PART 11: SECURE E-MAIL
I KNOW I WAS SUPPOSED TO POST A BLOG OF Jan 11, 2008 ABOUT HOW TO SECURE YOUR E-MAILS, BUT UNFORTUNATELY WITH WORK, KIDS AND YES MY BIRTHDAY (AM I 27 OR 39 CAN'T DECIDE YET) I DID NOT GET A CHANCE TO UPDATE & WHILE LOOKING @ MY PREVIOUS POST I REALIZED THAT WHAT SO OFTEN HAPPENS THE END WAS CUT OFF SO NOW I NEED TO GO BACK AND ADD THE FEW DETAILS LEFT OFF, BUT IN AN EFFORT TO KEEP UP I WILL MAKE A SHORT POST TODAY ABOUT SECURE E-MAILS
This post is a continuation of a post about how electronic communication, IE: I-phones, cell phones e-mail , computers, My Space, Face-book, computers, credit card machines and the like can & will get you in hot water if you are accused of a crime or if you are involved in a divorce, child custody, visitation case etc: This is a short post and I will follow up. The sole purpose is to provide information on the two best secure e-mails I have discovered during my intense & thorough research of e-mail.
If you are wondering why the world of lawyers is so interested in this topic, just take a look @ "Who is Elliot Spizer" if by chance you do not follow the news or print media.
I have not confirmed the first part, but the consensus is that if you must use an Internet browser you are much safer if you do NOT use Microsoft. This would be difficult fo anyone; I know it would be for me as windows & Microsoft is all that I am familiar with. However the experts suggest, using firefox or safari. O.K down the the nitty gritty important stuff:
May I suggest, based on a thorough evaluation of all of the information that has been provided to me and the research I have conducted
- Use PGP to encrypt your e-mail, I am sure most of you are familiar with encryption, in fact attorneys are cautioned that if we are using e-mails to communicate with clients via privileged information we must find a secure or encrypted e-mails server
- Thunderbird has a plug in called "enigmail". By all means please take the few minutes necessary to check this out, whether you are an attorney communicating with clients or you are a client communicating with an attorney or with anyone else that you need to keep your messages private
The one other private/secure mail ISP that I have been alerted to and have done some preliminary research on , can be found @
Any of our readers who have any information to pass on about either of these two, please share with our readers, as it is becoming more & more common practice, the norm I should say, for lawyers to communicate with clients via e-mail.
I am certain that if polled most clients would place inability to reach their clients when needed at the very top of their list of complaints. While all attorneys should make an effort to keep clients informed of all necessary stages of the proceedings; I have found as I am sure many other attorney have as well that with our court schedule and demanding deadlines; it is often impossible to give clients daily updates.
Often we do not have any new information to pass on. I for one can attest to this: When we have new information to share we do so immediately. Often the question that a client (more often a family member of a client) has is one that we do not have an answer to. If we need to make an appointment with the D.A. and coordinate a meeting with a probation officer, a parole officer, the alleged victim and so on... Please understand that we have to approach the D.A. when the time is right.
It does more harm than good to your child, spouse, parent, girlfriend, boyfriend, cousin, etc. if the defense lawyer calls upon the D.A. when the D.A. has assured us they will get back to us. We do not want to irritate or alienate the one person who can help us by continuing to call or show up. It irritates someone if we continue to "check in" or "ask for a specific date and time that they will give us an answer" we are doing what we can and we are doing it the way we feel is in the best interest of the client.
As difficult as it must be for you, remember patience is a virtue. We do not want to make matters worse by calling over and over. We must do as the D.A. ask and wait for them to respond to us.
- As I said, I bet if took a poll, then biggest complaint from clients and family members of clients is that you feel we lawyers do not communicate with you as often as you would like
- We simply cannot communicate with you every day
- when no action has occurred- we do not have new information to pass on
- We can and do send out letters (case updates) weekly or monthly depending on the circumstances to apprise you of the status of your case-even if there is no new action to report
- It is not necessary for you to telephone our office everyday
- even worse, it serves no purpose for you or a family member to just pop in our office everyday
- Our staff is working diligently to get the information you so desire to you, and unexpected interruptions slow them down
- This is especially true for solo practice offices
- Our staff is working diligently on your case; but also on a host of other cases
- stopping in without an appointment, demanding to be seen, cuts in to the the time we have alloted for clients who have appointments
- when you have a scheduled appointment you would not be happy if we had to keep you waiting for hours to accommodate someone who just popped in unannounced
- please show us and our other clients the very same courtesy you would expect
Having said that, while we cannot call you or write to you everyday. E-mail makes communication between lawyer & client much easier. We can always find time to send you a short e-mail to let you know you status (even if it has not changed).
That is why it is so important to ensure that our e-mails to and from you are secure
If anyone has any suggestions or tips for the best secured e-mail that you sue to communicate with your lawyer or client; we welcome your suggestions
In the meantime we will use the above encryption for attorney/client e-mails
Stay tuned for more on secure attorney client e-mails
COMING UP NEXT: OUR ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT "SPOOF CARDS" WE WILL RESEARCH THE LEGALITY OF THESE AND POST OUR FINDINGS WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS , SO CHECK BACK FREQUENTLY
