Ever send an e-mail to the wrong person? You meant to send it to “joe@joe.com” but mistakenly sent it to “joe@jack.com”? Your e-mail client auto-fills in the address, and you were in such a rush to dash off a quick note that your mind didn’t fully process mistake in the address.
Most of the time it amounts to nothing more than an, “Oops.” But once in awhile you may find yourself in the awkward – and possibly legally liable – position of having sent an e-mail to someone who should definitely not have seen the message. Take, for example, the case where you send a message to opposing counsel that was meant for co-counsel. Or a confidential client e-mail goes off to the case trustee.
Some would tell you to simply avoid e-mail for these conversations, and I agree to an extent. But it’s just not possible all the time, especially if you’re a member of a confidential listserv or other mailing list. But fear not, there’s a simple hack to get you through.
When I have a confidential listserv or recipient, I set that person up as a contact in my e-mail program; the name, however, is preceded by a +. Therefore, a confidential recipient would be “+Joe Smith”. When I typed that person’s name into the “To:” field I would need to type “+Joe Smith” or the e-mail address would not auto-fill. It’s useful for listservs in particular, especially given the fact that most of them are “listserv@xxxx.com.”
My NACBA listserv, for example, is set up with a name of +NACBA. I also subdivide using #, % and & based on level of security.
It’s just an additional level of security for when you need to send out a message that should not get into unauthorized hands. It’s saved me a ton of embarrassment more times than I can possibly recount. And given the fact that I correspond with many of my opposing counsel by e-mail, it’s probably saved me some money as well.
