5 Steps to Professional Level Email for Law Students

 You create a portrait of yourself every time you send an email. As law students, you send emails to professors, administrators, prospective employers, as well as journal editors and others. Here are 5 steps you can take to create a professional-level email that persuades the recipient to regard you and your work with the respect you deserve. .

 1.  Your email self-portrait begins with your choice of user-name. Choose a user-name identifies you in a clear, straightforward way. For example: JohnDoe@tourolaw.edu (as opposed to surfingdude@hotmail.com).

 2.  Use the subject line to signal the email recipient that your email message is important. The subject line may influence the recipient’s decision how quickly to open and to respond to your email. 

 3. Write complete sentences that are grammatically correct. Some email programs have grammar check and spell check: these are useful, but not always reliable.

 4. Spell out each word: this is not the place for text-message abbreviations or emoticons.

 5. Create a signature file that includes your full name and additional contact information (a telephone or cell phone number) if you want to be sure that the recipient can respond to your email quickly and easily.