What Is It About Email?

What is it about the cathartic nature of email writing that makes people lose their inhibitions (and sometimes their good sense)?  Is writing just more revealing than speech, or does it reveal those attorneys that just do not have a grasp of reality or their subject matter?  I am not sure.  Maybe since emails are directly written and sent, there is no trusted adviser, secretary, partner or paralegal reviewing and arguing against what is written.  Or, maybe since typing emails is such a quick process lawyers do not have time to think twice about what you have written.

Two things have reminded lead me to write about this subject.  One involves email and the other not, but both are equivalent.

The first is the brouhaha over Andy Rooney's column most have deemed racist (and he himself has called "stupid") in which he says:  “I know all about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but today’s baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me,” Mr. Rooney wrote in the second paragraph of the column, which appeared in The Stamford Times of Stamford, Conn. “They’re apparently very good but they haven’t caught my interest.”

The other are the increasing emails I get from opposing counsel in which they state some of the meanest, most outrageous things, as if nobody else is going to read these statements.  The language -- often replete with the F-bomb, the name calling, and the accusations is all a little much.  I have had attorneys explain to me in writing their perceived relationship with the judge that will guarantee them a win.  I have had attorneys attack the judge in ways and terms that are not repeatable.  And, the names they have called me.  Maybe I deserve them, I do not think so, but I will let others decide.

It is easy to free base in ideas and thoughts at the keyboard, and things get typed that should not get typed -- or sent.  It is a variation of the old line, "just because you think it does not mean you have to say it".  This maxim should be extended to include "just because you think it does not mean you email it".  But, what I have found strange is that these same lawyers would not dream of saying outrageous things to your face -- or over the telephone.  I will have a somewhat pleasant conversation with them over the telephone or in court, and then these written diatribes follow.  Even back in the day (as people like to say), I rarely got a letter like this in mail or over my fax.

There is a tendency, I think, that is even prevalent among attorneys, that email represents some type of non-discoverable speech that will not be revealed.  It is better than direct speech to one's face because there is no interruption or immediate response.  As a result, it is okay to lose all pretense and all civility when keyboarding.  Of course, I disagree.

Not long ago, for example, I had in-house counsel for a utility send me an email that stated that he had just finished some major litigation and had "room on his plate", and his company had a large number of young associates that "room on their plate", and they were going to dedicate all of there time, effort and resources to run over my little client in ways that were simply inappropriate and an abuse of the system.  And, the company intended to "ruin" me in the process.  The lawyer's position was strange because he admitted my client was correct in the law and in the facts, and it was strange in that the damages she was seeking was only in the hundreds of dollars.  It did not matter, because the attorney did not like me, did not like my client, did not like the law, or the court, and it did not matter how much it costs his company in eventual sanctions or fees.  It was worth the effort to obliterate me, my client and the law, and he described his motive and tactics in explicit detail.

Now I can see where attorneys might say such things in private, but in writing?  I, of course, immediately responded to the email and copied my client, the referral attorney and those attorneys I work with in the litigation.  When the in-house counsel saw emailed copied to these people, he got concerned.  He accused me of sending out confidential correspondence without his permission.  He threatened to file a grievance with the court and the bar association.  He later wanted to withdraw the communication and instructed me to recollected the email from these people and destroy it.  Well, the answer was no.

By the way, we eventually settled the case.

My mother use to tell me to watch my mouth.  Now, the advice should be to watch your email.

Comments

[Susan Cartier Liebel]

I agree with you. (Lawyers)People say things in e-mails in a fit they can't take back and then lose control over what they wrote once they've hit the send button. It can be saved, transmitted to others, used against them later on. It is a very unwise practice to put in an e-mail what you would not want projected on a screen for all the world to see. I wrote about it here:

http://susancartierliebel.typepad.com/build_a_solo_practice/2006/12/overusingi_emai.html

It's an unwise practice.