The tone of such written messages, absent verbal cues and body language, easily can be misconstrued. If you re not careful, it can lead to unintended consequences, Radcliffe said. The informality of e-mail can suck you in. In addition, some attorneys copy their e-mail to clients during negotiations and, in turn, engage in posturing, which can create awkward situations. I always assume that any e-mail I send to anybody is going to be blasted to everybody in the transaction, Radcliffe said.
Some attorneys simply avoid communicating with opposing counsel or clients via e-mail when possible.
A few steer clear of e-mail completely. But doing so may become increasingly difficult. On an average day last year, North Americans sent 6.1 billion e-mail messages, according to a study published in September by IDC, a global IT research and consulting firm. That number will jump to 18 billion e-mails a day by the year 2005, according to IDC projections. And researchers expect that more than half of those e-mails will involve business, not personal, matters.