In today's law firm, attorneys continue to do more work with less support staff. Technology is the answer to the question of how to accomplish this. A new, rapidly changing area within technology is telecommuting. The ability to work with the firms resources while away from the office through telephone connections. Attorneys, paralegals and some support staff have benefitted from their ability to log into their firm's computer resources, draft documents, research legal questions and send and receive documents without actually being in their office. Communications once relegated to paper can now be sent, changed and sent again electronically through e-mail and file transfers. Documents and messages can be sent to many recipients as easy as sending to one. Legal research formally done in a library or at a dedicated terminal can now be completed anywhere you can plug a computer into a telephone line. Partners can send associates work through e-mail, associates can scan their firms data files for related documents, read the documents, research the law, and respond to the partner all electronically. The partner can then edit the data and respond to the client's request without any printing, faxing of mailing.

Telecommuting is not for all attorneys or for all law firms. Costs associated with additional high speed telephone lines, computer equipment, software and online service charges may be too much for some. As these areas change and prices decline more firms will be looking to this technology to increase productivity. There is an increasing segment of the legal community that is now using telecommuting to solve problems of attorney accessibility. Although you cannot walk down the hall and discuss a case with another attorney non-productive time can be reduced. Aggressive law firms now supply attorneys with portable computers and docking stations at home and at the office so that attorneys can comfortably use the same computer at both places as well as at a clients or on the road.

There are a variety of ways outside computers can connect to office systems. If you can access the internet through your office system chances are you can connect to your office system from an outside computer. From basic PC Anywhere to full TCP/IP connections there is a level that any firm can utilize. Any firm that considers outside access to their computer system must have their IS department or outside equipment vendor develop a plan with a multilevel security feature to protect the firms data. Today network software can accommodate this easily.