Lewis S. Eisen
In the early days--if you qualified--an e-mail address was assigned to you. You were grateful to be part of the communications élite, so you didn't complain that you didn't get much control over what it looked like.
One fallout of the eventual commercialization of the Internet was that when people paid for their accounts they weren't content to leave the choice of name to some sysadmin. Now the strategic planning comes in: what's the benefit of one e-mail address over another? What works well? What doesn't?
It's true that your address should be easy to remember, but that can't be the prime criterion. It's nice when it's short, but again, choosing something just because it's short and easy misses the main point.
Your e-mail address forms part of your electronic image. That image must be as professional as you are. You're choosing a pen name, not a postal code or a license plate. You're not identified professionally with your Postal Code; in contrast, you will be identified closely with this e-mail address. Cutesy names like divorcedude@legalbegal.com don't cut it.
Here are four e-mail addresses to help illustrate my point:
susan.channing@barkenmoldewer.ca
This address is excellent. You might think it a tad long, but it's immediately clear who the person is and the firm she represents. I don't fret too much about e-mail addresses of this length. People type them once into an address book, and from there they're called up with a click.
bigbucks@MILLION.DOLLARS.com
This address is typical of those used by people selling those idiotic get-rich-quick schemes. It hides the individual's name and emphasizes an idea. How very kind of this person to make it clear from the address that this is junk mail. I would normally trash this message without bothering to open it.
sylvia@sexykittens.com
Here's a junk mail address that's trying to pass as a real address. There probably is no such person as Sylvia, but using her name makes the sender more real. "Clever," as Agent 86 would say, "but not clever enough." I would trash this message, too, before opening it.
bigwig@ISue4U.com
Here's a twist: a lawyer's address that's disguised itself as a junk mail address. The real person, if there is one, is hiding. Unless I already knew who it is that uses this handle, or the subject made it very clear that this was not junk mail, this message would also most likely be disposed of unread.
It would be different, of course, if the lawyer always signed his name BigWig, and if the firm's slogan were 'I Sue 4 You.' In that case the e-mail address would accurately reflect the information you should know about the firm.
You have already spent time and energy building an image under your own name and your firm name. Whether you've been pressing people to insert your middle initial, or not to apocopate the third partner from the firm name, you are consistent with the monikers by which you present yourself to the world. Why throw your strategy to the wind on the Internet?
This concept is very simple. Would you put 'bigwig@isue4u.com' on the envelope of your paper mail? If so, then use it; if not, don't use it unless you're trying to create a different entity from that which you are on paper. [typesetting note: put 'different' in italics]
Your firm name, logo, colours and any image accoutrements you carry should echo through your Internet presence as they do through your stationery and business cards.
And please make sure everyone has his or her own address. The address 'lawyers@firm.com" is as private as the lobby. Which address would you choose to send your intimate details to: 'confidential@bergerlaw.ca' or 'firm@bergerlaw.ca'?
Treat your vitual image as respectfully as you treat your real one.