Consider the case of Dianna Abdala. 100 In 2005, Abdala was a recent graduate of Suffolk University's law school.
She passed the bar exam and was offered a job at a law firm started by William Korman, a former state prosecutor.
The following is a summary of their email communications:
-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna Abdala Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006, 9:23 p.m.
To: William A. Korman Subject: Thank you Dear Attorney Korman, at this time, I am writing to inform you that I will not be accepting your offer. After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the pay you are offering would neither fulfill me nor support the lifestyle I am living in light of the work I would be doing for you. I have decided instead to work for myself and reap 100 percent of the benefits that I sew [ sic ].
Thank you for the interviews.
Dianna L. Abdala, Esq.
-----Original Message-----
From: William A. Korman To: Dianna Abdala Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006, 12:15 p.m.
Subject: RE: Thank you Dianna- -
Given that you had two interviews, were offered and accepted the job (indeed, you had a definite start date), I am surprised that you chose an e-mail and a 9:30 p.m. voicemail message to convey this information to me. It smacks of immaturity and is quite unprofessional. Indeed, I did rely upon your acceptance by ordering stationary [ sic ] and business cards with your name, reformatting a computer, and setting up both internal and external e-mails for you here at the office. While I do not quarrel with your reasoning, I am extremely disappointed in the way this played out. I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.
Will Korman
-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna Abdala Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006, 4:01 p.m.
To: William A. Korman Subject: Re: Thank you A real lawyer would have put the contract into writing and not exercised any such reliance until he did so.
Again, thank you.
-----Original Message-----
From: William A. Korman To: Dianna Abdala Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006, 4:18 p.m.
Subject: RE: Thank you Thank you for the refresher course on contracts. This is not a bar exam question. You need to realize that this is a very small legal community, especially the criminal defense bar.
Do you really want to start pissing off more experienced lawyers at this early stage of your career?
-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna Abdala To: William A. Korman Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006, 4:28 p.m.
Subject: Re: Thank you bla bla bla 

After this email exchange, Korman forwarded the correspondence to several colleagues, and it quickly spread.

1. With whom do you side here—Abdala or Korman?
2. What mistakes do you think each party made?
3. Do you think this exchange will damage Abdala’s career? Korman’s firm?
4. What does this exchange tell you about the limitations of email?