We all know that our clients are short on time (like the rest of us!). They expect their outside counsel to write clear and concise emails that convey the important points and skip the fluff. Here are my top tips for writing effective client emails.
Avoid sending your clients long-winded and meandering emails by identifying for yourself the specific points you want to communicate before drafting the email. Once you have a clear objective, make sure you lead with your important points. For example, if you just received a court ruling on a motion to dismiss and are updating your client, make sure you start your email with the most important point—how the court ruled. If you got a positive ruling, consider opening your email with “Good news! The court just granted our motion to dismiss.” Don’t start with background your client is likely to skim, such as “Today, the court ruled on the motion to dismiss that we filed in May, and which I argued last week over Zoom. . . .” You can cover any important contextual details after you hit the main point.
Keep your client emails concise and relevant. Imagine that the Supreme Court just issued a new decision relevant to your case, and you are preparing an email to your client about it. An effective client email will clearly state the Court’s holding and thoughtfully explain how it will affect your matter, which will be the client’s primary concern. Attach the case for reference. Avoid drafting a lengthy summary and covering aspects of the case unrelated to the holding—like the procedural history of how the case made its way to the Supreme Court or the lone dissenting opinion—unless those aspects are specifically relevant to your case.
Clients are always thinking about the next steps. As their lawyers, it is our job to anticipate their questions and concerns regarding what happens next. For example, consider that you defended a deposition of a key company witness who made a number of statements that will undermine your defense. Do not limit your email to a summary of how the witness testified. Anticipate your client’s concerns about how that testimony will affect your defense going forward, and include your thoughts on that point too.
Clients look to us to make recommendations on thorny issues and to direct their path forward. When offering your recommendations on such issues, be clear and direct. Use language such as “We recommend that the Company do X” or “We think the best option is Y.” This can look like “In light of the court’s denial of summary judgment, we recommend that the Company start actively preparing for trial.” Avoid using language that makes it unclear what your stance on the issue is, such as “You may want to consider doing X” or “It may be worthwhile to think about doing Y.” Offering tepid recommendations leaves your client confused about what to do next and likely frustrated by your lack of clear guidance.
Help your client by emphasizing key details in bold or underline. I like to emphasize key dates in bold so that my clients do not miss them. Examples of this include the deadline for filing a brief you just sent your client to review, the deadline to serve the discovery responses you are sending your client, and any dates on which you have limited availability due to an upcoming trial in a different matter.
Finally, check any links and attachments before hitting Send. This may sound obvious, but taking this step will keep you from emailing your client that you have attached a clean draft of a brief when it is in fact heavily redlined, or sending a link to content that is behind a paywall or a link that is broken. If you don’t already double-check your links and attachments, make that part of your practice.
