Tech Talks Lunch: Timely Email Communication for Lawyers
Catherine Sanders Reach Director of Law Practice Management & Technology, Chicago Bar Association
Thursday, October 18, 2018 Embassy Suites Hotel – La Vista Conference Center
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MS Outlook Tips and Tricks
By Catherine Sanders Reach, MLIS Director, Law Practice Management & Technology The Chicago Bar Association
MS Outlook Essentials Organize email, manage contacts, sync & share calendars, find & file messages all while keeping track of your day without losing your mind. Mail Options In MS Outlook go to File – Options – Mail to create multiple signatures and control new mail arrival notifications or look in Advanced to change Outlook start to your To Do list instead of your inbox. Many time management articles suggest that opening email first thing to start your work day distracts you from first planning your day and what you need to get done. You will react to a message first and possibly lose your way in your prioritized tasks. Eliminate the temptation to look at new email first by changing the default open view in MS Outlook to calendar or tasks.
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Turn Off Autocomplete Turn of autocomplete of email addresses in MS Outlook in two ways: 1.) Completely erase prior history and disable the feature: File – Options – Mail – Send Messages – De-select “Use AutoComplete” and click on Empty AutoComplete List
2.) Remove individual email addresses when they pop up: Type a name in the To/Cc/Bcc line and click the “x” in the drop down list to remove email from the Autocomplete list
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Set Up Multiple Signatures Go to File – Options – Mail – Signatures. You can set up as many signatures as you want, including text such as specific disclaimers or instructions. Choose a default signature for new messages and for replies/forwards.
When sending an email to easily change the signature right click by the signature and choose from the list which of your signatures you would like to use.
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Creating Folders
Most people choose to store email in folders. Migrating emails to folders is easy – just drag and drop, or let the “Move” feature try to guess a folder for you (or get the Simply File add-on). To set up folders, with nested folders and subfolders, simply right click on the folder that you want to create a folder under:
To keep it in line with the default folders such as “Inbox” “Sent” “Search Folders” right click under your email account (in the example above [email protected]). Folders default to alphabetical order. If you want organize them in a different way use a numbering system (01 Murphy, Charles; 02 Comey, James, etc.) or use special characters to force certain folders to the top (such as /Respond to Charles Murphy). You can also drag frequently used folders to the Favorites folders so that they appear at the very top. The favorites folders are shortcuts, they don’t move the folder out of the nested structure.
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Sort and Destroy
Sort by existing columns to easily see what can be moved or deleted. Add columns on the fly like “cc” or “bcc” or “have replies sent to” to add more sort options and make quick work of a messy inbox. To add additional columns right click (alternate click) in the header row and select “field choose” from the menu that appears. Then sort by your new field. You can remove the new field by clicking and dragging off the header row:
Or you sort by conversation, similar to the default in Gmail or Outlook Web Access. Go to the View tab in the Current View group choose “Change View” and “single”. Then in the Conversations group click on “Show as Conversations” which also shows emails from other folders, such as your sent folder:
Drag an Email to Calendar/Task/Contact As you sort through emails if the email is about a meeting drag it to your calendar. The body of the email, any attachments, etc. will be in the calendar event. And don’t worry, you can find it all again through search.
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Turn an Email into a “For Follow Up”/Tasks in MS Outlook with Flags
MS Outlook Tasks feature doesn’t work very well for many attorneys, but you can still leverage Outlook features to help with tasks and to-dos using flags. You can then see all the flagged emails, no matter what folder they appear in, in your Task List or in your Flagged for Follow-up Search Folder. To deal with messages you choose to “defer” you can right (alternate) click on the flag item to flag the message to follow up.
You can set a custom time limit on the deferment, and set a reminder. Flag an email and assign a deadline and a reminder by right clicking on the flag symbol. Any e-mail message that includes a flag appears in the “For Follow Up” Search Folder as well as the To-Do Bar in Outlook. Be careful when using the flags in Outlook. Many users think that if they flag an email and it shows on their task list on the To Do bar that it will remain there if deleted from their email. It does not. If you delete the email, it deletes the task as well. Therefore, it may be wiser to drag and drop the email to your task list and flag or categorize it there. That way you can delete the email and not worry about it being removed from your tasks.
Quick Parts Never have to find an old email to copy/paste or resend again! If you send the same message repeatedly turn it into a Quick Part. In a new outbound message select the message text and from the Insert tab click on “Quick Parts” and choose “save selection to Quick Part Gallery”. Next time you need to insert that content in a new email put your cursor in the body of the email and either click on Quick Parts from the Insert tab or simply type in the name of the Quick Part and hit
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Quick Steps Make quick work of multi-step tasks with this tool that lets you program a series of steps into one click! For instance, set up a new email to all of your team and clients on a project. Go to Quick Steps in the Home Tab and click on the arrow in the lower right corner. Click on “New” – “New Email To” then name the Quick Step and choose the recipients. Automatically folder the email, categorize it, prioritize it and much more.
