A navigational guide

by David J Bilinsky

I gave a letter to the postman, he put it his sack.
Bright an’ early next morning,
he brought my letter back.
She wrote upon it: Return to sender,
address unknown.
No such number, no such zone.

Words and Music by Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott
Recorded by Elvis Presley

Having suffered through yet another Canadian tradition -- namely a postal strike, I was struck with why I didn’t see a surge in emails between lawyers. Faxes and couriers, to be certain, increased dramatically. But for some reason, the fastest, easiest, least-expensive and most convenient form of “written” communication has not yet caught fire in the legal community.

Email is a form of electronic communication. Email can be one-to-one, or one-to-many. In one-to-one, it is much like a letter or fax. For one-to-many, it can be as part of a private mailing list or as part of a larger group called a Listserv. Private lists allow a small number of people to participate in a project or simply share thoughts. Listservs are gigantic mailing lists that allow members located all over the world to participate in discussions. Listservs allow criminal lawyers, to discuss the latest implications of an SCC decision. They also allow lawyers to post questions on immigration policies of a given country. They facilitate the sharing of information and the process of networking. There are thousands of Listservs on virtually every topic under the sun. But, judging by the email addresses appearing in the CBA’s Members Directory, lawyers are s-l-o-w-l-y taking to the Internet. One thing is certain, you need an email address to tap into this resource.

What is web-based communication and how easy is it anyway? What about security concerns? Should email be made available to lawyers, just as we have access to faxes, couriers and the (shudder!) mail system? What hardware and software do you need to gain access? How expensive is it? How can it be put to best use? Is it a gadget, a gimmick or a tool? And what do we do with those lawyers that don’t want to use it, despite any and all (good) arguments to the contrary?

There are several ways to implement email. You don’t require your own Internet account, as email providers such as Hotmail.com (www.hotmail.com) and Rocketmail.com (www.rocketmail.com) offer free email accounts that can be accessed through any browser connected to the ‘net. However, for law offices, most lawyers would want to have a distinct email account with a reputable ISP (Internet Service Provider) such as Axion or Sympatico that is part of a standard Internet access account. Others would wish to register their own domain name (such as the BC Branch’s domain name, bccba.org) resulting in an email address such as cnevin@bccba.org. Either way, what is important is obtaining an email account and learning how to use it.

What kind of hardware and software do you need? A computer that can run a browser or email package, Internet-access software, a modem, a mouse (it makes moving around much easier) and an Internet-access account. These days, a browser comes bundled with the latest software office suites (Netscape’s Communicator with Corel WordPerfect’s 8 office suite, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer with Office’97). Two browsers are Netscape’s Communicator 4.01a at www.netscape.com/download, and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 4.01 at www.microsoft.com. Or you can use a specific email package such as Eudora (www.eudora.com). Either way, the hardware costs are relatively minor (given that you already have a computer) and Internet access costs are cheap, too. Whatever you do, do not go to a provider such as AOL (American On-line) or MSN (the Microsoft Network). AOL’s email is notoriously poor (it has “gone down” way too often) and commercial providers’ email access is usually slower than an ISP.

As for ease of use, sending an email to someone is as simple as clicking on “new message” and then entering the email address of your recipient. The software takes care of the formatting, who it is from and all messy details. When your message is finished, click on “send” to fire the message off for delivery. Replying is even easier--after reading an email, clicking on “reply” will quote the original message and allow you to enter the text of your reply and then all addressing features are looked after. This ease of use has resulted in email being the single biggest use of the Internet.

What about security, you say? Make no mistake, the Internet is not a secure environment if you don’t take precautions. However, faxes can be intercepted, telephone conversations can be tapped and cellular phones are notoriously insecure. Furthermore, how many of us have our computer passwords sticky-noted to our computer screens (assuming we have a system password?).

Good news: the latest email programs can now incorporate encrypted email. PGP (for Pretty Good Privacy (www.pgp.com)) is a software encryption method that uses two keys - a private and a public one - to protect communications. There are other competing encryption protocols, but PGP is, at the moment, the leading one. Why use encryption? Encryption ensures that, at the very least, someone would have to go to a great deal of trouble to try to read your email.

Why use email? There are many advantages not available in any other format. You can send attached files (WordPerfect, Word, Excel, etc.) that arrive at your recipient’s computer ready to roll. Your recipient can take your contract, redline changes, add content, and in turn, send it back to you. The transmissions are practically instantaneous and allow two or more people to work on a document without courier charges and delays. Try doing that with a fax or paper-based communication. They are delivered at any time of the day or night -- no strikes! Furthermore, if a piece of email could not be delivered, you are notified very quickly that the transmission failed. You can confirm delivery and that the intended recipient read the email.

What about signatures? Signatures and communications can be verified via digital signatures. These tools verify that you are who you say that you are, that the transmission has not be altered in transit, and that the person with whom you are corresponding is who they say that they are. Applying for and receiving a digital signature from a Certification Authority such as VeriSign is not a complex task (www.verisign.com).

But you heard that you could get viruses from email? Yes--just as you could get a virus from a disk sent by a client or someone installing an infected piece of software on your computer. But we all run anti-virus software already (and update the virus files monthly) don’t we? For anti-virus software, check out www.mcafee.com/main.asp.

What about those who simply do not want to use email? Well, I firmly believe that the best way to get someone to adopt something is to adopt it yourself. If you can demonstrate to yourself the benefits of this technology, then those who are interested will see the benefits and come around. Them that ain’t, well, no one said that we were all alike.

As for those that just won’t use email, next time offer to look up an address for them on the Internet (http://canada411.sympatico.ca) and send them off with a wish that the post office doesn’t return it, address unknown, not the next day, but days or weeks later.

David J Bilinsky is a partner at Lakes Straith & Bilinsky and a principal of Integral Management Inc. He can be reached on the Internet at integral@direct.ca.

This article originally appeared in the February 1998 issue of BarTalk and is reproduced here with permission of both the author and the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia Branch.