It’s standard fare for law firm emails to have lengthy disclaimers at the end. It’s also standard for the disclaimers to be automatically inserted by the firm’s email system. And the disclaimers are inserted into ALL emails, whether or not they’re meaningful given the context of individual emails.
When I started Blue Maven Law a couple of years ago, I decided not to have disclaimers inserted automatically into my emails. Here’s why.
Automatic email disclaimers don’t really do anything
The main reason I don’t use automatic email disclaimers is that they’re ineffective. Most law firm disclaimers have one or more of these components: (1) a notice that the email is confidential; (2) a request for help with misdirected emails; (3) a warning that email isn’t a secure method of communication; and (4) a notice required by IRS Circular 230 that disclaims tax advice.
