal of Current Legal Issues in association with Blackstone Press Ltd.

Summary

This article considers four topics. First, it considers the nature of the legal practice course ("LPC") in the context of its stated aims and information technology ("IT"). Secondly, it seeks to review that context in the light of the forms of IT currently used in the legal profession. Thirdly, it reports the results of a survey of the provision of IT within existing legal practice courses. Finally the article concludes with an analysis of the use of IT within one specific LPC and makes some general conclusions and recommendations for the future use of IT.

Web JCLI | [1995] 5 Web JCLI | Download this file.
Contents.

1. Introduction.
2. The LPC and the aims of the LPC.
3. IT and legal practice; the Robson Rhodes IT survey.
4. Integrating the aims of the LPC with IT.
5. The Westminster LPC/IT survey.
6. The Westminster experience of legal software/IT.
7. Conclusions and recommendations for the future use of IT.

Bibliography

Footnote

Introduction

Legal education and the delivery of legal services are in a turbulent phase. This turbulence is also redefining the profession: it is no longer a coherent, unified community of like-minded people oriented to service and the highest ideals (cf. Parsons 1954, 1968). Indeed, research shows that the legal profession can be perceived as two hemispheres, the corporate and the personal (Heinz and Laumann 1982; Flood 1989), motivated by different values, imbued with different ideologies, which have little in common with each other. These differences have been re-emphasised with the Green Paper on Legal Aid and the Wool Report on Civil Justice (Woolf 1995). Rather than remaining a self-monitoring and self-regulating profession, Government has and is continuing to impose, cash limits through the legal aid system. This restricts the capacity of lawyers to solely determine their choice of strategies for clients. (The obvious comparison is with the commercialisation of the Health Service where internal markets have been set up to foster competitiveness).

Although the profession is divided, legal education has traditionally attempted to provide a unified front. However, even that is a misperception. Legal education is clustered according to socio-economic status, and the University a student attends can predict possible career outcomes. The `golden triangle’ of Oxford, Cambridge and London still commands the major share of higher status positions (Sampson 1992) . Post-academic legal training, however, is not subject to the same strains as undergraduate education. Intending solicitors must take the Legal Practice Course (LPC), which is provided by an eclectic mix of academic and private Institutions, (e.g. Oxford, Cardiff, Westminster, De Montfort, College of Law). Still comparatively novel, the LPC is relatively fluid in it’s portfolio of pedagogical techniques.

The matters of independence and autonomy are also relevant here. Government, Universities and the profession are competing to see who will have the prevailing voice in determining the structure, content and modes of delivery of legal education. The academic Institutions and the professions have always had a fragile relationship. In most cases the Institution has acted as gatekeeper for professions and so endowed the professions with credibility and intellectual gravitas. Law is peculiar in that it only recently made the Institution the gatekeeper. Yet the profession is loathe to relinquish control and the discipline of law finds itself co-determined by the legal profession’s governing bodies and externally monitored by them and the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE). At present, the Law Society has two forays into legal education: one into the undergraduate curriculum via the seven foundations of knowledge; and two by sanctioning the Institutions that deliver LPCs. The third player is Government which sanctions by means of HEFCE teaching assessments and giving the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Education and Conduct (ACLEC) an oversight role in the development of legal education. The result of these competing forces is that legal education is becoming a battlefield where scarce resources, money, students, knowledge, the future of the profession, are being fought over.

This article presents a case study of one such factor, namely, the role of Information Technology (IT) in the Legal Practice Course.

Contents | Bibliography

The LPC and the aims of the LPC

In 1993 the Law Society replaced their solicitors finals course and examination with the legal practice course. The main purpose of the change was to try to ensure that the training of new solicitors was more in tune with the needs of the profession. They tried to do this by ensuring that this second, vocational, stage of training addressed not just academic requirements but also legal skills training such as advocacy and negotiation. The aims of the legal practice course, as set out in the standards for the course issued by the Law Society, are, first to prepare the student for general practice, and secondly to provide a general foundation for subsequent practice. (Law Society 1993).

By the end of the course it is intended that the LPC student should be able to:

(1) perform, with understanding, the skills and tasks required to complete transactions, in a manner which effectively achieves the client's and solicitors' objectives;

(2) identify the client's objectives and different means of achieving those objectives;

(3) identify the steps and decisions that need to be taken to implement those objectives;

(4) identify any difficulties that may arise in implementing those steps and procedures;

(5) perform the skills and tasks under the supervision normally and properly accorded to the trainee;

(6) make the most of the experience which follows and gain the confidence necessary for competence in practice;

(7) learn from the experience of the course and from the future practice;

(8) transfer skills learnt in one context to another;

(9) demonstrate an awareness of the limits of their own competence and know when to ask for assistance. (Law Society 1993).