Automating Responses with Rules Using Templates If you want to set up an auto-response to an email you can accomplish this by creating template emails and the setting up Rules in Outlook. For instance, do you receive emails from potential clients from your website contact form that you would like to remind them that they are not yet clients, thus information sent will not be held in confidence? 1. First, set up a new email and provide the response you want to send, including subject line. Click File – Save As and in the Save as Type select “Outlook Template” from the drop down menu. 2. Second, go into the MS Outlook Rules Wizard and in Step 1 select the action “reply using a specific template”. 3. Third, click on “a specific template” and choose the email template you saved. It is always a good idea to test your Rules to make sure they work the way you want them to.
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Easily Provide Free/Busy Time Outside of the Network In a new message choose the Insert tab and click on “Calendar”. Follow the prompts to easily provide someone free/busy time.
See Free/Busy Time of Others in the Office In the Calendar at the Home tab go to the “Manage Calendars” group and select “Open Calendar”. Choose “From Address Book” and choose the person whose calendar you would like to view.
Send Calendar Invitations, Not Emails Sending a calendar request to a meeting, teleconference or web conference helps ensure that the participants have it on their electronic calendar and have the information they need to participate. Users of any calendar program from Outlook, Google or Apple should be able to receive a meeting request that can be opened and applied to the recipient’s calendar. If not, the recipient will still receive the pertinent information. Be sure to include the location information, including dial in and login information in the “location” area of the invitation if it is a virtual meeting or conference call, as well as in the body or notes field of the request so that people will not be late because they couldn’t find the information they needed to participate.
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Reply with Calendar Invitations, Not Emails When someone emails and wants to have a meeting or a phone call and we have arrived on a mutually agreeable time, my last reply to confirm the event is a calendar request. MS Outlook makes this super easy by supplying a tiny little button in the Respond group on the Message tab that looks like a little calendar with the label “Meeting.”
Instead of clicking “Reply” to the last email, click the “Meeting” button (which is actually “Reply with Meeting”). Clicking this button sets up the response as a calendar request, with the entire email chain in the notes. You can see the date and time you’ve agreed on, adjust the request accordingly, and fill in information that might not yet be established. For example, you can fill in the location field with something like: “Catherine calls John at xyz-123- 4567” or “Catherine meets Jane at Starbucks on State and Jackson.” Send the message along and you will both have it on your calendar — and you can delete all the previous emails about negotiating availability.
Advanced Search Search is powerful! The default search is set to search the current folder, but you can easily change that to search other folders, and even other Outlook items (like your calendar). When you click in the search box the Ribbon changes to show a lot of new search-specific options so you can expand your search to all mail, all Outlook or limit your search by category, subject, date range, flags and more.
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Search Folders Have you ever noticed the pre-created folder in your folder structure called “Search Folders”? If you open it you will find subfolders such as “For Follow Up”, “Unread Mail”, “Large Mail” and more. A Search Folder is a virtual folder that provides a view of all e-mail items that match specific search criteria. For example, the Unread Mail Search Folder allows you to view all unread messages from one location even though the messages may be located in different Mail folders. Depending on your folder organizational structure, you may get emails from the same person that are stored in many different folders. If you want to see all the emails from that person, regardless of which folder they are stored in, you can do a search. If you find yourself doing this search – or any search – frequently you can create a “search folder” that continuously shows the results for a specific search. This does not move the emails from their current folder. To create a new search folder right click on the Search Folder and choose to create a “New Search Folder”. The software will walk you through the steps of creating the search folder, which includes either creating a new predetermined search folder or scroll to the bottom of the list and choose to create a custom search folder to use sophisticated or complex criteria for your search folder. Create, Add, Sort and Search by Categories Folders are the typical way Outlook users organize emails, but sometimes you may want other intelligence about an email (or task, contact, calendar event) for organizational purposes. While you can put copies of a single email into multiple folders, or rely on search, another option is to apply categories. The way lawyers can use categories is particularly useful, as we will illustrate. First you will need to create a new category. You may have created a folder for the client/matter, but you can be broader or narrower with categories. For instance, if you appear in multiple courts you could create categories like “Durham County” “Chatham County” or “Orange County” and apply those categories to emails, calendared items, court personnel in your contacts, etc. Then you can search for a category to discover all items “tagged” by this category or even create a Search Folder. Categories are also useful for adding consistent keywords to Outlook items, similar to a “See Also” reference in an index. To create a new category in Mail in the Home tab in the Tags group click on “Categorize”. A drop down will appear. To create a new Category choose “All Categories” and in the resulting dialog box choose “New…”. You will create a new category name and assign a color and optionally a shortcut key. You can also rename and delete categories in the “All Categories” dialog box. Once you have created categories you can assign a category (or multiple categories) to any email, calendar event, contact, or task. In email you can sort by Category by right clicking in the header row, selecting “field chooser” and clicking on “Categories”. You can search across all of Outlook (or just email, contacts, calendared items, tasks) for specific Categories or create a Search Folder for Categories.
