Email Missteps:
Documenting Email as
Part of a Client's File, Part I
By Beverly Michaelis
A few years ago I used social media to poll lawyers and their staff about client email. I wanted to know how lawyers were documenting email as part of the client file. Were messages printed and placed in the client’s paper file or retained electronically? If filed electronically, who did the filing — lawyers or staff? The results were interesting and generally in line with what I was hearing anecdotally. Here are some of the comments I received:
These answers illustrate four common missteps in how law firms are processing client email:
Printing What Should Remain Electronic. All files that begin life electronically can and should be stored electronically. Not only is this a sustainability issue, it is also a matter of efficiency and productivity. Firms that insist on printing emails often require staff to file each new message sent or received — even if the message is part of a redundant string of prior exchanges. This quickly becomes an expensive proposition in paper, ink, electricity and staff time that could be better spent.
Not Backing Up Email. Law firms relying on web-based email are placing their faith in the cloud, often at their peril. While email can be archived in a web-based account, most users misunderstand how this works. Archiving is not equivalent to backing up. In Gmail, for example, archiving merely moves the message from your inbox into the “All Mail” folder. If Gmail experiences an outage or you lose messages — and both events have occurred — there is no “backup” unless you have taken additional steps to copy your email and store it elsewhere.
Using Your Email Program as a Filing Cabinet. Using folders in popular programs like Outlook or Thunderbird is nice from an organizational point of view when you are actively working with messages, but neither program is meant to be a permanent storage solution for electronic client correspondence. While Outlook will tolerate thousands of emails, keep in mind that using it as a filing cabinet affects memory, consumes hard drive space and may drain network or server resources. If you are using an older version of Outlook, your data file may become too large to back up. Other good reasons to get email out of your email program are discussed below.
Failing to Establish and Follow Filing Protocols. All of this invites the question: whowill do the filing? If we agree that email should be moved from your email inbox or sent items folder into the client’s electronic folder on the firm’s computer system, who is going to perform this task? In the days of a paper-based practice, it was easy to delegate paper filing to staff. Should a lawyer delegate electronic filing to staff? And if yes, how? And how often? Next month, this column will address questions of office filing protocols in more detail.
Email Must be Properly Filed
All client email should be segregated by client and saved electronically in the same network or local folder where client pleadings, correspondence, research and so forth are stored. Storing email with other client documents provides a complete electronic record in one place that everyone can access. When email sits in your inbox, no one else working on the case can see it, and no one else will know what is going on. This isolationist approach to email may cause communication breakdowns and other errors. Even if you are a sole practitioner and don’t need to share access to your emails, your inbox will become bloated as you accumulate more and more messages.
Because the process of getting email out of your inbox and into a client’s folder can be tedious, shortcuts are a must. Filing email electronically is far easier if you use the built-in capabilities of email applications, electronic filing assistants, Adobe Acrobat or case/document management software. Let’s explore the advantages of each method.
Use Built-in Capabilities of Email Applications
If your email is web-based (e.g., Outlook.com, Yahoo!, Gmail or another provider) I strongly recommend downloading your email into an email application like Outlook or Thunderbird. (Next month’s column will discuss this process in more detail.) Once email is downloaded into an email application resident on your computer or network, it is far easier to manipulate. Let’s look at some specific ways you can use the built-in capabilities of Outlook to save email directly to your clients’ folders:
Organizing Email Using Folders. First, create a folder on your computer for each client. If a client has more than one matter, create a subfolder for each matter. Within each matter folder, create additional subfolders for correspondence, client pleadings and other documents, as needed. Next, set up email folders and subfolders for each of your clients and client matters in your Outlook inbox that mirror the folders and subfolders in the client’s computer files. Drag the messages from the inbox into the appropriate client email folder or subfolder to segregate messages by client.
Saving Multiple Email Messages as Text Files. To save client emails en masse using Outlook, navigate to the email folder containing the messages you want to save, choose “Select All,” or select the individual messages you want to place in a text file. With the messages highlighted, choose “File, Save As,” and navigate to the folder on your computer where you want to save the messages. Give the file a name, such as “Jones email messages.” If desired, add a date or date range to the file name. “Jones email messages” will be saved as a text file that can be opened in Notepad, WordPad, Word, or WordPerfect. If you save multiple messages in one batch, they will automatically be consolidated into one text document. The document can be searched, stored with client Jones’ other electronic documents, and printed if absolutely necessary. The original email messages can then be deleted from Outlook, freeing up valuable space. (Note: saving messages as a .txt file does not preserve Internet message headers. If you prefer to capture Internet message headers – which provide a list of technical details about the message, such as who sent it, the software used to compose it, and the email servers that it passed through on its way to you – then save the message in another format, such as .msg described below.)
Capturing Attachments. If you want to save the attachments or graphics along with the original email, when you select the “File, Save As” option, change the message type at the bottom of the dialog box from the default (which may be plain text, HTML, or rich text) to Outlook Message Format (.msg). Note that messages saved in the .msg format will have an envelope icon and are opened using Outlook. This format preserves the Internet message header contained in the message.