The intention of these learning outcomes is to ensure that the LPC graduate can enter a training contract fully prepared to join in with the working practices of the office from day one. The aspiration is to provide a course that reflects the needs of the legal profession and the desire of students to pursue practice in either general or commercial areas of work. The aim is that by the end of the course the student should be able to perform, with understanding, the skills and tasks required to complete transactions, in a manner which effectively achieves the client's and solicitors' objectives.

What will be immediately clear is that there is no mention of IT in the aims and the standards set out in the learning outcomes. Notwithstanding there are detailed standards for the core subjects such as conveyancing and also for five stipulated legal skills, (interviewing and advising, legal research, writing and drafting, negotiation and advocacy, where most if not all will necessitate an involvement in IT in a solicitor's office), there is no mention of IT either by way of a reference within the standards or by a standard for IT itself. (This is still true notwithstanding a substantial revision, (version 3), to the written standards that was approved by the Training Committee of the Law Society as recently as 12 July 1995.) However, the written standards do seem to imply a need for a trainee solicitor to be able to use legal IT. For example in the standards for the skill of writing and drafting it says that the student must develop a basic skill in the preparation of a range of documents and the use of precedents. This omission of standards for IT is noteworthy especially in the light of the Law Society's view of the course format:

"The intention of the course is that it must be the foundation upon which the vocational stage of training is built. It will provide the necessary knowledge and skills for Trainee Solicitors to undertake appropriate tasks under proper supervision during the training contract". (Law Society 1993, para 2.2.2)

However there are three ways by which pressure can be brought to bear upon course providers to ensure that students are given IT training. First, each year the Law Society sends into all institutions offering an LPC, a team of Course Assessors that inspect each and every aspect of the course with a view to rating it from excellent down to unsatisfactory. No course could really merit a rating of excellence that ignored the importance of both IT and computer training for their students. Secondly, the course is centred upon transactional learning whereby the students actually learn by replicating the procedures and transactions within a solicitor's office. Accordingly the training offered would be seriously flawed if it did not in some way involve the students in contact time with computers. Finally, when validating each institution the Law Society will want to inspect the provision of computers for students taking the LPC to ensure that there are sufficient facilities available to support the learning process.

Consideration is necessary as to whether a course can achieve the desired outcomes without introducing a student to legal information technology. Plainly the Law Society took the view that an introduction to legal skills was necessary in the light of the aims of the course but did not mention IT either in its own right or in support of any other subject. This omission is all the more curious in the light of the comment made by Philip Jones, Director of the Legal Practice Course at the University of Sheffield and one of the authors of the LPC standards. He specifically identified IT skills as professional practice skills in the same context as client relationships skills or personal work management skills. For Jones the IT skills are thus, "IT skills, both generic - the ability to use general computerised tools, the ability to use legal specific applications, and the ability to use legally specific tools." (Jones 1994). To inform any judgement as to the necessity for IT within an LPC requires an understanding of what IT exists in the profession. One of the largest annual surveys in this field is provided by the Chartered Accountants, Robson Rhodes.

Contents | Bibliography

IT and legal practice; the Robson Rhodes IT survey

This survey(1) is provided on an annual basis and the 1995 report was for the sixth year. The survey covered responses from 312 firms with nearly 19,000 fee earners and almost 20,000 support staff (Robson Rhodes 1995, p 1). The survey is probably the only one of its kind in England and Wales but of course represents an analysis of simply the responses received. Accordingly it does not purport to be a detailed consideration of the whole legal IT market. However what it does do, is to highlight likely trends and current uses in the legal profession where the employment of IT is concerned. It therefore represents an appropriate survey to consider when trying to detect what IT solicitors are using. If IT is of fundamental importance to a solicitor in practice and thus to the training of solicitors then the survey will provide signposts for researchers to follow.

Of the 312 firms responding, 17% were small firms with between 1 and 5 partners, 36% with between 6 and 10, 30% between 11 and 25, 12% between 26 and 50, 4% between 51 and 100 and 1% being the largest with more than 100 partners. This may at first sight seem unrepresentative as far as the large firms are concerned. In fact four firms with more than 100 partners responded representing a significant proportion of these very big partnerships of which there are only a limited number. As to geographical spread the survey result reflected the importance of large firms in London and the South East (Robson Rhodes 1995, p 5).

