I have been thinking more about text messaging and its use by attorneys to communicate with clients. It seems there is a large subset of lawyers who believe that text messaging should not be used to communicate with clients. I can understand why, but I am not sure that I agree.
The argument against lawyers text messaging their clients is several-fold:
- short messages are easily misconstrued
- text messages are not easily preserved
- short messages cannot convey enough information to the client (or from the client to the lawyer)
- text messaging is scary and unfamiliar technology
- text messaging grants the client too much access and too immediate of access to the attorney
I’m certain this is not an exhaustive list. But it is a hefty enough list to dissuade lawyers from using text messaging technologies. Some of the concerns, I think, are legitimate (or at least borderline so), while others I am more skeptical of. (more…)