Have you ever opened a mail message from a friend and thought to yourself “here we go”? This happens to me quite a bit. In many cases the dreaded feeling of being spammed is founded. Not so, today. I opened an email from a long-time friend and former work colleague and read an effective endorsement of a lawyer whose services he’s used.

While I’m not on the market for lawyer right now, I’ve added the name to my contact list because the email message is direct, personal and sincere — and from someone I trust.

One suggestion, though… learn how to do a mail merge so that emails aren’t addressed to “Hey folks!” (or some such variant). People get a good feeling if there’s a chance you’re sharing information like this with them alone; even though they know you’re telling everyone you know. Thanfully, there was no “pardon the mass email blast” in the beginning (I find these the equivelant of saying ‘I know I’m not allowed to do this but I’m doing it anyway‘).

So, no, I don’t think this email was a bad idea as asked in the P.S. That’s why I’m sharing the text here (names withheld).

I have never referred another Professional to my network of Consultants (and doubt I’ll do again) but my recent legal experience with our Corporate Lawyer, [LAWYER] has made me think this one time could be of value to colleagues in our industry so here I go.

Our own company, [COMPANY] changed law firms to [LAWYER] about 2 years ago because he demonstrated an intimate knowledge of our Consulting industry and spoke in plain language. Also a small firm, he understood our challenges and created a superb teaming agreement for our [GROUP] (even received kudos from several of the folks’ lawyers).

The icing on the cake was a recent issue we had with another firm and [LAWYER] handled it extremely well, gave great advice and the issue went away due to his knowledge as well as his professionalism. I was impressed with his ability to generate a customized contract that reflected our corporate philosophy and now his ability to negotiate under pressure.

Too often, we only acknowledge the bad things but I thought you should know there is a Lawyer ( and all of us hope to never to need oneJ) who understands our industry, gives sage legal advice etc. So…. if you ever need help, thought you should know.

PS. We are not opening a legal wing of the company and the note is purely altruistic. If you think this was a bad idea on my part, let me know.