I can pinpoint the moment I vowed never again to use my laptop on an airplane. It was last October, and I was somewhere between New York and Atlanta, drenched in my seatmate’s Diet Coke. My computer — an almost brand-new Macbook Air — was maybe dead, maybe just drying out. I hoped I had gotten to the soda before it had gotten to the keys. (I did.)

For lawyers, deciding not to take out the laptop isn’t an option. Clients and colleagues demand that they be equipped, connected and ready to go, no matter where they happen to be.