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Add-Ons Introduction MS Office has so many features and functions it is overwhelming. Yet, there are hundreds (thousands) of add-ons to expand MS Office programs. What add-ons are particularly useful for lawyers? We will review a number of legal specific products, and some others that are useful for lawyers. Does Office already do that? The first question you should ask yourself before you install an add-on to any Microsoft Office product is “can I do this with the software already”? In many cases the answer may be yes, though not easily or effectively. You will need to do a cost-benefit analysis (time vs. money) to see if paying for an add-on will effectively enhance efficiency or productivity to the point that the add-on pays for itself. FindTime Outlook is not the best tool to find an appropriate date and time for multiple people from different locations. Choose a tool like MeetWithApproval, Meeting Wizard, or Doodle to make quick work of this task. Or, use FindTime, and add-on for Office 365 users. FindTime (https://findtime.uservoice.com/) is an Outlook add-in from the Office Store that builds in the functionality of tools like Doodle or Meeting Wizard. You’ve never heard of Doodle or Meeting Wizard? These tools help make short work of finding an appropriate meeting time for multiple people. Within the same MS Exchange environment, each user can see other users’ calendars and use the scheduling assistant to make a guess at the best time for all to meet. However, arranging a meeting for multiple people outside of a single MS Exchange environment often results in rounds of frustrating emails. A number of free tools came out on the market to solve this problem by letting the event organizer create a poll for others to select their availability and find a mutually agreeable date/time. That is what FindTime does — but built into the user’s MS Outlook calendar. When you create a new event, you see a button called “FindTime.” Click on it to propose a few times for attendees to vote on. It is just that simple. The attendees then receive an email with instructions to choose a time, by clicking a link and clicking on their availability, and the responses are tallied for you, the sender, in your calendar. Are the slackers not responding? Send a reminder with one click!
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Flow Flow (https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/) is another productivity booster for Office 365. Flow appears in the list with all the other Office 365 apps, which includes the standard Office suite, plus Yammer, Planner, Teams, Delve, Newsfeeds and more. Flow is very much like automation tools IFTTT and Zapier, basically giving you a way to connect two different applications to transfer information or add some sort of action based on a trigger. Like Zapier and IFTTT, Flow provides some templates to help users see what is possible. Flows in Office 365 tend to connect Office 365 apps to other Office 365 apps. For instance, pick the template “Copy important emails to OneNote” and then go into My Flows—Manage and click on the Flow to customize it. Customization can be multistep and very sophisticated. Flow also connects Office 365 apps to popular social media sites, the Google suite of apps, Basecamp, Asana, Buffer and dozens more.
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Evercontact
Evercontact Lets You Know How Many Contacts It Has Add/Updated!
Evercontact (http://www.evercontact.com) works with Gmail, Google Apps, Outlook, Office 365, iPhones, and CRMs like Salesforce and Highrise. The software automatically creates and updates contacts from email signatures and sends them to your address book. Basic service for a single user is free (up to 30 emails a day). Essentials for individuals cost $5 per month and provides unlimited email analysis and automatic updates to individual or team address books. Business and Enterprise versions offer with more bells and whistles. One premium feature called “ContactRescue” looks at your email for the past five years and collects the contact information (that is, if you hang on to email that long) for a one time cost of $199 or $99 for one year of analysis of your email archives. Evercontact will show you what it is adding to your address book and give you the chance to accept or reject it — so it isn’t so automatic that it fills your contacts with people you don’t want there or overwrites information you need to keep. Simple File
SimplyFile (http://www.techhit.com/SimplyFile/) can seriously enhance your organization in MS Outlook. The company describes it as an “intelligent filing assistant” for Outlook that will “learn and adapt to your filing habits.” What this means is that it “predicts” the folder in which to file a message and lets you do it with one click. It is a fast learner — no sooner had I installed it than it was suggesting the correct folder more often than not. Filing suggestions are presented through a toolbar it adds to Outlook. As you read your email, it suggests the folder in which to file it. If the suggestion is incorrect, click the QuickPick button to bring up a list of all your folders and select from there. Two other buttons on the SimplyFile toolbar, Task It and Schedule It, make short work of following up on an email by assigning it to your to-do list or adding it to your calendar. So if you receive an email regarding a matter that
15 needs follow-up in a week, click Task It to open a new task and the email will be inserted into it. Rather than save emails in your inbox as reminders, add them to your task list or calendar and you’ll actually remember them. Another button, SnoozeIt, lets you temporarily hide a message from the Inbox, then have it re-appear at the time you specify.
