Law Practice Today has Fifteen Practical Tips for Managing Your E-mail. Tips are based on author, Reid Trautz’s session at the ABA TECHSHOW, “The Top Ten Legal Technologies—Are You Using Them?”
The tips are:
1. Take time to explore the features and functions of your e-mail program.
2. Learn how to use your e-mail software program to organize your e-mails.
3. Create defaults to help filter your e-mail when it arrives in your inbox.
4. Learn how to send text documents as attachments to the message, rather than in the body of the message.
5. Save time by creating group mailing lists.
6. Draft a written e-mail policy for clients to clarify the use of e-mail in your attorney-client relationship.
7. Keep a record of all e-mail correspondence.
8. Check your e-mail for new messages several times per day.
9. Don’t open every e-mail message the moment it arrives or you may never have time for anything else.
10. Explore e-mail discussion groups as a possible source of information.
11. Open unrecognized attachments with caution.
12. Don’t forget to bill for time reviewing and responding to e-mail messages.
13. E-mail is as important as a typed letter; treat it as such.
14. Always include a definitive subject line that easily identifies the content of the e-mail message.
15. Use the signature line to save time and provide useful information.
Source: Stark County Law Library Blawg