Tips for Producing Error-Free Correspondence

This week we are going to continue to talk about the various rules we have in our office for helping us "get the work done." As you know, there are five areas that make up every part of every business in the world, and "getting the work done" is the third area. The other four areas are "clients or customers," "administration," "billing," and "getting paid."

The rules we are going to talk about this week are the "proofing rule," and the "spell check rule." I do not believe I have touched on this subject in the previous two areas, so now will be a very good time to introduce you to these two very important rules.

It is my firm belief that people who do not know you personally, but only receive your letters, emails, faxes, and other written communication, will judge you based upon what you have put in these writings. Let me give you an example. A new client comes into your office and hires you to handle a lawsuit in another part of your metropolitan area, another part of the state or even in another state. As part of the work that the client has hired you to perform, you have to write a letter to the attorney for the other side. Keep in mind that you have not been able to speak with this attorney on the phone, so the first contact that you will make with them is through your written correspondence.

When this attorney receives your letter they will form an opinion about you, whether you want them to or not. I would certainly not want that lawyer to think that I am incapable of handling my client's matter. If misspellings, grammatical mistakes, and punctuation mistakes are made in my letter, that other lawyer is going to have a negative opinion of me no matter what I try to do. Remember the adage, "first impressions are lasting impressions."

We have a rule with regard to all writings in our office that every writing must be proofed before it is put into final and sent out of the office. Once a letter is drafted by an individual, the letter must be reviewed by that individual before I ever see the letter to approve it for finalization and mailing. If one of the paralegals drafts a letter, the letter must be reviewed by the paralegal and the attorney assigned to the case before I review the letter. The rule that we have in our office is that wherever possible, two sets of eyes need to be on the letter before it goes out the door. We have a system for nonverbal communication where once the letter has been approved by myself, I put an "f" on the letter with a circle around it showing that it can go in final and be mailed.

This proofing process helps minimize grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes. Spell check on the computer should be used in each and every draft to make sure that every word displayed on the computer is an actual word in the dictionary, and this will minimize any spelling errors. You obviously know that "spell check" will not correct grammar mistakes. So, if the word "of" should be the word "for," spell check will not pick up that mistake because the word "of" is in fact a word found in the dictionary. One of the guidelines that I have used for punctuation and grammar errors is that if it does not look right or sound right, it probably is not right.

Some time ago in my office, I was receiving many letters that had been drafted that contained multiple mistakes of spelling, punctuation and grammar. People seemed to be in a hurry and for some reason and the letters were not being double checked for errors before I looked at them. I came up with the idea to fine everyone $1.00 per letter per mistake made and that the money would go into a pot for a rainy day break or to throw a party for the firm. It was amazing how quickly people began to do their job again by proofing what they had written before passing it onto me for my approval. Not many dollars got put in the pot after that time. Nothing can be more embarrassing than sending letters to clients, opposing counsel, judges, etc., with noticeable writing mistakes. Make sure you implement a rule in your office with regard to minimizing mistakes in spelling, punctuation and grammar, by having your staff proof their work and correct their own mistakes before you have to do it for them.

As a senior lawyer and at my hourly rate, I should not have to fix every misspelled word, punctuation problem, and grammar error made by the staff and other lawyers in my office. We are all professionals, and are all highly capable of producing error-free correspondence, documents and pleadings.

As you can see from the foregoing rules regarding "proofing," and "spell checking," we have tried to implement some practical rules in our office to help us "get the work done." In short, where humanly possible, another pair of eyes should see any written material that goes out of your office no matter who it is being sent to. If you are a solo practitioner, have your secretary proof your letter for you. If your secretary writes a letter, proof it for yourself.

Before the advent of the computer, you used to be able to go to the back of Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and find the proper use of punctuation and grammar. Now those types of things are available on the internet and you can certainly take the time to look something up to be sure that it is being used correctly before it goes out of your office and makes you look like you are less competent than you actually are.

Anything that you can set up in your office that makes it automatic for things to be properly proofed and properly spell checked, would be a great system to insure that you are sending out the high quality work product that your clients expect of you.

Next week I am going to talk about the "opinion letter rule." I think you will find this rule very interesting with regard to the concept of why you need to have additional input on the opinion letters you write in order to minimize any potential claims you might have for legal malpractice. I think you will find my concept with regard to the "opinion letter rule" in particular, interesting for solo practitioners who do not have an additional pair of eyes that can look at their opinion letters.

Talk with you next week.

Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.