Miscellaneous

Here?s an interesting article by Leigh Jones in the National Law Journal about the current state of legal writing (not good) and one possible contributing cause (electronic distraction).¹ I can relate. This past week I was working on a reply brief: reviewing the record (again), researching the law, outlining, and writing. All the while, the e-mails kept pouring in, and every now and then the phone would ring.

In the old days, e-mail was not a normal, universal means of communication. And research was done in the library, not at your desk next to your phone. So there were far fewer distractions to interrupt the work. Today, I do most of my legal research by computer in my office, where the phone is nearby and where the computer screen notifies me each time a new e-mail arrives.

What to do? For myself, I?ve found that one way to keep my head in the brief is to ignore the e-mail, at least until a break in the action. E-mails that arrive in the morning are read and responded to either just before or just after lunch. E-mails that arrive in the afternoon are read and responded to during a mid-afternoon break or at the end of the working day. This custom does not stop the phone from ringing, but it does reduce the number of distractions to a tolerable level.

When I really need to shut out all distractions, including the phone, I bring my work home. I make technology my friend instead of my enemy, using voice-mail or the Web to periodically check my phone messages, and using the Web or my Blackberry to periodically check my e-mail.

There is a trade-off here. It?s important to be accessible to clients and colleagues who call or e-mail. But sometimes you?ve just got to do what is necessary to get the brief written. And sometimes immersion in the project is the only way to get it done.

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¹ Hat tip to What About Clients?