The American Bar Association today released the results of its 2002 Legal Technology Survey, finding that U.S. lawyers’ use of technology is now nearly universal, with more than 98 percent of respondents saying that they use a computer for work-related tasks. The annual survey questioned more than 3,000 ABA members in private practice about law office computing, litigation and courtroom technology, and Web and communications. Among the findings:

  • More than 40 percent use PDAs.
  • Nearly 20 percent use a laptop as their primary computer.
  • Six percent of solos use WiFi.
  • Fewer than 2 percent of lawyers use Macintosh computers, and a similar number use Linux and Unix.
  • Fewer than half of the law firms responding to the survey had policies regarding acceptable use of internal e-mail of computers.
  • Just over 40 percent had disaster recovery or business continuity plans.
  • The leading word processor in law firms is Microsoft Word, used by 7.25 percent of respondents. WordPerfect is used by 43.5 percent.

    If you’d rather not purchase the full survey, you can review the executive summary or these highlights presented at this year’s ABA Techshow.
    • Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

    Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.