Re: E-mail disclaimers

[Dick Margulis <margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net>]

DG,

I think you may have misinterpreted DH's question (or, of course, I may 
have misinterpreted it). I think he is asking whether, as a tech writer, 
any of us has successfully negotiated clearer wording for such a 
disclaimer with the company's lawyer (or whoever else might be 
responsible). I don't think he was going to try to hack the mail system 
to change it on his own.

That said, although I've never had the misfortune to work for a company 
that was sufficiently anal to attach email disclaimers, I have been 
successful in developing a working relationship with company counsel so 
that _where he wants the wording to be clear to the reader_ (not always 
the case), he will accept my editorial input, subject to his final legal 
input.

As others have pointed out, sometimes legal text has 
contradictory-sounding phrases in it because of case law, not because of 
poor writing skills.

Dick

Goldstein, Dan wrote: