Molly McDonough of the ABA Journal puts together a list of things you should never put in an email, borrowing from Roger Matus‘ 10 Things Never To Put In Email:
- “I could get into trouble for telling you this, but…”
- “Delete this email immediately.”
- “I really shouldn’t put this in writing.”
- “Don’t tell So-and-So.” Or, “Don’t send this to So-and-So.”
- “She/He/They will never find out.”
- “We’re going to do this differently than normal.”
- “I don’t think I am supposed to know this, but…”
- “I don’t want to discuss this in e-mail. Please give me a call.”
- “Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.”
- “Is this actually legal?”
If you find yourself typing one of these phrases, perhaps you should delete the entire email. These are catchphrases often used by e-discovery professional to find smoking gun emails.
