My ex boss the lawyer told me to never put anything in writing I wouldn't want read out loud in court

He was a grumpy old guy who ran a small firm for 30 years, and I watched him take a phone call where someone admitted to something dumb on a voicemail. That voicemail ended up being Exhibit A in a lawsuit six months later and it cost them about $40,000. Has anyone else had a piece of simple advice that turned out to be way more important than it sounded?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunaf6713d ago

Old lawyers love their dramatic warnings, don't they? They act like every email is gonna end up in the Supreme Court (spoiler: it almost never does). Sure, don't admit to a crime in writing, but the real world is full of sloppy texts and emails that never see a courtroom. Most of us aren't running a law firm or doing anything that'd wind up as evidence anyway. It feels like solid advice until you realize 99% of people will never have a voicemail replayed to a judge.

carter.casey13d ago

That's good advice for sure, but I've also seen the opposite trip people up. If you never put anything in writing, you leave yourself open to someone twisting your words later with no proof of what was actually said.

patricia5589d ago

Right, isn't that the truth though? I had a neighbor once who swore by only talking face to face about anything important with our HOA, and it totally backfired on her. The board president ended up claiming she agreed to something completely different in a meeting, and she had zero proof to fight it because there was no email or text to back her up. It turned into this huge he-said-she-said mess that dragged on for months before she finally just gave up. So yeah, having at least a quick follow-up email or even a text message can save your skin way more than people think. A little written trail is just a safety net, not some big legal trap.