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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Beginner

  • work Practice Area

    Professional Skills

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Tuesday, May 21, 2024

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    60 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 60-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.0 CLE credits.

$147.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will instruct new lawyers on the art of drafting clear and concise informal communications, including emails, texts, and instant messages (IMs), that are audience-appropriate and persuasive. The panel will also address privilege and ethical considerations.

Faculty

Jeffrey Cunningham
Attorney
McAngus Goudelock & Courie LLP

Mr. Cunningham’s practice focus runs the gamut of professional liability exposures but with a particular emphasis on lawyers. He defends lawyers and acts as outside General Counsel to solo to mid-sized law firms across the U.S. For over a decade, Mr. Cunningham has defended industry professionals in a wide range of professional liability, ethics and professional disciplinary matters. His extensive background in civil litigation includes commercial disputes, varied malpractice claims, D&O liability, employment and labor law, catastrophic personal injury, premises liability and products liability. With an emphasis on simple systems of risk management, Mr. Cunningham brings a holistic approach of protecting his clients before problems occur. He produces a weekly newsletter and daily blog, Point One: A Bite of Ethics a Day Keeps Legal Malpractice Claims Away, as well as the world’s only ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct-based meme page, The Model-Rule-Meme-A-Day. A life-long learner and teacher, Mr. Cunningham presents CLE courses on varying topics of law firm risk management and ethics.

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Description

While much of the training new lawyers receive is focused on formal writing, such as how to draft briefs, memos, letters, and contracts, most of the writing performed by lawyers in their daily professional life is informal communication in the form of emails, texts, and IMs. Therefore, drafting clear and concise informal communications that are audience-appropriate is a vital part of a lawyer's practice. How one responds to an email request from a Partner as opposed to a client question will vary greatly.

Lawyers should understand the various pre-drafting considerations to be made before creating an email, text, or IM—including the tone to use, word choice, and the level of explanation that may be required. They should also know how to clearly communicate the message, select the right method of communication, and understand how privilege and ethical issues may affect their choice.

Listen as our expert panel provides guidance to new lawyers on the art of drafting clear and concise audience-appropriate informal communications while maintaining privilege.

Outline

  1. Pre-drafting considerations
    1. Understanding your audience
    2. Organizing your ideas
  2. Selecting the right medium (email, text, IM):
    1. Advantages and disadvantages of each
    2. When to use which type of medium
    3. Setting client expectations
  3. Drafting a persuasive message
    1. Tone
    2. Clear, concise, and to the point
    3. Word choice
      1. Legal vs. nonlegal terminology
      2. Slang, emojis, acronyms, and idioms
    4. Level of explanation required
  4. Privilege and ethical considerations
  5. Review and revision
  6. Practitioner takeaways

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key considerations:

  • What pre-drafting considerations should be made before drafting any informal communication and how do these differ based on the audience?
  • Under what circumstances should certain methods of communication be used? Be avoided?
  • What ethical and privilege issues should lawyers consider when selecting a method of communication and before drafting the communication?
  • What are best practices for drafting a persuasive message?