Top Tip 4/10 Stay Focussed, take time

Emails are a great way to communicate and we use email as a natural ‘go-to’, about which we barely even think these days. I realize I may be showing my age, but actually something that happens with such an immediate way of communicating, is that we can easily fire off an email without thinking so much beforehand. There were benefits to having a letter sitting there for a bit before it was posted out.

There was time to ponder and reflect. Time to review and redraft if needed. It is not just emails of course, social media has us sending messages with little more than a moment’s thought. The Send button makes it so easy.

Divorce and disputes over the children are emotive times. If we are in the midst of a stressful litigation or employment dispute, or the death of a loved one has us caught in grief – we are all capable of sending the email or post we will live to regret.

In terms of saving costs, actually sometimes not sending that email or post is the best thing. Taking time to be sure it is what you want to say, in the cold light of day, can be crucial. Remembering to consider who else might eventually see it (such as the judge in your divorce proceedings) sometimes casts it in quite a different light.

Often as solicitors we will receive numerous messages from stressed clients, one per thought. It does help to have fired off that idea, question or pressure point, getting it off your desk - so to speak – and onto your solicitor’s desk. But with the best will in the world, if that thought becomes the first of many on a single day, or if you are going to reconsider and send another email to adjust what you said before, take that pause. We all do it, but keeping a draft email, to review, add to and change if you need before hitting Send, can save a lot in costs. And stress. If you would like to speak un confidence to our family solicitors Tanya or Richard, you can call 01622 238854 or you can email tanya@snslaw.co.uk. Watch this space next week for Top Tip Number Five.