"Emails are Forever" and "Assume the World Will Read Any Given Email You Send" rules...

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly: Special Features - The email that roared

" How small is our legal community?

One young lawyer just found out.

The hard way.

It happens that a young attorney by the name of Dianna Abdala was applying for a job with a criminal defense lawyer named William A. Korman.

…

Abdala responded with the following email: "bla bla bla."

That sound that you hear is the sound of bridges burning.

Bla bla bla.

That's the entire email. As an observer said to me, "she didn't even bother to spell 'blah' correctly."

Sadly, when Abdala typed those three syllables of gibberish, she made an electronic record of her own impetuousness, a record that may haunt her for quite some time.

How do I know? Because I was one of roughly seven zillion people who received a copy of the email this week. Thanks to an unstoppable phalanx of forwarders, the brief exchange has made its way to a countless number of attorneys after Korman shared it with a friend and allowed him to share it with a few others.

Fueled by attorneys' curiosity that a young attorney would fire away at a would-be employee with so much vigor, the email chain made its way from firm to firm with the speed and recklessness of Apolo Ohno after six caffe lattes. It went to Rindler Morgan and Gadsby Hannah, to Mintz Levin and Sally & Fitch, to Nixon Peabody and Wilmer Hale.

It's been across the state and out of state. And to Europe. Seriously.

…"

Perfect example that emails are forever and that there’s a chance that ANYTHING you write in one could easily spread through-out your company, industry and/or the world.

And now that this email is on the net it will NEVER disappear. 20, 40, 60 years from now, there’s a good chance you’ll able to find this email online.

The email has been preserved here.

Remember, think before you hit send…

(via lawfirmblogging.com – Email and Reputation)