E-mail has just about become the standard for communication. It saves time and facilitates collaborations. But there are times when you need to be able to prove receipt and contents of an e-mail, and in that regard, it presents its own set of problems.

Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch addressed that subject in some detail in an article appearing in the August 2007 The Bottom Line, the official publication of the State Bar of California Law Practice Management and Technology Section. After laying out the problems of proving receipt and contents, the authors point to a solution endorsed by various bar associations—registered e-mail. Registered e-mail is a service offered by RPost.

If you are not already using this service, you need to consider it. On a pay-as-you-go model, it is $0.59 per e-mail, but there are various package prices that will bring that cost down for law firms making regular use of the services.

We have come to use e-mail automatically. It has been moving from an informal and casual communications device to our primary means of communication, stipulation and agreement. As noted by the authors, RPost is “a process by which sent e-mails can be ‘registered’ to show legal proof of receipt of a specific e-mail and attachments.”

M. Thomas (Tom) Collins is one of the pioneer entrepreneurs in the information services industry and is the founder and former President of Juris. He began his career as a CPA with Price Waterhouse. He shares his 30 years of experience working with midsized law firms through the insightful blog www.morepartnerincome.com. The London based publication, Citytech, recognized Tom Collins as an Industry lifetime achiever. When honoring him as one of the Top 100 Global Tech Leaders in the legal community, the publication wrote "an outstanding individual and visionary". In 2007 the ABA place morepartnerincome.com in the ABA Practice Management Hall of Fame.

Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris®.