LitigationProofing LLC Awards Prize to First "E-mail of the Month' Contest Winner — Problematic E-mail Spotted by Contest Winner Highlights Importance of Smart E-mail Skills

LitigationProofing LLC Awards Prize to First "E-mail of the Month' Contest Winner
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Problematic E-mail Spotted by Contest Winner Highlights Importance of Smart E-mail Skills

LitigationProofing, LLC, a New York-based consultant to major corporations and law firms on best practices in electronic communications, has awarded its first "E-Mail of the Month' prize. The award highlights the importance of smart e-mail skills by honoring the person who submits the best example of a problematic electronic communication drawn from the public record.

Jerrold J. Ganzfried, a senior litigation partner and leading appellate attorney in the Washington D.C. office of Howrey Simon Arnold & White, is this month's winner. For his efforts, Mr. Ganzfried received a "LitigationProofing' Native American drum – LitigationProofing's preferred method of communication because it leaves no trace.

Mr. Ganzfried spotted the winning e-mail gem while reading a 196-page decision issued August 27, 2004 in a civil tax suit filed by Long Term Capital Holdings. In the opinion, United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton affirmed the IRS's denial of over $100 million in claimed capital losses and the imposition of large penalties on the taxpayer for gross valuation misstatement. (Mr. Ganzfried notes that his law firm was not involved in this litigation.)

The prize-winning e-mail, between two attorneys at an investment banking firm that had devised the disallowed transaction, suggested that in creating the deal paperwork, they use a name for an entity that "makes it just a bit harder for the IRS to link all the deals together.' (See decision page 14, fn. 15). An important part of Judge Arterton's decision accused Long Term Capital of trying to keep claimed losses from raising audit flags, and this e-mail appeared to support her conclusion.

"The author of this e-mail most likely never imagined that it would end up disclosed in a tax litigation and used in this manner,' suggests Eric Rosenberg, founder and president of LitigationProofing. "It would have been preferable, from the taxpayer's perspective, for the e-mail to have been limited to a factual discussion of the entity names without suggesting a rationale for the name selection process. Or, the entire communication could have been conducted verbally. Alternatively, our favorite method could have been employed: a LitigationProofing drum, which leaves no record to be debated or misunderstood at trial.'

For more information about the contest, to submit an e-mail from the public record, or for a photo of Mr. Ganzfried accepting his prize, please see www.litigationproofing.com.

About LitigationProofing, LLC

LitigationProofing, LLC provides training and consulting to financial services firms, other corporations, and law firms on crucial litigation issues concerning electronic communications, attorney-client privilege and document retention. For more information, please visit www.litigationproofing.com.

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