One of the major findings of the survey is a significant increase in the introduction of fee earner computer workstations. The results show that the percentage of partners with computers actually on their desk has risen to 43% in 1995. (Indeed, in the largest firms, with more than 50 partners, 67% already utilise their own workstations. However, perhaps as a consequence of the economies of scale the survey noted that there was only a slight increase in firms where all fee earners had workstations, from 10 to 13%. It is therefore clear that "most, if not all, sole practitioners who computerise will, at some time, want to be able to use the equipment themselves." (Singer 1994). ) This immediate availability of computer access has given rise to a marked increase in the use by fee earners of the main software applications. The most common usage of IT by all fee earners is for requesting client/matter information, (more than 80%), followed closely by word processing, (more than 50%). As to the software in use in firms generally, 96% utilised accounting software and the same extremely high number used word processing. However, of greater interest is perhaps the analysis of what computer applications seem to be increasing in popularity rather than those already well established in solicitors' offices.

Legal forms, the compilation of formalised legal documentation for the Courts, H M Land Registry and elsewhere, is a major growth area in legal IT. "Such software is now used by 35% of firms, up from 26% last year, and is often an integral part of case management, Conveyancing or Debt Collection software" (Robson Rhodes 1995, p 18). Indeed in the larger firm, of between 50 and 100 partners, the percentage was up to 83%. Another 19% indicated that this software application is to be upgraded in 1995. Similarly the survey noted that "the last twelve months has seen a rapid increase in the number of legal texts available on CD ROM. Usage has risen from 7% to 13% overall" (Robson Rhodes 1995, p 19). Again the larger firms show a greater take up at 58% of firms with 26 or more partners. Finally there has been a significant growth in electronic communication with growing use of Email facilities, the Internet and the dedicated legal communication facility LINK. However this may be client driven in that the survey notes that "over 80% of larger firms (26 plus Partners) had major clients who had requested access to their computer systems" (Robson Rhodes 1995, p 9). Other applications currently computerised are debt collection at 45% overall, conveyancing support at 27% and trust/probate at 24%. Accordingly it is clear that the most likely software applications to be encountered in a solicitor's office are accounts, (possibly linked to time recording), word processing, legal forms, computer communication systems, legal texts on CD ROM and subject specific software such as precedent and support facilities for debt collection or conveyancing. As has been said (Susskind 1992):

"It is hard to imagine a large law firm today operating without information technology. Word processing, accounting systems, electronic mail and many more administrative and management applications are widely used."

If the LPC is to prepare the student for general practice, and to provide a general foundation for subsequent practice then it seems from the report from Robson Rhodes that IT and the LPC must be integrated at the earliest stage to achieve these aims. Indeed, with close to half of all partners with immediate computer workstation access, IT training is fast becoming a pivotal element in the successful management of a solicitor's office and workload.

Contents | Bibliography

Integrating the aims of the LPC with IT

As has been observed, (Perritt 1993) "Lawyers are very much producers, processors, managers and purveyors of information" (Boyd & Woods 1994). In doing so they are combining the roles of researcher and caseworker while needing to command all the available channels of communication, both within and without the law firm. The better they are at these three components of Lawyering the more efficient they will become and particularly more cost effective and thereby, profitable. "In these times when simply maintaining, let alone enhancing, the profitability of a law practice is increasingly difficult, automation is becoming indispensable." (Boyd & Woods 1994). Consequently, it is noteworthy that the Robson Rhodes survey shows that among the external influences that make law firms increase their IT investment the most important factors are, quality and speed of service to clients, providing value for money and thirdly competition from other firms. The survey shows that modern legal practice can only survive and develop with the support of IT. However, despite this clear inter-dependency between legal practice and IT the only reference made by the Law Society to IT in their training requirements is in the specification for the Professional Skills Course, (PSC) (Law Society 1993, at para 2.3).

The PSC is taken after the LPC, normally during the training contract. No trainee can be admitted until they have successfully completed their PSC. The course contains five modules one of which is Personal Work Management. This module includes the objective that "Trainee Solicitors should understand the importance and practical uses of information technology". Element 5 of the course defines these uses by reference to three items; first, general tools such as word-processing and databases, secondly, specific legal applications like LEXIS and matter specific packages and thirdly computerised legal tools such as litigation support systems and document management and assembly systems.

The Personal Work Management module covers two other areas, (work organisation and inter personal skills), as well as IT and is meant to last three days. Frankly, it seems that if serious consideration is given to the element of IT, that three days would be insufficient for just this part of the module alone. Moreover, all three areas including IT were previously covered in the compulsory third year post admission Best Practice Course.