Code Two Attachment Reminder
Code Two Outlook Attachment Reminder is a free add-on that reminds you that you might have meant to add an attachment to an outgoing email, based on the words in the email. There are a long list of keywords the add-on looks for, which can be edited by the end user. For all of us who have forgotten to add an attachment, this little add-on reduces the “duh” moment. Others, such as Ablebit’s Forgotten Attachment Detector ($10) offers a few more bells and whistles and Sperry’s Attachment Forget Me Not for $20 also warns you if you forgot to put in a subject line.
Move and Delete Watchdog If you have ever inadvertently moved a folder, burying it in another folder, or worse, deleted a folder, the CodeTwo Move & Delete Watchdog will alert you and query whether you really meant to do that. Often I would guess the answer is a resounding NO! Addictive Tips offers a nice tutorial on the add-on.
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Slide 1
How To… Leverage Email Alternatives
Catherine Sanders Reach, MLIS Director, Law Practice Management & Technology The Chicago Bar Association
Slide 2
What’s the Problem? Email is self managed
Email on the Spam filters phone is even eat it worse
Attachments “I didn’t get aren’t handled the email” properly
BCC and Reply All
Email is self managed Each end user has to create and USE a file management system Spam filters eat it Attachments aren’t handled properly Stored on the file server or cloud server Version control issue BCC and Reply All “I didn’t get the email” Email on the phone is even worse
Slide 3
What’s the Alternative? It Depends!
Internal (firm) communication? Try Slack or chat
Sharing files? Try Google Docs or OneDrive or Asana
Need to really communicate? Try video conferencing
Need more “instant” communication? Try texting
Need to stop relying on the inbox as a todo list? Try Flow-e or DragApp
Need secure, encrypted end to end communication? Try Signal
It depends on what you are working on · Projects? Try Slack or MS Teams · Internal (firm) communication? Try Slack or chat · Sharing files? Try Google Docs or OneDrive or Asana · Need to really communicate? Try video conferencing, · Need more “instant” communication? Try texting · Need to stop relying on the inbox as a todo list? Try Flow-e or DragApp · Need secure, encrypted end to end communication? Try Signal
Slide 4
What’s the Downside?
· You’ll still have email · You’ll have to learn a new tool · Your workflow will need to change · There are more places to check and stay on top of
Slide 5
So Why Do This?
· More control on messages and where they live · Separate casual communications from formal communications · Stop drowning in email you can’t keep up with · Identify action items from FYI
Slide 6
Better Email
Slide 7
DragApp – Turn Gmail Into Tasks
DragApp - https://www.dragapp.com/ is an MIT Startup and a Google featured product.
Turn your Gmail inbox into project management boards. It is a free Chrome extension (so you can it on and off). You can use it for sales and marketing, project management, or as a one person team to keep up with everything.
It is free to try for 14 days, $3 a month for a solo, $12 per month for teams (in beta)
Slide 8
Flow-E – Visual Task Board for Email
Flow-E https://flow-e.com/ is similar to DragApp, it wants to help organize your inbox into a task board, and has a free personal account and the Pro starts at $5 a month. You can use it to help adhere to management philosophies like Personal Kanban, Getting Things Done or Inbox Zero.
Flow-E works with Gmail and Office 365 Mail.
Slide 9
Zola Suite – Email IN Practice Management
ZolaSuite https://zolasuite.com/ is law practice management software with built in email. It helps you make sure that emails go to the right person and that they are assigned to the right matter automatically – no more foldering! One click to save your incoming email to a matter, add a contact to a matter, convert email to a task or convert to an event. Save attachments right into the client file. You use your existing email account and can still use your email in Outlook or Gmail.
Slide 10
Better Than Email
Slide 11
Signal – Encrypted Communication
Signal https://signal.org/ is a free encrypted open source communication platform that works on your phone or as a desktop app. It is free and open source. You can send text, make calls, start a video chat, send documents or picture messages using your data plan with anyone in the world (who has Signal). You set a time for chat messages disappear.
