Coming home to the Internet.

A few years ago, Netscape came out with a Web browser and made the Internet accessible to everyone. Microsoft quickly followed with its own browser, and the rest, as they say, is history. The Internet has blossomed, and there is no end in sight to the number of people who will be using it worldwide. As a high-tech lawyer and law office automation consultant, I thought it was essential for me to have a home page on the Internet.

Accordingly, I tried coddling and guilt to get some of my technically oriented friends to help me for free. I did get some modest results, but never enough that I could proudly beat my chest and tell the world, "I have a home page. Here's the address or uniform resource locator (URL)--take a look!"

So, for too long, Mr. High-Tech Lawyer did not have a home page on the Internet.

But why would I--or any lawyer--want a home page in the first place? Here are some of the reasons.

1. Clients expect a home page. Many of your clients are probably using computers and the Internet. Besides using word-processing, spreadsheet, and database software, they may be surfing the Internet and communicating by e-mail.

They expect you to be using computers for the same reasons. A home page on the Internet and/or an Intranet (a way of sharing confidential information among staff and clients by using Internet technology on the firm's file server) allows clients to access case information without having to get you on the phone. If you have one or both of these, clients will view your practice as state of the art. That competitive edge may help you retain valued clients.

2. Potential clients expect a home page. Consumers looking for counsel are increasingly searching for an attorney on the Internet. More and more Internet-based resources will list your law firm and its areas of expertise. These include West Legal Directory (http://www.westlaw.com), the Martindale-Hubbell lawyer directory (http://www.martindalehubbell.com), and a number of "Yellow Pages" listings for lawyers. Two sites that offer this service can be found at http://www.prairielaw.com and http://www.attorneypages.com.

3. You can explain your practice areas. Educated clients are the best clients. Your home page can provide information about the tort system, what you do, how you do it, your fees, and more.

In almost every area of law, there is information that lawyers can afford to just give away. For example, a plaintiff personal injury lawyer could post files advising clients about

* what the tort system is and facts debunking myths about the alleged "explosion" of tort litigation;

* how to seek legal advice after having an accident;

* types of compensable injuries;

* statutes of limitations in various tort areas;

* what a lawsuit is and how to file one;

* the parts of a suit, including discovery and depositions;

* the firm's areas of practice;

* interesting cases the firm has handled; and

* what the retainer agreement looks like and how legal fees will be collected.

Lawyers in any area of practice can customize information to educate clients and save the lawyer's time.

4. You can host forums or conferences easily via a home page. Clients and potential clients have lots of questions, and often the questions are similar. Setting up forums or conferences in which they can ask questions, get answers, and share experiences will create a valuable published information resource.

When a user makes or "posts" an entry to the forum, the message is preserved. Thus, entire "discussions" on a topic can be saved for anyone entering the forum at a later date to read. This saves attorney time, because when a question that has been asked before comes in, you can direct the inquirer to the conference or forum on that topic.

Similarly, forums and conferences hosted on your page serve as a knowledge base for the firm itself. Material posted here for office staff could include

* hours of work, vacation policy, and scheduling;

* medical and retirement benefits packages;

* a firm-wide Rolodex, including emergency home telephone numbers;

* vendor information;

* information about the firm's Y2K plans and compliance efforts;

* information about pending cases;

* information for referring counsel;

* discussions about new cases; and

* resumes received.

In the not too distant future, a home page will be just like a firm's listing in the local telephone directory.

If you are new to the Internet, before you create a home page, familiarize yourself with Internet technology by using e-mail.

E-mail skills will be as important tomorrow as using a telephone is today. You can use Internet e-mail to stay in contact with family members, friends, and fellow lawyers. As you become adept with e-mail, you will learn to work in groups via listservs (mailing lists) or forum and conferencing technologies. For example, ATLA NET (http://www.atlanet.org) now offers confidential resources and file libraries accessible to litigation group members over the Internet.

After becoming proficient with e-mail, you will learn to attach files to messages. There are some tricks here. You must be certain that the people to whom you send file attachments know how to locate and open them and that their e-mail and other software will work with what you are using. You should check what word-processing program they use. It is best that both of you use the same program and the same version, if possible. It is also a good idea if both use the same type size and fonts and the same margins and page-numbering setup.

Essentially, when the recipient opens your file on his or her computer, it should look just like the file you sent. Deviating from this approach will invite difficulties, as the recipient will likely have to reformat the text--even if the file comes through the Internet transmission clean and quite readable, there may be strange characters and codes appended.

September 22, 1998, is a day that will live in infamy for me--I went live with a home page. I am now truly the master of my own domain, as I own a domain name. You can reach me on the information highway at http://www.paulbernstein.com.

I had a lot of help launching my page. When you are ready to go online, there are many excellent software products on the market, such as Microsoft's Front Page, that will help you create your own home page by using hypertext markup language (HTML) to code documents so they can be read with a browser.

There are also sites on the Internet where you can create a modest home page just by filling out an online questionnaire. Martindale-Hubbell and Delphi (at http:// www.delphi.com) are two companies that provide this service.

I'd thought long and hard about how I wanted my home page to look, but I concluded that my time was too valuable to take hours and hours trying to master HTML. So I hired someone to handle the technical end of creating my page. These people, called "Webmasters," are experienced in the use of software programs and tools for the Internet and can help produce exactly the home page you want.

Creating home pages on the Internet is an art, and an art that is developed only over time with lots of hard work, so choose your Webmaster carefully. He or she should be able to give you a list of happy clients and their home page URLs. My Webmaster came highly recommended by a trusted friend and resource, and I was able to view her work on home pages she had created for a bar association and a number of law firms.

Although the Internet provides a global marketplace for this kind of service, I suggest that lawyers look for a local person. Getting together with the Webmaster to talk, sketch layouts, and see immediate printouts of options is very helpful.

Unless you are trying to outdo CNN or Disney, you will be surprised at how much bang you can get for your buck with a Webmaster who has worked with lawyers in the past. Then, your home page will go to work for you.

Paul Bernstein is an attorney and law office automation consultant in Chicago. He can be reached by e-mail at paulbern @interaccess.com or through his home page at http://www.paulbernstein.com. The views expressed in this column are the author's and do not constitute an endorsement of any product by TRIAL or ATLA.