Best Practices. You can save emails one at a time — as you receive them — or all at once at the end of a client matter. Depending on the duration of the matter, save emails frequently enough to protect your client’s information from loss. If you are accumulating emails in your email application, organize the messages into folders as described above. In either case, I like to use the “DAFT” approach suggested by colleague and fellow practice management advisor, Dee Crocker: D-Defer, A-Act, F-File, T-Trash. The goal is an empty email inbox.
If you receive an email and cannot complete the associated task the same day the message is received, create a task from the email, choose a date for completion, file the original email using a method described in this article, then delete the original message from your inbox. If you can act on the email immediately, do so. Send your reply, file it in the client’s folder, then delete the original message. (When your reply is saved to the client’s file, it will contain the original message you received. You can also delete the sent item if you save your reply email directly to the client’s folder on your network or server where all other client documents are stored.)
Occasionally, you will receive an email that requires no action except filing. Save the email to the client’s folder and delete the message from your inbox. If you receive a non-client-related email that does not require action or filing, you can trash it. In the minds of many, this is the best email of all.
Electronic Filing Assistants
Electronic filing assistants can greatly speed up the process of filing email into folders if you are an Outlook user. Three of the more popular are SimplyFile (www.techhit.com/SimplyFile/), SpeedFiler (www.claritude.com/) and QuickFile 4Outlook (www.outlook4lawyers.com). All three offer free trial copies. These programs work in substantially the same manner by adding a toolbar to your Outlook program that “auto files” your email. For example, SimplyFile applies an advanced algorithm to learn and adapt to the user’s email filing habits. After you “train” SimplyFile for a time, filing email to the right folder takes only one click of the SimplyFile toolbar button. Whether you want to file a newly sent email or a reply to an existing message, the program will “guess” which Outlook folder the message belongs in. (The accuracy rate is 80-90 percent.) There are no configuration wizards, no set-up and no rules to maintain.
Adobe Acrobat
If your office owns Adobe Acrobat 9 or later (all referred to as Acrobat), you may want to take advantage of this program’s powerful email portfolio capabilities. When Acrobat is installed, two new buttons appear on the Outlook toolbar: “Create Adobe PDF from selected messages” and “Create Adobe PDF from folders.” You can use these buttons to capture messages and attachments together, converting your email into a single PDF portfolio with a fully searchable/sortable index.
To convert selected messages from Outlook to PDF, follow these steps:
1. In Outlook, select the inbox folder with the email message you want to save.
2. Click the button “Create Adobe PDF from selected messages.”
3. In the “Save Adobe PDF File As” box, specify a folder on your computer (e.g., client/matter) in which to save the PDF file, type a file name, and click “Save.”
To convert a folder of email messages from Outlook to a PDF, do the following:
1. In Outlook, select the relevant inbox folder.
2. Click the button “Create Adobe PDF from folders.”
3. Click OK.
4. In the “Save Adobe PDF File As” box, specify a folder on your computer (e.g., client/matter) in which to save the PDF file, type a file name, and click “Save.”
These basic techniques also work with the professional versions of Adobe Acrobat 7 and 8. You can append additional messages to an existing PDF portfolio or archive emails to PDF automatically. For more information, search Acrobat Help for “append email portfolio” or “automatic email archiving.” (Note: saving messages in a PDF portfolio does not preserve Internet message headers. If you prefer to capture Internet message headers, then save the message in another format, such as .msg described above.)
Case/Document Management Software
For those who are looking for solutions beyond mere email management, purchasing case or document management software may make the most sense.
Case management software centralizes all client and matter data into one software program — from calendaring, docketing, conflicts and billing to email, documents, research and more. With case management software, email and attachments are stored by the software in the appropriate case or contact file when received or sent. There is no need for mail to remain in your inbox. There are many options for case management software. The American Bar Association Legal Technology Resource Center (ABA LTRC) maintains a comprehensive and current software comparison chart: www.americanbar.org/groups/departments_ offices/legal_technology_resources/resources/charts_fyis/casemanagementcomparison.html.
Document management software brings together all of an organization’s sources of knowledge, including email communications, scanned paper documents, word processing documents and spreadsheets — anything that can be stored as an electronic file. For a discussion of document management software, including a list of available software programs, visit the ABA LTRC, www.americanbar.org/groups/departments_ offices/legal_technology_resources/resources/charts_fyis/scannerocrfyi.html.
Conclusion
Next month, we will continue this discussion by delving further into protocols for filing client email, including a consideration of who should do the filing — and some additional tips to make the entire process go more smoothly.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Beverly Michaelis is a practice management adviser with the Professional Liability Fund. She blogs at http://oregonlawpracticemanagement.com and can be contacted at (503) 639-6911 or (800) 452-6139 (toll-free in Oregon); http://www.osbplf.org. For help with email management or file opening, organizing or retention issues, or other office organizational issues, contact the practice management advisers of the PLF.
© 2013 Beverly Michaelis