One of Freedman's key warnings about the speed of e-mail communications is equally obvious and easy to overlook: don't put anything into an e-mail that you wouldn't put on firm letterhead. While e-mail is quicker and seems more casual, you're creating a written record and have to be conscious of that every time you open your e-mail program on the job. Those records will be around for a long time to come; they're easier and less expensive to store than hard-copy communications and generally easier to search through and retrieve if reason arises.
And, of course, there are risks beyond what we put into the content of our e-mails. Confidentiality issues arise simply from the form of the communication. Those can be managed, for the most part, through disclaimers and confidentiality notices, by password protecting especially sensitive information and including confidential language in attached documents rather than the body of the e-mail. Even so, we must be ever-conscious of the risks created by putting electronic documents in the hands of our clients.
One of the greatest pitfalls of e-mail – whether in the business world or in personal communications – is the ease of forwarding. It's become commonplace to simply send along an e-mail to friends, family and colleagues for comment, review or just as an update … and that simple act of clicking “forward” can compromise privileged information.
About the Author
Kevin Chern is President of Total Attorneys (https://www.totalattorneys.com) and a Law Practice Management Consultant to more than 700 law firms throughout the country.