"However feedback from the profession has shown that many areas studied within Best Practice are covered too late and should be covered pre-admission. The module is intended to encourage Trainee Solicitors to recognise that they are part of and play a role in the wider organisation." (Law Society 1993, at para 2.3.3)

IT training is a key issue for solicitors and trainees alike. (Archbold 1995, p 28). Accordingly, in the light of the express aims of the LPC it must be the case that IT needs to be integrated at the earliest stage of pre- admission training namely the year long LPC. This would introduce law students to legal IT at the earliest point in their vocational training. Indeed some would go further than this in that it has been argued that a proper strategy for legal technology education is required and should be based within critical traditions rather than just computerised rote learning. (Paliwala 1991) This would require students to be involved with critical learning utilising IT well before the vocational stage of training and perhaps from the commencement of the law degree or first stage of training. This may be the case, but simply to achieve the stated aims of the LPC requires at the very least the integration of IT within all aspects of the LPC. The intention is:

"to develop the cadre of lawyers who also have expertise in technology, or technologists who also have an understanding of the law. These specialists are expected to play the leading role in the technological transformation of law." (Paliwala 1991, p 147)

It is therefore appropriate to investigate the extent to which IT has been incorporated, if at all, within the currently available legal practice courses to find out how far the technological transformation of the law has progressed.

Contents | Bibliography

The Westminster LPC/IT survey

There are presently 31 institutions offering the LPC including all the branches of the College of Law. A questionnaire was issued by the author during June 1995 to LPC providers about their involvement with IT. The response rate was good at more than 64%. Indeed the replies were from a wide spread of institutions, taking in the "new" universities, (i.e. the former polytechnics), the "old" universities and also commercial providers such as BPP Law School and the College of Law. The first question requested the name of the institution together with an indication of the number of students on the course. The next question asked if the institution actually taught IT in the LPC and if not, why not. Of the twenty institutions that replied 20% stated that they did not teach IT. Of those not teaching IT one did provide CD Rom/LEXIS training while another two indicated that this "omission" was to be rectified in the next full course. It would therefore seem that a substantial majority of LPC courses include an element of IT teaching. The next question in the survey sought to define in what way and for how long IT is taught and by whom. As might be expected the hours of tuition varied substantially between courses as well as who actually did the teaching. In most cases all the tuition took place in the first part of the course usually designated by course providers as an LPC foundation programme. It is typical for novel LPC subjects to be introduced in the foundation programme such as legal skills or Professional Conduct. It would therefore appear that most courses have allotted some time in this early section for IT tuition. The presumption must be that even though LPC students are all at post graduate level there will still be an appreciable number who are not familiar with IT.

The amount of time, in total, given to IT tuition was not extensive. The times revealed stretched from a mere half an hour through to the highest of six hours. Bearing in mind that the amount of class contact time for an LPC can be in the region of 14 hours per week it will be appreciated that the IT tuition times disclosed are modest. The teaching is by either the LPC lecturers themselves, IT technicians or support staff or as in one institution by the law librarian. Most of the teaching was by the LPC lecturers and might thereby dictate the nature and level of the IT tuition offered. This relationship will be considered subsequently concerning software applications used in the teaching. Much of the tuition is in small group sessions, presumably because the teaching involves keyboard activity and the availability of machines will dictate the group sizes. The sessions are invariably described as "hands-on" although one institution manages to teach IT through lectures and seminars. The impression is that in most cases the teaching of IT is very much peripheral to the main forms of tuition required to cover the written standards for the compulsory subjects. It is perhaps as a consequence of the absence of IT standards that the teaching provision is so meagre and diverse amongst the LPC providers.

The survey also sought to find out the level of hardware provision dedicated to the courses as well as the software applications both generic and law specific. Just 10 percent provided Apple Macs with the remaining 90% providing PC's. This seems to replicate the position in the profession where PC's are preferred to Apple computers. The provision of workstations dedicated to the LPC students varied greatly from the poorest where none are dedicated to a substantial provision of 42 PCs' for 122 students. However, even at this best level the provision pales in comparison with the position in America. "The average American law school has a Mac or a personal computer on every desk. They're computer-literate and if they join a big firm, they would expect a desk, chair and computer." (Curry 1994). The contrast with America is further confirmed in an examination of the IT provision in a leading US Law School where there are considerable IT resources available throughout the College. (Staudt 1993). He observes:

"The vision ... is to equip every seat in every classroom, every table and carrel in the library, every faculty office and student activity office, the office of every administrator, staff member, secretary, and even the faculty lounges and student cafeterias with datajacks allowing computers to be plugged in and connected to the network. This vision is an accomplished reality except for universal classroom connectivity. Two classrooms, one with 36 seats and another with 110 seats are fully equipped."