This could replace email for anything that needs to remain private.
Slide 12
Rocket Matter Communicator – Internal Chat
Rocket Matter is the first practice management application to come out with a live chat feature for law firms. https://www.rocketmatter.com/communicate-with-your-firm/
Slide 13
Google Docs - Chat and Comments
If you work on a file at the same time as other people, you can chat with each other inside the document, spreadsheet, or presentation. https://support.google.com/docs/answer/2494891?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en
Slide 14
Word Online – Comments
Word Web App lets you add review comments to a document and reply to comments from other reviewers. Start at the Review tab to manage comments in Edit View or the Comments tab to manage them in Reading View. https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/insert-comments-in-a-document-95a93b1e-aaea- 4c8d-a25d-8f91eb217390
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ZipWhip – Business Texting
Zipwhip http://www.zipwhip.com
Use your existing business line and let clients text you. Read the texts (SMS, group texts and MMS) and respond in the Zipwhip interface (web, mobile and desktop for Mac or Win). Messages are threaded, you can see which messages have not been responded to, and multiple admins/users can access the account. Print message threads to PDF for archives. Enable auto- reply for outbound responses to messages that come during non-business hours. Keywords let you set up marketing campaigns eg “Text Divorce to 333-333-3333 to schedule an appointment” and have an automated response. Firms are supplied with “click to text” code for their websites so potential clients can send a text directly from the firm website. And more!
The basic plan is $35 per month, unlimited plan is $100 a month. 14 day trial at www.zipwhip.com or contact Allison Key (text or call (206) 582-3742
See more “How To…Fearlessly Text with Clients” https://vimeo.com/252940322/3b185449aa
Slide 16
Zoom – Video Conferencing
Easy to use video conferencing, with screen sharing and group collaboration.
Free for 40 minute personal meetings, $15 per month for unlimited meetings. https://www.zoom.us/
Slide 17
Project Management
Slide 18
Fleep – Project Communication
Team communication, “presence”, shared tasks and files, audio/video calling and screen sharing.
30 day free trial, 5 EURO per user/per month for business use https://fleep.io/
Slide 19
Microsoft Teams – Project Space
Free, but comes with Office 365 Business Premium. Features include group messaging, integration with MS Office, file storage, group and one to one audio and video calls, screen sharing,
https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software
Slide 20
Group Communication
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Monday – Team Communication
Monday.com (http://www.monday.com) Project management, group communication, integrations with lots of other products.
$25 per 5 users per month and up.
Slide 22
Office 365 Groups – The New Discussion List
Part of Office 365 Business Premium. Creating a group creates a single group email address (like a listserv), a shared OneNote notebook, a a shared calendar, shared files and more. https://support.office.com/en-us/article/learn-about-office-365-groups-b565caa1-5c40-40ef- 9915-60fdb2d97fa2
Slide 23
Slack – Group Messaging
For B2B communication (especially tech companies but really all sorts now), Slack https://slack.com/ is a team communications tool that integrates with other apps like Google, Todoist, Evernote, etc. (https://lpmembers.slack.com/apps ) to let you send files, make calls, send messages, and more all through one interface. It is free, though for enhanced features (like single sign on) there are fee versions. The communications are encrypted end to end.
Slide 24
Secure Team Chat – Off (or On) the Cloud
Mattermost https://mattermost.com/ is “an open source, self-hosted Slack-alternative”. Group messaging, file sharing, threaded conversations. Free for small teams. This product can be downloaded and hosted on your own server, if being in the cloud is not appealing to you.
