Approximately 61% of employees in the legal profession are
unable to resist opening suspected inappropriate e-mails sent to
their work e-mail address, according to the results from
SurfControl, a content security solutions company.
A further 23% of them circulate the offensive material to
colleagues and friends, risking disciplinary action and damage to
their firm’s reputation.
The survey found that 80% of those interviewed in the legal
profession realise that personal comments or material sent from
their work e-mail address is the equivalent of writing and posting
the message on department letterhead paper.
Nearly 30% of the sample indicated junior members of legal staff
as being the worst e-mail abusers in their office.
The survey examined the attitudes towards e-mail use of 100
professionals from each of the UK’s seven largest employment
sectors: accountancy, manufacturing, the civil service, financial
services, legal, retail and IT.