In relation to the LPC, where there are no dedicated machines or a very limited number it is clear that the institutions concerned seek to address the omission by referring to the general university computer provision. In both cases, whether dedicated or not, many (75%) were networked. Indeed where the provision was stand alone half were to be networked in the next academic year. As for operating systems of the 90% PC users, just one used DOS only with all the others using both DOS and Windows. The Robson Rhodes survey confirms that this reflects quite closely the situation in the profession with 81% of all firms using DOS and 72% using Windows (Robson Rhodes 1995, Appendix A, question 4.2). (In addition a further 6% used Windows NT with 10% using OS/2.) Indeed, the availability of a Graphical User Interface ("GUI") was considered important by 55% of the larger firms although there was less concern for GUI's among smaller firms. It must be recognised that future software, both generic and legal specific, is going to be based on the GUI of Windows. (Archbold 1995). As such, the ready availability of widows to LPC students would seem appropriate.

The LPC questionnaire continued with a question seeking to determine what was provided in the nature of legal or generic software for the use of students or in support of the LPC teaching. The survey listed various types of software with a request that an indication be given of the title of the software used and whether it was used by the student and or in the teaching of the course. The first category and most commonly used type of software was, not surprisingly, word processing with a 100% confirmation of the availability of word processing to the LPC students. Moreover, 65% said that it was also used within the teaching of the course. Again if this is compared with the profession 96% of all firms have word processing and 73% have partners and fee earners using word processing (Robson Rhodes 1995, Appendix A, questions 2.1 & 3.2). As to the program in use 55% favoured Microsoft Word with 20% using WordPerfect. This differs from the profession where 84% of all firms used WordPerfect and 20% favoured Word (Robson Rhodes 1995, Appendix A, question 5.1). However Robson Rhodes did confirm in their findings that "the usage of Microsoft Word for Windows has increased significantly from under 10% in 1994 to 20% in 1995" (Robson Rhodes 1995, Section Two, para 2.5). Some institutions provided more than one Word Processing program and as such either brand was available for students or teaching.

The second category was concerned with legal forms software where 50% of those replying confirmed that this legal specific software either was available to students or used in teaching. The actual program used varied widely, perhaps reflecting this growth area in legal software. (As was noted earlier 35% of firms now use this form of legal software, up from 26% in 1994.) Other trends in LPC software usage are less clear. Institutions plainly use computerised legal tools such as litigation support systems as well as document management and assembly systems but there is no commonality across courses. Clearly several use document precedents on disk particularly for the core subjects of Conveyancing and Wills Probate and Administration. Two institutions even use a program to assist with the preparation of estate accounts. However, overall only one or two institutions are well ahead with developments whilst several others trail behind with little or no provision whatsoever. Most are in a middle band offering word processing with perhaps one or two legal specific programs such as a precedent database. None make any mention of any existing use of the Internet either by the students or for teaching but several refer to it as a source for future developments. This diversity probably reflects the enthusiasm, or lack of it, of the teaching staff, for IT, particularly in the light of guidance from the Law Society in the form of written IT standards. However what is clear is that there is a positive move towards the provision within LPC's of all types of computer applications that a trainee solicitor may meet in the office. It is this willingness on the part of the LPC tutors to introduce students to IT that could address the deficiency of the absence of written IT standards.

As to the methods by which these software programs were used in the LPC for tuition purposes, in the main they were integrated into formal teaching, particularly small group sessions, and where appropriate coursework assessments. In two institutions blank draft precedents are provided for students to amend or improve as necessary as part of their coursework. LEXIS is used for the development of the skill of legal research along with legal database CD-Roms. Next year one provider will offer an integrated course for drafting through word processing while another will adopt a litigation package to assist with a listing of documents exercise in the context of the preparation of Court pleadings.

