By the year 2020, online communities may very well be a lawyer's best resource and the number-one means of communication between lawyers and their clients.

Already, some savvy lawyers are communicating with clients via Wikis, RSS feeds and social networking tools. Many lawyers - particularly in the United States - are also well and truly confident about blogging legal developments in their areas of practice.

Such trends are likely to continue in the future, and the take-up of technologies may very well determine the difference between a good and a great lawyer.