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E-mail has become an essential tool for attorneys and
law office staff alike. It allows faster and easier
communications between attorneys and their clients,
and for many has become a preferred way of communicating.
However, while communicating more efficiently via e-mail
has led to a gain in productivity, there is no doubt
that dealing with large numbers of e-mail messages is
now causing losses in productivity. Although estimates
vary, in round numbers approximately nine billion e-mail
messages are sent daily in North America. That means
that just over 100,000 people hit "Send" every
second of every day. All those messages end up in someone's
in-box.
E-mail will become even more common and vital to the
practice of law as people become more connected to the
Web, and as electronic filing becomes more widespread.
This article reviews how you can use e-mail more effectively
and efficiently.
Use proper netiquette
What is "netiquette"? It is simply etiquette
in the electronic world of e-mail and the Web. Exercising
good netiquette means you should do the following:
- Use proper spelling and grammar: Messages
that have proper spelling and grammar are more professional
and easier to read. Avoid using short-forms for words.
- Exercise good manners and be polite: Keep
in mind that there is a real person on the other end
that will receive and read the message you are sending.
Be respectful and polite, and don't say anything you
wouldn't say in person.
- Count to ten before you hit "Send":
Every attorney has dictated an overly aggressive letter
in a moment of anger or frustration, only to tone
it down later with the benefit of some time to cool
off while the letter was being typed. The instantaneous
nature of e-mail doesn't give you this built-in cooling
off period. Be careful not to send an inappropriate
message in a moment of anger.
- Clearly describe the message contents in the
"Subject" line: A clear and concise
description of the message in the "Subject"
line helps ensure your message actually gets read.
- Help people find the relevant parts: E-mail
makes it very easy to forward long messages or large
attachments to others. To help the recipient of your
e-mail quickly get to the key points, forward only
the necessary parts of the original message, or identify
where the relevant parts can be found in an attachment
(e.g. " See pages 3 and 45-48 of the attached
document").
- Don't use e-mail when it is inappropriate:
E-mail is not the same as a phone or a face-to-face
conversation. At the top of the hierarchy of communications
are face-to-face meetings, then phone calls, then
voice mail, and lastly e-mail. Face-to-face meetings
have the most impact. Not only can you hear and talk
back to the other person, you also have the ability
to see gestures and facial expressions etc. E-mail
has the narrowest communications bandwidth ? it is
only words on a screen. Make sure the mode of communication
you use fits the circumstance.
- Clean up messages before you forward them:
Many e-mail programs have a feature that highlights
or indents the original text of a forwarded message.
This can be helpful in distinguishing between new
comments and original text. However, it can make messages
that have been forwarded many times unreadable. To
avoid this problem, clean up all text in any message
you forward.
- Check before sending attachments to anyone:
Downloading large attachments can be time consuming.
Although less of a concern now as more people have
high-speed Internet connections, it is a common courtesy
to ask someone if they want to receive a large attachment.
- Use correct document extensions on all attachments:
Document extensions are the three letters at the
end of a file name. For example, Word files have the
.DOC extension, and WordPerfect files have the .WPD
extension. These extensions are important as they
tell a computer what program should open the file.
Including the proper extension on an attachment helps
insure that it can be opened by the recipient.
Common e-mail don'ts
The following list reviews some of the most common e-mail
"don'ts":
- Don't "cc" people or use group mail
unless it is absolutely necessary: "cc",
"bcc", "reply-to-all" and group
addressing make it extraordinarily easy to send messages
to large groups of people. You should use these addressing
features sparingly, especially the "Everyone"
group. Whenever you use one of these addressing options,
ask yourself, do all these people absolutely need
to read this message?
- Don't forward jokes, Spam or chainmail messages:
They waste not only the recipient's time, but also
valuable network and Internet capacity.
- DON'T TYPE EVERYTHING IN CAPITALS: In Web-speak
this is the equivalent to shouting. You can occasionally
use capitals to emphasize an important word or point.