The questionnaire then directed attention to the question of future plans for hard and software as well as for IT and the LPC generally. Interestingly, it was here that use of the Internet was mentioned by 25% while a further 10% made reference to LINK, the dedicated legal communications software and network. This is a fertile area for development for solicitors providing for new ways to deal with case work, research and administration (Widdison 1995a). Accordingly it is not surprising to see use of the Internet as an important element in the development if IT for the LPC. Indeed, the Internet provides considerable possibilities for legal education in not just teaching and research but also administration. Above all else for LPC students, the possibility of raising queries via Email should be of real benefit to the learning process and would enable Tutors to reply at a time of their choice rather than when the student turns up at their office. Furthermore transactional learning must lend itself to electronic seminars or seminars/small group sessions particularly where this involves document assembly of form compilation. (Widdison 1995b). This interest in the Internet, Email and communications software generally reflects the growth in these areas out in the profession. The Robson Rhodes survey has shown that 32% of firms now send Emails to clients with 40% of firms having established electronic mail links. LINK is now used by 40% of firms responding and it is used as an access pathway into the Internet by a third of the firms that use it. In particular the survey notes that "21% of firms now have access to the Internet with a further 21% planning to install this facility. Of the larger firms (> 50 partners), only 7% were not using the Internet (Robson Rhodes 1995, Section Two, para 2.2). It is relevant to note that several larger firms have recently declared and listed their Internet addresses presumably as part of the thrust of their general marketing activities.

Another 10% indicated that they were investigating the possibility of voice activated software, particularly for Word Processing. The Robson Rhodes survey shows that this is an area of interest to practitioners who believe that this will lead to a reduced need for secretaries and the faster production of the final text. (53% of all firms responding thought this would produce a reduced need for secretarial support and 33% thought it would lead to the faster production of the final text.) It is the possibility of speech to text that is attractive, offering "a seamless link to the way so many lawyers already work" (Christian 1994). Rather than use dictation the lawyer can now use voice input and revise documents on screen rather than returning the draft to the secretary to be retyped (Kaye 1995). It is the possibility of training the law student in this discipline that plainly attracts a minority of course providers. At the end of the LPC survey a section was reserved for suggestions for the future. Several of the comments made talked of the necessity for greater integration of IT into the LPC as well as the need for communication links between providers to enable the discussion of teaching practices between institutions. However, perhaps the most telling comment was that IT needs to be fully integrated within the LPC. The reply went on to say that providers need to get away from the idea that IT is an additional 'teaching element'. "Students should be taught to see IT merely as a convenient tool by which they acquire the knowledge and skills of conveyancing, wills, litigation business law etc." In other words the intention is to ensure that IT is seen as an integral part of being a lawyer, that it is an everyday part of a lawyers work as much a part of the lawyer's life as the wig and gown or reference library of statutes and cases. It is the involvement of IT for a trainee solicitor in a seamless, almost invisible way that must be the ultimate goal for those keen to integrate IT into the LPC.

Contents | Bibliography

The Westminster experience of legal software/IT

The University of Westminster was one of the first to provide the new LPC and has sought to provide their students with the most widely used or up to date legal and generic software. However, students entering the course will be from an extremely wide range of backgrounds. Many will be law graduates coming on to the course immediately after their degree course, but there will also be those that will have studied a non law subject at degree level. These non law graduates will have entered the LPC following on the Common Professional Entrance course, ("CPE"). Both these groups could have been studying either as full time or part time students. Finally, Fellows of the Institute of Legal Executives can also be taken onto the course and they may have been in an office for many years and could well have a great deal of experience of practice, the running of a law office and the use of computers. This diversity of background will therefore be reflected in the diverse familiarity of the students with IT.

Most of the Westminster LPC lecturers have the benefit of many years of actual practice as solicitors in all types of law firms. They are therefore aware of the considerable advantages of IT for the successful management and performance of a solicitor's practice. Because this is so, they have all been very keen to familiarise the students with computers at the start of the course and to interweave the use of PC's and suitable software throughout the LPC and also formal coursework assessment. However they have been very aware of the uneven exposure to computers that will exist within the student cohort. It is their experience, having run the course for two years, that there are still students who can reach the post graduate level without having acquired any knowledge or experience of IT along the way. As a result the lecturers felt that very basic training is necessary along with familiarity with more sophisticated legal programs. To achieve the former, the teaching staff have made available basic keyboard training in the first two weeks of the course. To achieve the latter the staff have tried to require the programs to be used by the students in their coursework both assessed and non assessed components/courses.

Initially, the Westminster lecturers discussed what could be achieved within a one year course particularly bearing in mind that the learning process required by the compulsory subject standards was itself very intensive, with rigorous continuous assessment. It was decided that from the outset that the first aim was to ensure that all students possessed keyboard skills. It is still the case that students can reach a post-graduate course, namely the LPC, without having acquired any keyboard skills at all and certainly after two years of the course it is unsurprising for the teaching team to have to introduce up to a third of the full cohort of 100 students to basic keyboard skills. Indeed unless the University assessment regulations require assessments to be submitted in word-processed or typed form there is actually no way a student can be compelled to acquire such fundamental skills. To address this formality the 1995-6 course assessment regulations now require the students to submit their ten pieces of assessed coursework in word processed or typed format only. To achieve this basic objective, small training groups were held in the first two weeks of the course using the three law school computer labs that each contain 486SX PC's arranged on a local network.