Slide 25
Catherine Sanders Reach Law Practice Management & Technology The Chicago Bar Association 312-554-2070 www.chicagobar.org [email protected]
Slide 1
H o w To … Avoid The “Whoops” Moment When Sending Email
CATHERINE SANDERS REACH | ANNE HAAG CHICAGO BAR ASSOCIATION
Slide 2
Anatomy Of A “Whoops” Moment
¡ Skadden Arps summer associate puts foot in mouth, ‘03 ¡ Terraphase Engineering, Inc. v Arcadis, U.S., Inc., ’11 ¡ Tw o -word ‘reply all’ email leads to suspension for Atlanta prosecutor, ‘14 ¡ IN lawyer suspended for a year after privately criticizing judge, ’13 ¡ Lawyer sends a WSJ reporter privileged documents, ’17 ¡ Appellate court hears suit against lawyer – and his law firm - for breach of fiduciary duty and malpractice that started with an email to incorrect recipient, ’18
Links from slide: - Skadden Arps summer associate puts foot in mouth, '03 - Terraphase Engineering Inc. v. Arcadis, U.S., Inc., '11 - Two-word 'reply all' email leads to suspension for Atlanta prosecutor, '14 - IN lawyer suspended for a year after privately criticizing judge, '13 - Lawyer sends a WSJ reporter privileged documents, '17 - Appellate court hears suit against lawyer - and his law firm - for breach of fiduciary duty and malpractice that started with an email to the incorrect recipient, '18
Additional Links:
- http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/oops._lawyer_accidentally_copies_court_on_ email_about_its_ill-conceived_and/ - https://abovethelaw.com/2008/02/an-email-oopsie-by-a-legendary-litigatrix/ - http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/nyt_reporter_says_lawyers_e_mail_goof_not _a_big_blunder - http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/sued_by_dla_piper_for_675k_ex- client_discovers_lighthearted_churn_that_bill/\ - https://abovethelaw.com/email-scandals/page/12/ - https://www.ediscovery.co/ediscoverydaily/case-law/ediscovery-case-law-read- inadvertent-email-get-disqualified-from-case/ - https://abovethelaw.com/2010/11/skadden-partner-accidentally-emails-confidential- evaluations-to-entire-department/ - https://abovethelaw.com/2018/05/read-the-nasty-mass-email-sent-at-a-biglaw-firm- over-a-departing-associate/
Slide 3
The Culprits
¡ Auto-complete feature in email applications ¡ Reply vs. Reply All ¡ BCC ¡ Emailing from mobile devices ¡ Lack of attention ¡ Poor impulse control
Most of the mistakes you make while emailing stem from a batch of usual suspects: • Auto-complete – When you start to type in someone’s name in the send field of an email, most platforms finish filling in the name. This makes it remarkable easy to email the wrong person, or email the right person at the wrong address. • Reply vs. reply all – Especially when you’re on your phone, it’s extremely easy to mindlessly press “reply” or “reply all” without paying attention to what you’re selecting. These are different and that difference matters. • BCC – You BCC on an email thread. The BCC’d person hits “reply all,” thus alerting everyone else that you included them in secret. It’s embarrassing and very avoidable. More on why you just plain shouldn't use BCC later. • Phones – You’re much more likely to make a mistake when you’re distracted or in a hurry, and you’re much more likely to be either of those things when you’re emailing from your phone. • Lack of attention – So many of our emails are sent when we’re in a hurry, and susceptible to small mistakes we wouldn’t otherwise make. • Poor impulse control – An email makes us angry, and we immediately reply – it’s a recipe for disaster.
Slide 4
BCC – JUST DON’T DO IT
Don’t BCC. I know there are some legitimate reasons to use it, but they are few and there are better ways (like using Mailchimp or if you need to send a bunch you can use Word Mail Merge and email a group individually).
New York State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion 1076 (12/8/15) Topic: Email; blind copy of correspondence; communication with client. Digest: A lawyer may blind copy a client on e-mail correspondence with opposing counsel, despite the objection of opposing counsel. Because a lawyer is the agent of the client, sending such a blind copy is not deceptive. However, there are practical reasons why the lawyer should consider forwarding the e-mail correspondence to the client rather than using “bcc”. http://www.nysba.org/CustomTemplates/Content.aspx?id=60757
Charm v. Kohn, Superior Court of Massachusetts, Sept. 30, 2010 The practice of blind copying a client with a letter to adverse counsel, or to the Court, has long been common practice to keep clients contemporaneously informed on the progress and status of their pending legal matters. In the paper world, a blind copy of a letter to adverse counsel raised few, if any, issues. In the electronic age, however, the practice of blind copying a client on communications to another can have embarrassing, indeed, devastating, unintended consequences. Consider the plight of Eugene Kohn. Mr. Kohn found himself embroiled in litigation against a former business colleague. (Charm v. Kohn, Superior Court of Massachusetts, Sept. 30, 2010). Mr. Kohn’s attorney sent an e-mail to adverse counsel, and bcc’ed his own client, Mr. Kohn. Mr. Kohn replied to his attorney’s e-mail with a communication that was obviously intended to be a confidential attorney-client communication. However, Mr. Kohn mistakenly used the “reply all” function and sent his otherwise confidential communication with his own lawyer to the adverse attorneys. The question before the court was whether a client’s own inadvertent disclosure of an otherwise privileged communication to adverse counsel constituted a waiver of the attorney-client privilege.
http://www.wilentz.com/files/articlesandpublicationsfilefiles/275/articlepublicationfile/tonrey %20taylor%20news%20letter%20-%20how%20blind%20is%20a%20bcc%20april%202011.pdf
Slide 5
You Are Not Immune…
¡ These are NOT reliable predictors of email savvy: ¡ Frequency of use ¡ Youth ¡ Intelligence
…But There Are Tools To Help!
