We recalled the IBM Selectric typewriter and the pleasure of watching and listening to the golf ball head tap dance across the page. We recalled, too, when IBM enhanced the Selectric with a ribbon to correct mistakes. Imagine that! The Selectric came-up at a bar association focus group discussion on the Practice of Law in the 21st Century. And some of the lawyers, me included, remembered practicing before the PC, email and smartphones took hold.
Technology has made us more efficient and more cost effective. But the focus group, which ranged from recent graduates to wily veterans, agreed on one thing: Technology comes with a price. Perhaps the most profound (and worrying) change is that the boundaries of what was work and what was personal time have disappeared. Who in the legal or insurance world really gets “unplugged” on the weekends or on holidays? Maybe you don’t fire-up the P.C., but the iPhone pushes work emails in front of your “leisure.” Yet, I suppose, with discipline, and perhaps therapy, some of us can really get away for a while.
Nostalgia for the good old days aside, for the most part, the group felt email and texting inhibited, rather than fostered, real communication between lawyer and client – – a key to success in any endeavor. Why is it many lawyers and claim professionals open the mail app, instead of hitting the phone app next to it? True, it saves time and perhaps the frustration of voicemail. But does it really advance what needs to be advanced? In fact, from my perspective, email chains often create more work and less clarity. Often, the best solution is to meet or to confer over the phone – – and then summarize the decision taken in an email.
Meeting or talking over the telephone also fosters professionalism and a heightened sense of respect for the other. For example, a spoken “thank you” is much better than an emoji (a term unknown in the days of the Selectric). Personal contact and personal relationships are still important in law and insurance. Now, I’m beginning to sound like a Dinosaur. And that’s it for This and That. If you’d like to tell me what you think, please call (or send me an email with the emoji of your choice).