The Zipper Stop

Zip Your Mitts... "As government investigators comb through documents related to Wall Street's banking and research functions, e-mail exchanges have emerged as 'smoking guns' critical to building cases that target conflicts of interest. ... Well-known examples of incriminating e-mails include those sent in 2000 by former Merrill Internet analyst Henry Blodget, who privately referred to stocks as 'junk' and worse while publicly touting the shares." (Yahoo News, Oct 1, 2002) The result: Merrill Lynch paid a $100 million fine in May.

Might real estate service providers face the same risk? What if you e-mailed a candid opinion about a property to a colleague that differed from a recommendation to a client? Would your firm be in trouble? Would you be in trouble? How different would your opinion have to be? Wow, good questions.

Maybe that's why Merrill Lynch "plans to school its entire staff during October and November in a course called 'E-mail Content Training.' ... Before sending an e-mail or leaving a voice-mail message, ask yourself: 'How would I feel if this message appeared on the front page of a newspaper, was given to my client, or if I had to explain it in court or to a regulator?'" Uh-oh.

Wait, there's more. Did you read Monday's Wall Street Journal? "Five securities firms have tentatively agreed to pay fines totaling $8.3 million for allegedly failing to keep e-mails and produce them in regulatory investigations." (Nov 18, 2002)

Need help? Check out LRN, the "Legal Knowledge Company," which offers web-based legal and ethics education courses. According to Fortune's Fast Forward newsletter (Oct 1, 2002), LRN's business is booming. No surprise, I guess. Post-Enron, post-WorldCom, post-fill-in-the-blank, business ethics is a growth industry. ... So has your firm developed an e-mail policy?

--Peter Pike