Email is a major form of communication, and employers need to teach their employees how to be effective users of email, including when not to use it. Here are the Big 5: five rules everyone should follow when sending and receiving emails to be effective and professional.
1: Always Respond
If you send an email and the response is silence, you wonder: Did the person receive it? Is the person upset with me? Am I in trouble? Catastrophic thinking runs amok. So, respond, even if, as a lawyer friend of mine does, your reply is a brief “10/4” (the radio response of “okay” or “understood”).
If colleagues say “hi” in the hallway, you don’t just walk past them, do you? Same here.
2: No Emojis, No Bold
Let the quality of your writing do the heavy lifting in delivering your message, not these lazy hacks. Emojis are often perceived as unprofessional, as is highlighting the message in bold font. When I was in practice, I got an email from the deputy managing partner all in bold: “Get your time in!!!” A bolded message is like being yelled at. Whatever happened to picking up the phone?
3: Consider Calling
The phone is also a means of communication. Always ask, “Would it be more effective to email or to call?” One challenge to this practice is Gen Z employees. Data show nearly 70% of 18 to 34 year-olds prefer a text to a phone call; 25% in the same cohort never answer the phone, ignoring the ringing; 50% think a call means bad news; and 37% prefer voice mails. Given the reluctance to use the phone, “It now feels weird as it’s not the norm,” according to psychologist Elena Tourani. One lawyer explained the reluctance to use the phone: “It’s the anxiety associated with real-time conversations, potential awkwardness, not having the answers and the pressure to respond immediately.”
4: How Email Looks is Just As Important As What It Says
Ever get a gift from Tiffany? Every year, as a thank you, I gift a Tiffany crystal apple paperweight to my graduate research assistant (for sharing the gift of knowledge). It comes in a beautiful robin’s egg blue box that is trademarked. Because it looks sleek and elegant, you look forward to seeing what’s in the box. Same with an email. Make it appealing to read:
- Use a “+” or bullet point to state facts.
- Use an arrow to highlight action.
- Use captions to segment topics.
5: Manage in Person, Not by Email
Just like with the telephone, employees want to see you, hear you, size you up. These are accomplished with one-on-one interactions. A bloodless manager is no manager at all.
Bottom Line
You have a variety of tools in your communication toolbelt: phone, email, text, video call, in-person conversation. Mix them up depending on the message you’re delivering. Exercise your judgment on what will work best. And human judgment is one trait that artificial intelligence will never have.
Want to learn more? Check out my book, Effective Communication for Lawyers: Presenting , Counseling Persuading (West Academic 2026).
Michael P. Maslanka is a professor at the UNT-Dallas College of Law. You can reach him at michael.maslanka@untdallas.edu.