The next aim of the introduction to IT was to ensure that all the cohort of students could use a standard word processor. For the first year we taught the introductory course using WordPerfect 5.1 as it is still the preferred choice within the law school and University. However, this is about to change so that next academic year we will use WordPerfect for Windows 6.1. Students will still have access to WordPerfect for DOS should they prefer it. As confirmed by the Robson Rhodes survey, because many law firms use WordPerfect we felt that it was a satisfactory choice even though Microsoft Word is increasing in popularity among solicitors. Really the choice of word processor was not as important as getting the students to use one. For this reason a GUI, Windows word processor is desirable, anticipating the area in which it appears there will be major future IT developments and this drove the desire for change for the coming year.

However, the teaching team have gone further than just making sure that all the students can use an industry standard word processor. They have tried to find additional programmes that the students may encounter in almost any size of firm and not just the big city practices. The intention is of course to prepare trainees for general practice methods. Consequently, they have been required to use two dedicated legal software programs, Kelly's Electronic Draftsman and Laserforms. This follows the findings of the 1995 Robson Rhodes survey that showed increasing popularity among all firms for legal forms software such as Laserforms, and precedent/document management programs such as Kelly's Electronic Draftsman.

Laserforms is a program that comprises electronic legal forms compilation software that runs in Windows. Legal forms touch and concern all aspects of practice and are a pivotal part in the work of all solicitors. Inevitably, and in every law office, solicitors must find and fill out appropriate forms for almost all the different components of their work. This requires a considerable amount of time and effort when the forms are not on computer as the office manager will need to ensure that there is a constantly available supply of up to date forms. Ordinary firms will need to keep a stock of scores of different forms for civil and criminal legal aid right through to statutory forms required for limited companies. To be able to generate these forms on screen and then to insert the necessary information in it, again on screen, must be an innovation of some consequence, saving both time and money. Indeed, and perhaps of greater importance, mistakes can be corrected without the necessity of a new and costly pre-printed form. To ensure that the students became completely familiar with the benefits of the software, they were required to use it for a piece of assessed coursework. Within the subject of will probate and administration they were required to select a correct Inheritance Tax return form and to complete it on screen and to then submit the hard copy. They were also required to go through the same process for a draft oath for executors again completed on screen.

Kelly's Draftsman is a long established and well-regarded book of precedents that has been around long enough to have reached its sixteenth edition, published by Butterworths. Kelly's Electronic Draftsman contains all the forms and precedents found in that sixteenth edition. It is available in DOS and in Windows and while both forms are installed it is presently being used in the DOS version to match with WordPerfect 5.1. However, the possibility is already there to use it in Windows once the change is made next year to WordPerfect for Windows 6.1. In DOS, Kelly can work in either foreground or as a memory resident version. The latter is most useful as the precedent database is available from within the LPC word processor. Accordingly the program has been installed on the network alongside WordPerfect and can be readily accessed by all the students. Thus, the students can look at both the hard copy and the precedents on screen. In this way they should soon appreciate the versatility of a volume of precedents on screen that can be manipulated and used by them to suit their current exercise. The adaptability of the on screen precedent database will be apparent and should make them appreciate the benefits of such a system to the practitioner. Indeed this would again appear to replicate what happens in practice. (Pitts 1994).

To make sure they all actually use the software, and by that appreciate the value of a computerised database of legal precedents, one piece of assessed coursework requires the students to compile, on the computer, a somewhat lengthy and complicated Business Law and Practice document. It could be done manually but the time required would be prohibitive. It will be immediately clear to the students that because of its length and complexity the document can really only be compiled in a reasonable time frame using the database. The selection of clauses will be made by the student in the light of the assessment instructions and the contents of the precedent database. Indeed the program itself often gives the choice between alternate sets of clauses and pauses the program to enable the user to select the most appropriate set. In this way the students will become aware of the possibilities that can open up to solicitors by the more advanced items of legal software now available to all practitioners and the way time and money can be saved by using legal software of this kind. Indeed, it has been observed that legal IT offers "the best way out of the trap of rising costs and falling profitability" (Chalton 1993).