The common assumption is that Millennials and younger generations are tech-savvy. This might be true (though arguable), but being digital natives doesn’t save us from making the same mistakes as members of generations still struggling to adapt. It’s not a matter of intelligence either.
Slide 6
Tools To Reduce Email Error
Slide 7
1. Time Out
¡ Make self-check a habit ¡ What to check before hitting send: ¡ Correct recipients & contacts ¡ Correct reply levels for each recipient ¡ Good structure, no room for misinterpretation ¡ Spelling & grammar ¡ Signature block ¡ Add the email address AFTER you craft the message
Unfortunately, there’s no existing magic solution to keep you from ever making another email mistake. Your best bet is to train yourself to pause before hitting “send.”
Create the following mental checklist, and turn it into habit: 1. Check for correct recipient and contacts 2. Check for correct reply levels for each recipient 3. Check for good structure and tone 4. Check spelling and grammar 5. Make sure you signature block is there
Consider not adding your recipient’s email address until AFTER you’ve done all this. It reduces the likelihood of you forgetting to run through the self-check, or of accidentally pressing send before you’re ready.
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2a. Foolproof It – Outlook Users
¡ Contacts: ¡ Turn off Auto-Complete ¡ Remove people from autocomplete ¡ Write a rule to temporarily delay mail in an outbox
The auto-complete list is a feature which displays suggestions for names and e-mail addresses as you begin to type them in common email applications. These suggestions are possible matches from a list of names and e-mail addresses from the e-mail messages you have sent. By default, this feature is turned on in Outlook.
To turn off Auto-Complete List name suggestions in MS Outlook: 1. Click the FILE tab. 2. Click OPTIONS. 3. Click MAIL. 4. Under SEND MESSAGES, clear the USE AUTO-COMPLETE LIST TO SUGGEST NAMES WHEN TYPING IN THE TO, CC, AND BCC LINES check box. To Temporarily Delay an Outbound Email in MS Outlook 1. Click FILE. 2. Click MANAGE RULES & ALERTS. 3. Click NEW RULE. 4. Under START FROM A BLANK RULE, select APPLY RULE ON MESSAGES I SEND. Hit NEXT. 5. Select conditions if you want to apply any. If you want it to apply to all messages you send, do not select any conditions. Hit NEXT. a. If you did not apply any conditions, hit YES when asked if you want it to apply to every message you send. 6. Check the box next to DEFER DELIVERY BY A NUMBER OF MINUTES. Click on the underlined section of text when that command appears in the box below, and specify how many minutes you want it to be held before sending. Hit OK, and hit NEXT. 7. Select any exceptions you want to apply. Hit NEXT. 8. Name the rule, and select any rule options you want to apply. The TURN ON THIS RULE box should be checked, if nothing else. 9. Hit FINISH.
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2.b Foolproof It - Gmail Users
¡ Fully utilize your contacts function ¡ Control autocomplete options ¡ Delete out of date contacts ¡ Undo send
To edit a contact’s information, essentially editing autocomplete function for that user: 1. Log into your Gmail account 2. Click the 3x3 grid in the upper right corner, and select CONTACTS (you might have to scroll or hit MORE first). 3. Click the contact you want to edit, and select the pencil to the right of the name. 4. Click on the contact’s email address field. Once you click in the text box, an X icon shows to the right. You can either edit the address and click SAVE NOW, or click the X icon to delete. 5. If you no longer want the contact record, you can click the three vertical dots to the right of the pencil icon and select DELETE. 6. Sign out of Gmail and log back in.
To activate undo send: 1. Click the gear icon towards the upper right corner of your screen and select SETTINGS. 2. Select GENERAL (you’re probably automatically there). 3. Scroll until you see “Undo Send: Send cancellation period…” Use the drop down box to set it to 30 seconds, the maximum amount of time.
To USE undo send: 1. Send an email. 2. A window appears in the bottom left corner of your screen. It says “Message has been sent,” and gives two options – UNDO and VIEW MESSAGE. To undo the send, hit UNDO.
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2c. Foolproof It – On Your Phone
¡ Android - Native email app: ¡ # second delay
Add a Delay to Outgoing Email in Android Email App 1. Open Email app 2. Click on the vertical ellipsis 3. Choose “settings” 4. Click “Delay Email Sending” 5. Check the box to delay email sending 6. Click Set Length of Delay 7. Choose between 3 and 30 seconds 8. Close
Now when you click to send an email a time will appear over the email to countdown. You can click cancel if you realize you are sending an email you didn’t check carefully.
