Four lawyers and a laptop

Four lawyers, four bits of kit and four opinions about why the laptop computer has changed legal practice in the Nineties

My laptop is a Dell XPI90 and it has its own black plastic carrying case which protects it well from the knocks and bumps of everyday use.

I have had it since September 1995 and would not now be without it. I use it mainly to work at home in the evenings and at weekends, but it's also invaluable when visiting clients or other firms of solicitors.

I have to deal with large amounts of documentation - as construction litigation necessitates - and therefore my database for each case appears on the laptop. This means I can carry around the equivalent of 400 Lever Arch files of information. And because I am not office bound, looking at other peoples' documents and answering queries can be done by the tap of a few keys.

I can also work on documents which are held on the office system on my laptop, so changing something with a client when away from the office is easy. It also saves me having to remember to put the document on to a disk

before I leave to see clients.

I can also send emails on the Internet and internal memos to my office while I am out and about and receive and answer them. This makes life a lot easier; I can be flexible and work wherever I want to rather than be stuck in one place.

The only feature I miss on the laptop is a CD-Rom which would let me continue research out of the office.

I cannot stand computer games but the computer has them on it - invaluable for inquisitive young visitors.

Nina Landon is an associate at Eversheds, Derby.