Even though most solicitors maintain their accounts on computer, (the Robson Rhodes survey noted that 96% of firms utilised accounting software), there is no introduction in the LPC to the use of computerised accounting. At present, the Law Society do not require any tuition within the LPC relating to the conduct of solicitors accounts as this is dealt with in the PSC taken during the training contract.

Contents | Bibliography

Conclusions and recommendations for the future use of IT

Conclusions

"Lawyers for the 21st Century must learn to use electronic information tools to find the law, interact with governmental agencies, prepare their own work and communicate with Courts, other lawyers and their clients." (Staudt 1993). Staudt neatly sums up the demands that will be made of lawyers being trained now for practice in the next century, and sets out the several critical areas where IT must develop in the future. The pressure for innovation and change is already upon us. The 1995 Interim Report by Lord Woolf to the Lord Chancellor concerning Access to Justice is unusual in that it recommends the use of IT as one of the solutions to the three main problems that affect litigation namely costs, delay and complexity. (Onwusah 1995). The report highlights PC-based conferencing as a consequence of the implied ability to keep costs down in case management and the hearing of evidence. It also advocates the provision of legal information in "advice kiosks", on CD-Rom and on the Internet. Moreover "According to Woolf, 25-30 per cent time savings can be achieved by use of computer-aided transcription system, a system that allows a live transcript to appear on terminals in Court" (Onwusah 1995, p 1095) accompanied by the use by judges and lawyers of litigation support tools during the trial such as Document Image Processing. The report goes further to advocate even more radical IT solutions including some applying to the Judiciary as well as to lawyers. What this means is that the involvement of IT in the legal workplace is now irreversible. It also indicates that their is a stark need to involve trainee lawyers at the earliest opportunity if Lord Woolf's suggestions are to come to fruition. This will only be possible if those who are to be the future lawyers of this country are trained to expect IT in the office and the Courts rather than surprised by its presence. Onwusah comments:

"Whilst the Woolf Report is a welcome push towards the use of more technology in the legal profession, by virtue of the fact that it is still pushing it also emphasises how far behind the court system really is." (Onwusah 1995, p 1096)

If advances in the use of legal IT are to be made the groundwork must be laid at the vocational stage of training of lawyers. In this way not just access to the law will get easier but solicitors should be able to improve their profitability and as such their long term financial viability.

It is now clear that the absence of written standards for IT is an omission that needs to be addressed forthwith. The aims of the LPC cannot be fully achieved without students being exposed to the benefits of IT and not merely legal specific programs. The provision of standards could make it clear that the Law Society cannot envisage the future survival of the profession without the firm support of IT. Furthermore if the "attitudinal barrier" to IT particularly noted in the field of information retrieval is to be broken down, trainees must be introduced at the earliest opportunity and well before prejudices can develop. (Webb 1995, p 27).

Recommendations

While it must be acknowledged that solicitors are primarily word smiths, to be successful in the modern world they must also command all lines of communication, be capable researchers and develop as efficient caseworkers. These three components will dictate how IT must develop to enhance the professional life of solicitors. To successfully manage all three components the trainee solicitors of today must be equipped to deal with the IT requirements for tomorrow. Their training must involve IT at the very core of their learning experience. This demands, at the very least that there be explicit written standards issued by the Law Society for IT within the LPC. To that end careful consideration should be given to moving IT tuition out of the PSC into the LPC and to the interweaving of IT throughout the year. Thus the production of written standards requiring the full integration of IT within the LPC should ensure that our future lawyers are better equipped to cope with the demands of Lawyering in the 21st century. Those demands will mean that trainees will need to be familiar with not just the expected software of word-processing, (using voice input in preference to the keyboard), but will also need to be comfortable using other legal specific software such as legal forms software or precedent databases and document assembly systems. But expectations will extend beyond this narrow vision of the use by lawyers of IT. The Internet with all it's possibilities for communication must be used and understood by trainees. PC based video conferencing will need to be a tool that trainees can handle as well as the other systems envisaged by Woolf as cost saving systems for the future. These and other advanced facilities must start now to become cornerstones for the teaching of LPC students if they are to be ready for the demands to be made of lawyers in the next century. These resources will be expensive to make available to the LPC student cohort. However, it may well be that law firms should and will find ways to find the necessary funds to assist in the setting up process. They need to start "to look for reasons for IT rather than reason against IT" (Irving & Blasdale 1992). The cost will be considerable but if the aims of the LPC are to be achieved these matters need to be addressed now if the profession is to survive in a viable and vital condition for the 21st century.

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Footnote

(1) "The Robson Rhodes Legal IT Survey -1995". The author would like to express his thanks to them for allowing him to refer to their survey. Back to text.

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