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2c. Foolproof It – On Your Phone
¡ Android – Gmail: ¡ Email held till confirmed
Add a Delay to Outgoing Email In Android Gmail App 1. Open Gmail 2. Open the “Hamburger” symbol on the left 3. Scroll down to Settings 4. Click on General Settings 5. Under Action Confirmations check the box for “confirm before sending” 6. Close settings
Now when you click to send an email a time will appear over the email to countdown. You can click cancel if you realize you are sending an email you didn’t check carefully.
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2c. Foolproof It – On Your Phone
iPhone ¡ Gmail app: ¡ Undo send
Add a Delay to Outgoing Email in iPhone Gmail App Once undo send is activated (see 2.b for directions), it pops up on your mobile device in a similar fashion. Once you hit SEND, a black bar appears along the bottom of your screen. Just tap “UNDO” to recall the message. This option will be available for however long you select, up to 30 seconds.
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What about MS Outlook Recall?
From a sent message click on Move – Actions – Recall this Message
IF the person, within your own MS Exchange environment, has not yet read the message this will effectively delete the message. Otherwise, you will get notification that recall failed.
Outside your MS Exchange environment (aka anyone outside the firm) Recall does not work and the person will see the original message and another message alerting them that you wanted to recall it.
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3. Add Ons – ReplytoSome
ReplyToSome is a Microsoft Outlook Add-In that minimizes the risk of accidentally emailing the wrong people. https://www.replytosome.com/
ReplyToSome is designed to prevent mistakes and absentminded slips through three sets of features. The first is a user interface that displays email addresses in easy-to-read rows and allows users to quickly understand the "state of play" with respect to a given email. The second is a set of tools designed to help users automatically identify omitted or unintentionally added email addresses. These include our “Intruder Alert” tool which highlights any “outsider” address in what is supposed to be an internal message and our “Blackline” tool which allows users to compare the list of addresses in an email with previously used lists or distribution groups. The third set of features allows users to more easily create, modify, and use distribution lists, which can help simplify the process of gather addresses for a multi-party communication.
Cost is $50 one-time fee for single user. Over 10 licenses can be negotiated.
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3. Add Ons – Payne’s Send Assistant
Payne Group Outlook Send Assistant https://www.thepaynegroup.com/outlook-send-assistant/
From the website: “Accidental disclosure We've all been there, we click send before we mean to send the message. Emails go to unintended recipients, distribution lists, to external recipients, or fit a variety of other disclosure scenarios that we need to avoid. That's where outlook send assistant is useful.
To help prevent these embarrassing scenarios, use Outlook Send Assistant.
Outlook Send Assistant provides the extra layer of security needed before the send or reply all button is clicked and confidential or embarrassing information is released. It handles distribution lists, blind carbon copy notification handling, internal and external mail handling, and more. It is your "second chance" layer of defense against accidental disclosure.
The administrator module called feature manager is available for enterprise clients that maintain annual maintenance. This tool allows you to configure many additional options to deploy to your organization.”
Cost is $45 (once) per license. Over 20 licenses call for enterprise version. Slide 16
3. Add Ons - Boomerang
Boomerang for Outlook (Office 365) and Gmail. See how “respondable” your email is, whether you want it to follow up if no reply, send an email back to your inbox or send the message later. All get you to think harder about what you are doing (and make email better too!) https://www.boomeranggmail.com/ and http://www.boomerangoutlook.com/
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4. Practice Management Applications – Zola Suite
Practice management application Zola Suite has built in the email application, which lets you associate an email with a matter, thus showing parties (color coded)
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4. Practice Management Applications – Smokeball
https://smokeball.helpdocsonline.com/email-basics Smokeball's integration with Outlook is one of the most important features. When you start an email chain from Smokeball, emails are saved automatically to the appropriate matter. If you receive and email in Outlook, it is easy and quick to assign the email and any attachments to the appropriate matter. Once all emails are saved in Smokeball, it is easy to manage, review, and find exactly what you are looking for from the email tab in a matter.
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4. Practice Management Applications – CLIO
File email with matter, start timer – just slowing down helps reduce error!
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4. Practice Management Applications – RocketMatter
Also file email with matter, start timer – just slowing down helps reduce error!
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Or… DON’T USE EMAIL!
Lots of options – client portals, Slack, document management systems, Office 365 Teams and Groups – many better ways to communicate!
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THANKS!
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Anne Haag Law Practice Management & Technology The Chicago Bar Association 312-554-2059 www.chicagobar.org [email protected]
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Catherine Sanders Reach Law Practice Management & Technology The Chicago Bar Association 312-554-2070 www.chicagobar.org [email protected]