Chances are, you know someone in the legal industry who is a technophobe. I myself recall one of my first bosses, an attorney who handwrote all his briefs and then had his secretary type them up on a computer. Though I’ve moved on, he still doesn’t use a computer.

And my old boss isn’t alone. The American Bar Association’s annual Legal Technology Survey Report is out, and it shows that the legal industry is still sluggish in what is commonly called the “Web 2.0” world.

The good news: Law firms are finally getting websites. In fact, 100% of law firms with over 100 attorneys have websites, and over half of the solo practitioners do as well. Lexis and Westlaw have now been surpassed by free online services.

But blogging? RSS feeds? Social networking? These buzzwords haven’t really penetrated the legal field yet. Only two percent of lawyers maintain a blog, and only eight percent of firms do. Even though staid firm Martindale-Hubble has joined a social networking site and advertises there now, only four percent of other firms and only 15% of lawyers are on a social networking site.

An RSS feed is used by only 10% of attorneys to keep up with news, but lawyers are going to news websites and email newsletters for news. Blogs, message boards, and online video are not as popular -- yet. Less than one third of all attorneys read blogs.

All of this is good news for the premier legal bloggers -- their potential audience is much larger. Instapundit, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Volokh Conspiracy, and Above the Law have lots of room to grow.

All of this comes as no surprise, given that the legal industry is pretty conservative in many ways. It’s only natural that it would be slower to adopt the newest tech fashions than others. Still, there are those who are leading the way.

In fact, if you’re reading this, you’re probably more technically adept than two-thirds of your fellow attorneys. Good for you!

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