The Elephant in the Court Room

The scourge of modern day living!

How's this for a breach of etiquette?  At a funeral, the mobile phone rings, and its owner not only answers it but has conversation and then sends a text message.  Experienced this? I have!

Surely, there are times when it is appropriate that you are out of contact and your phone is off?  Perhaps as a starting point, births, deaths and marriages.

Some recent posts suggest that even law firms are starting to see the downside of the "crackberry" in banning it's use in meetings.

We have all been present in meetings and conferences where either someone was typing away on their computer or their phone, not paying attention or contributing to the conversation. Not only is there no point in their being present in the meeting if they are not going to fully contribute, but they are actually unlikely to give the proper attention to whatever "non meeting" tasks they are working on. I've been in client meetings as a consultant where the lawyer has constantly taken other calls throughout the conference. Even though apologies were extended to the client, it still gives a very strong impression that the client is getting second rate attention and perhaps the client's problems are not the first priority for the lawyer. Not the sort of service I would like to get.

Email - Does it have You Under its Thumb?

Email and its immediacy has created a whole new world for lawyers - and a big dilemma.  Much of the work we do requires intense concentration and periods of time without interruption.  Too many lawyers I know (self included) solve this problem by working early in the morning or late into the evening. 

How many of us have days where we really feel productive?
We are more likely to end the day feeling that we have taken two steps forward and three steps backward. A New Scientist article reports findings on interruptions - that on average a worker is interrupted every 3 minutes, and it then takes 2 different tasks and 23 minutes to return to the original task.  It's possible to close the door and divert or turn off your phone, but how do you control emails.

10 tips for controlling Emails

1. When you are initially retained, discuss the client's expectations regarding email.  Explain that there are times when you are not able to respond immediately to emails - including when you are in conference with other clients, in court, or spending dedicated time to undertake work requiring concentration, such as drafting.  I explain to clients that having dedicated time to concentrate, results in my producing quality work more efficiently (and therefore cost effectively) and therefore is beneficial to them.  If something is urgent and needs immediate attention, I ask that the client telephone and explain the urgency, in which case they will receive immediate attention.
2. Turn off the email notification
   - whether it be a "beep", pop-up, or notification in your scrollbar.
3. Turn on your "out of office" notification if your email system has this feature.
4. Use rules to sort email into folders
5. Make clear to your other team members when CC is to be used. 
   If they would not normally give you a hard copy of the letter, why do you want a copy of the email?  Emails are a great way of micromanaging, but is this your preferred managment style?
6. Use shorthand in your address line - and encourage others to do the same
   for example - fyi (for your information), nrn (no response required), sro (short response only).
7. Get one major task out the way at the start of the day before you check you email  (courtesy of Julie Morgernstern via Lifehacker
8. Educate your direct reports and other team members to think before they write, and to edit emails.  Too often emails are a "stream of thought" - if you wouldn't put it in a letter, don't put it in an email.
9. Sometimes it is actually better to pick up the phone.  It may be more efficient to actually speak - rather than do the electronic chit chat.
10. You could adopt my husband's approach.  On returning from holidays to some hundreds of emails, he deleted them all without reading them, on the basis that if anything was really important,  the sender was likely to follow up in some way.  Of hundreds deleted, only 20 came back!