Important E-Mail Tips; SLUG continues support of VLSP

The Sacramento Law Practice Management & Technology Section (SLUG) provided VLSP with money for new computer equipment. At the June meeting, SLUG chair Michael Crosson was pleased to present VLSP's managing attorney Victoria Jacobs with a check on behalf of the SLUG membership. In accepting the check, Ms. Jacobs noted that one of her first duties as managing attorney had also been accepting a check from SLUG for VLSP's technology needs, and thanked SLUG for its continuing aid in providing pro bono legal services to those in need.

SLUG Chair Michael Crosson also presented Heather Cline Hoganson with a plaque in recognition of Ms. Hoganson's dedicated service to the section. Ms. Hoganson became involved with the section while still a law student, and recently concluded a year as Chair of the section.

The June SLUG meeting revolved around something that everyone in the legal/business world cannot avoid: E-mail. Elizabeth Danziger, author of Get to the Point! and consultant with Worktalk Communications, flew up from Los Angeles to instruct attendees about producing painless e-mail. Two lucky attendees, Victoria Jacobs and Heather Cline Hoganson, won signed copies of Get to the Point!

For those who were unable to make this meeting, here are a few of the kernels of wisdom handed out. Keep your eye out for future SLUG meetings - the caliber of speakers and meeting content is well worth the price of lunch!

1. E-mail hits people in the face and therefore needs to be more courteous - add "hello"'s and "how are you?"'s to soften the tone.

2. E-mail is never private, never secure, and never completely erased from the halls of cyberspace. E-mail is more exposed than postcards. How confidential is that?

3. The subject line is the most important part of your message and should not be squandered! Make coherent and complete subject lines that match the content of your message.

4. Should the message start on one subject and roll over to another, change the subject line to reflect the true meaning of the current tangent.

5. If your message is confidential, say so at the beginning. Automatic confidentiality messages at the end of every e-mail not only lessen their impact, but start to annoy people.

6. Trashing people is a bad policy in life and an even worse one in e-mail! Expect anything bad you say about someone to be forwarded to that person within hours.

7. Consider everything you receive to be the copyright of the author but everything you send to be public - don't forward other's material indiscriminately and don't say anything in e-mail that you don't want on the front page of the New York Times.

8. E-mail is a reflection of you and your professionalism. Proofread and check for grammatical errors - spell-check won't catch poor word choices.

9. If you have to forward information on to others, delete extraneous information, such as header information and unnecessary conversation threads.

10. Keep your signature files short - if you can't say everything about your contact information in four lines or less, you need a reality check.