A Legal Word to the Wise

You know that thing you love to do countless times a day -- check email? Well, when you draft an email think twice about what you're putting into it. I've always told my clients not to write anything in an email that they wouldn't put in a letter or tell someone face to face. The reason? Everything is discoverable.

So prudence calls for using email judiciously. (Blogs, too, for that matter).

There are new federal rules of evidence out that few people understand yet (me included) that make electronic discovery (read computers) mandatory and earlier in the litigation process.

So I wasn't surprised to see this article in the ABA Journal E-report about Alberto Gonzales and his practice of not using email. The man's attorney general and has decided emails can't be trusted. And he's not alone.

I think there might be a lesson in there for all of us.