John Shonkwiler

John Shonkwiler in a recent interview with Smart Business Chicago explained how forming better e-mail habits can help reduce litigation costs and exposure. Link. John said the basic obligation of discovery in a civil litigation proceeding–preserving, gathering and producing relevant documents–”is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive.” He attributes this to the “staggeringly high volume and informal nature of our electronic communications in the workplace.”

John gives practical suggestions for overcoming “reflex e-mailing” and creating a “clean slate” when implementing new e-mailing habits. “Formal training should not be necessary. Just ask employees to place a higher value on their e-mail correspondence. Cut out the reflex e-mailing and start treating e-mail like paper.”

“E-mail can be organized like paper correspondence.  This means deleting the e-mail you don’t need, and organizing the messages that you keep into folders.”

“[T]here has been relatively little discussion about addressing the root cause [of expensive e-mail discovery], our e-mailing habits. I think this is going to change as employers continue to learn about the significant costs of housing massive amounts of unorganized e-mail.”

For more information about e-mail discovery and improving e-mail habits, contact John at (312) 419-6900 or jshonkwiler@novackmacey.com.