Email management tips for lawyers

Email management seems to be a hot topic lately. David Bilinsky's Thoughtful Legal Management blog contained his suggestions for email management in a post earlier this month entitled simply Email Management. His post specifically addresses the issue of what to do to archive emails when a file has been closed.

Jim Calloways' Law Practice Tips blog also includes some great recent posts on email management. For example, consider liberally using unsubscribe to manage the flood of email. Even better, read Jim's post on Tips for Using Outlook Tasks to Clear Your Inbox. As Jim points out, Outlook 2007 does a much better job at this than earlier versions of Outlook do. Jim also notes that many of the emails we 'store' in our Inboxes are emails that act as reminders of tasks. Rather than letting them pile up (and get lost) in your email inbox, he recommends the drag and drop method to place the message into a task - setting a date only where necessary - and thereby clearing out the inbox clutter.

Don't feel like reading more about email management? For step by step tips for how to save emails to a client file, see this step by step email management screencast by Lawyerist, or listen to the podcast about email management from Adriana Linares and Debbie Foster on Legal Talk Network.

Here are some of my own email management tips:

Eliminate any unnecessary emails as soon as you possibly can. If it's junk or a coupon or advertisement you won't immediately act on, delete it (advertisements, specials and coupons will come around again). Don’t let junk mail sit around and clutter up your inbox.

If the email is something that requires action by somone else, forward it to that person right away. If the email is one you need to save for a file, move it into that file folder and get it out of the inbox. If it’s a task that needs to be done by you, follow Jim’s advice and move it to tasks (the body of the email will remain intact as part of the task). Create to do lists and/or action folders or file trays.

Get a planner, whether electronic or paper-based, and enter appointments and any necessary notes right away and delete the email. If you use Outlook email and your Outlook calendar, you can drag and drop an email directly into your calendar the same way that you can drag it to tasks. Just drop it on the appropriate date, and the details from the email will come with it.

Electronic ‘periodicals,’ RSS feeds, alerts, and newsletters can clutter up your inbox in no time. You’ve probably got all kinds of old newsletters, articles and other emails that you’d ‘like’ to read, but haven’t gotten around to looking at. Get them out of your inbox. Don't feel bad about eliminating them - the same content gets recycled over and over, and more recent articles will appear on the same topic in the future. If you haven’t read it and it’s over a week old, delete it or save it to a designated folder, like a ‘library’ folder on your computer. (You can use free or inexpensive desktop search programs like Google Desktop to search for documents and information in your library when you’re working on a specific project, issue, etc. Alternatively, skim the table of contents or the article/newsletter headings and if you see something that you think is important, save it according to a topic or skim ONLY that article right away.

Unless you frequently get urgent emails from clients (be honest about this - how many of your emails are truly urgent and require an immediate response?), don’t start your day by reviewing your email, and don’t look at email constantly throughout the day. If you’re waiting for a particular email, don’t get caught up in answering all of your email or reading less urgent email over and over during the day - skim for the urgent email or the one you're waiting for and move on. Review non-urgent emails at designated times during the day or when you need a break from more sophisticated or complicated work.

Make separate folders for different kinds of emails or emails that require specific types of responses. File emails that you need for ‘reference’ in the appropriate folder to get them out of your in-box.

Create folders and set up rules and filters for your email so that it is automatically routed to the correct folder.  For those that belong to several email lists, forums, etc. this rule is especially useful. And if you're waiting for an email from a particular client, you'll easily see when a new email has arrived in that client's email folder.

Most case management programs will allow you to save emails directly to a client’s file. Or create pdfs and save emails to electronic or paper files. Then delete them from your inbox.

Comments

[Debt Managing]

reate folders and set up rules and filters for your email so that it is automatically routed to the straight folder. For those that belong to several telecommunicate lists, forums, etc. this procedure is especially expedient. And if you're inactivity for an netmail from a particular client, you'll easily see when a new netmail has arrived in that computer's email folder

[Diana D'Itri]

Good info for inbound emails. I'd like to add that outbound emails or email marketing should not be overlooked when discussing email best practices.
A quarterly enewsletter can help generate business and at the very least, keep the firm top of mind.
There are some simple and inexpensive email marketing company's out there www.constantcontact.com or www.campaigner.com that for 10-30 dollars a month (depending on mailing list size) will allow your firm to "reach out and touch" clients and give them a simple vehicle with which to refer you to others.
My suggestion is to keep the enews simple, relevant and friendly.

[alitamarlowe]

Attorneys often 'check' email. If you are a hockey fan, 'checking' means impedeing progress towards the goal. It can mean many other things but typically isn't associated with an ACTION. Processing email is a skill which can be taught. A quick easy way to learn is to read the 15 page booklet called "The Ultimate Guide on How to Be Efficient at Email". It will be the best $10 you ever spent. And the author offers a free telephone consultation with the purchase of the booklet. Check it out at: http://efficiencyconsultants.com/order.html