Records Management

My New Year’s resolution is to better train our employees to “think twice and click once” when sending e-mails. Our weight reduction goal for the New Year will be to reduce the burden placed upon our company by those “dumb” e-mails our employees impulsively send — which unnecessarily increase our corporate risks.

Never assume that an otherwise privileged e-mail will never see the light of day. Even a privileged e-mail may be read by the court. Outside defense counsel would be well advised to limit negative comments concerning the court, and even their adversaries. It is entirely possible that the judge may some day read those comments.

For example, outside counsel are often asked to provide in-house counsel with “initial case assessments” in which outside counsel are asked, among other things, to discuss the judge and the venue.

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Our most important lesson learned is that the lawyer and the client should not write anything he or she would not want to see on the front page of the newspaper. Before sending a written message it is always advisable to ask oneself “Should I commit this to writing?”

Many of our clients have learned the hard way that e-mails and instant messages are much more than a simple substitute for the telephone.

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