- Don't forward virus warnings!: As 99.999999%
of them are hoaxes, you are simply wasting your time,
and the time of the people you are forwarding the
warning to. Go to www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
or a similar site to verify if a virus warning is
legitimate.
- As a general rule, don't reply to Spam: Doing
so confirms that there is a live body at your e-mail
address, and this will likely result in even more
Spam being sent to you. If you get Spam from a reputable
company, it is safe to use the Spam opt-out option
that is usually included in messages.
Avoid in-box overload
Don't use your in-box as a catchall folder for everything
you need to work on. Doing this almost guarantees that
at some point you will miss something important. Read
items once, and answer them immediately if necessary,
delete them if possible, or move them to task or matter-specific
folders. Consider setting up one or more temporary holding
folders. For example, put messages that need to be dealt
with in a "current" holding folder, and put
wait-and-see messages that are not time sensitive in
a "wait" folder. Putting all messages to or
from a specific client into one folder makes it easier
to review the messages relevant to just that client.
Most e-mail programs have a "Rules" feature.
Rules can help you manage your In-box by automatically
moving incoming messages to various sub-folders based
on specific criteria. You create Rules to meet your
own needs by specifying your own criteria. They can
be set to run automatically without your intervention.
Rules are especially helpful if you are on an e-mail
list, and in particular a high-volume list.
For example, if messages from a list you are on always
have the text [LawInfo] in the subject line, you create
a rule that checks the subject line of every incoming
message, and automatically moves any message with this
text into the appropriate folder. This removes them
from your In-box. You simply go to this folder whenever
you want to review the messages from the list.
Remember that e-mails are attorney/client communications
When it comes to e-mails, remember, they fall somewhere
between phone calls and letters. On one hand, e-mail
is like correspondence written on paper and probably
should be kept. On the other hand, some e-mails are
like phone message slips and are not important to keep
(unless you ever need to confirm the date or time when
a client called or left a message at your office). Use
your own judgment. When in doubt take the cautious approach
and keep the email in question.
Consider having a system to print and file each e-mail
in the proper client file, or create a system to store
all e-mails electronically, which gives you the ability
to retrieve them later -- up to many years later, if
necessary. Most case management products allow you to
do this very easily. You may also consider as part of
your closing procedure for a file, printing up all the
e-mail communications on the file and storing those
with the closed file. If the electronic records are
lost, the paper copies would be preserved.
E-mail confidentiality and encryption
Ethic rules universally specify that attorneys shall
ensure that client confidentiality is maintained. This
obligation clearly applies to electronic communications.
Attorneys should understand how to minimize the risks
of the disclosure, discovery or interception of confidential
client information when information is sent by e-mail,
and put in place office management practices to maintain
confidentiality.
Under most state ethics rules the use of encryption
software is not mandatory for e-mail communications.
However, it is suggested that these confidentiality
issues be discussed with any client with whom you intend
to e-mail, and ideally you should get permission to
use e-mail for communicating with a client. When information
is extraordinarily sensitive common sense and good judgment
should carry the day. Consider not using email for this
kind of information, or use (and advise a client to
use) encryption software to help maintain confidentiality.
Summary
E-mail is now an essential tool for attorneys. By using
the techniques outlined above you should be able to
use it more efficiently and effectively. Don't forget
to take steps to increase the e-mail skills of your
staff so that they can also make the most of this communications
tool.
Top
This article originally appeared October 2002 issue
of LawPRO Magazine.
Dan Pinnington is Director,
practicePRO, at Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company.
practicePRO (www.practicepro.ca)
is LawPRO's (www.lawpro.ca)
innovative risk management initiative - its goal is
the prevention of malpractice claims. Dan is a frequently
writes and speaks on the topics of claims prevention
and legal technology. He is on the Web Core and Practice
Management Advisors Committees of the ABA LPM Section,
and is Chair of the Ontario Bar Association Law Practice
Management Section.
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