Boys and girls, the word for the day is...

It seems that everywhere you look these days, the buzzword is intranet. Magazines are reporting on intranet products like they're the newest thing on the market. Consultants are adding intranet to the list of their specialties, and the less savvy members of our firms are trying to figure out how to use the term in casual conversation to impress clients (which I hear is something like this: "...you see, since our firm has added an intranet to our office network, we are now more efficient and productive than ever..."). Unfortunately, the intranet concept is about as new as the emperor's new clothes. It is, in essence, simply utilizing the same office network your firm installed ten years ago, and making Internet-like resources available through that network. No magic, just a new name for very old technology.

Some things in life are still free...

Once you have your intranet up and running, you have to do something with it. Since an intranet provides information just the way that the world wide web does--through web pages--the only trick to making good use of your intranet is being able to get the information into web pages. While learning HTML (HyperText Markup Language--the codes which format the text that appears in your web browser) or building a simple web page is not difficult, it is not something that many attorneys take the time to do.

There are many software packages, some of which have demonstration versions available free over the Internet, which will allow you to simply construct web pages. In many cases, it's a matter of point and click, typing the text you want to display, and the HTML code are handled automatically by the software. Depending upon the features included in the programs, the price range may be anything from a nominal fee up.

I was recently observing a discussion of web page building tools on a discussion list on the Internet, and was amazed at how many attorneys were convinced that they'd have to spend money on a decent web-page-building program. The conversation included many different packages, with an enormous range of features, but all of which cost something. I suppose the logic was that nothing worthwhile these days is free.

This can't be further from the truth!

The Internet is still going through growing pains and battles for market share, and until the competition stabilizes, you're likely to see valuable versions of programs distributed free over the Internet. For instance, Microsoft distributes free software (http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/) to be added into their Office programs. The series of programs, called an Internet Assistant (IA), are designed to be installed on systems which already have Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and even Schedule. I recently tested the IA for Schedule, and was impressed with how easy it was to produce good looking web pages of a schedule without any work on my part. The IA for Word works equally well, allowing you to use your familiar word processed to layout and build web pages. I personally use the Word IA when moving long articles to the web. The real beauty of these add-ins, even though designed for producing Internet web pages, can shine in the intranet world, too. For instance, if your section of the firm, or the entire firm itself, maintains one master trial calendar (or perhaps just a schedule for when the conference rooms are reserved), these add-ins will allow you to make the same information available over your intranet faster and easier.

Take the example of the conference room schedule. In my firm, the receptionist maintains this calendar. If I want to schedule a meeting with a client, I have to ask at what times the conference room will be free, call the client. and then call the receptionist again to schedule the time. This is, at best, a tedious process. But with the IAs and your firm's intranet, you call look at the conference room schedule with your web browser while you're on the phone with the client, and then tell the receptionist to reserve the time for you. The receptionist can use Schedule to update the calendar, and with the click of a few buttons, the update conference schedule is posted on the intranet.

To some extent, the intranet is a true step towards a paperless office. It allows an office to electronically publish materials like schedules, announcements, employee manuals, and directions to the big party this weekend, to the entire firm without using a single sheet of paper (or waiting for office services to have copies made).

Got A Story? Share It!

If you hear information about firms moving towards technology, or a new way to become more productive through the use of technology (old or new), or any other war stories, please let me know. Send your story to <Edge@CompLaw.com>. Who knows, the story might be reproduced here.

Samuel Lewis is an attorney practicing Computer/Internet Law and Intellectual Property Law with the firm of Romanik, Lavin, Huss & Paoli in Hollywood, Florida, a member of the Florida Bar's Computer Law Committee, and the creator of COMPLAW^SM . He can be reached at 954-922-4656 or via e-mail: <slewis@CompLaw.com>. The URL for the COMPLAW^SM web site is http://www.CompLaw.com.

Copyright © 1996, Samuel Lewis. All Rights Reserved.

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