Posting of emails

[1995hoo]

Ultimately, any time anyone sends an e-mail, the recipient can do whatever he wants with it, regardless of stupid boilerplate disclaimers lots of law firms like to use claiming that forwarding the message is "strictly prohibited." Same is true, of course, of paper correspondence, the difference being that it's easier to forward e-mail. The old saying remains true: Don't put it in an e-mail if you wouldn't want to see it in the newspaper.

hbelkins' point about segregating personal and work devices is spot-on. It's also a good idea not to use your personal e-mail account for business matters so as to protect your personal account from being discoverable, regardless of whether you're a government employee. I've worked on multiple matters where that sort of thing has become an issue. People who use their personal e-mail accounts for work become quite dismayed when corporate counsel winds up seeing all sorts of private communications–while that stuff doesn't get produced to the adverse party, it can obviously still be quite uncomfortable if your personal e-mail has salacious communications, nude photos, etc. Earlier this year I worked on a matter in which the former employee at the heart of the matter was having an affair. I'm sure his girlfriend did not expect her topless photos to be viewed by an attorney in DC!

(Don't want to get political, but consider how President Trump has continued to use his personal Twitter account instead of the @POTUS account. His tweets have been found to be public records–correctly, of course–and there have been questions raised about whether he can block people.)

[kphoger]

It is now apparent to me that an e-mail from a government employee isn't necessarily public record.