Using school email address on business card Forum

[L_William_W]

I work for a law firm in Westchester, just outside of NYC. I want to make business cards. The cards will feature the firm's name, address, and phone number. However, I want to include information in case someone wants to contact me directly. I have three email addresses- two of them are Yahoo and they're not professional-sounding. My third email address is my school email. Is it ok to put it on a business card or should I create a new, more professional email address?

[gingerbread]

Don't you have a firm email address? If not, think you should just make a new gmail. Some people use school emails forever (I do), but they make you look like a recent grad and that undersells your current experience level. Just yesterday an associate used a school email address as her personal contact info in her departure memo -- I actually pulled her up on the intranet because I assumed she was a first year and was wondering if she got fired. To my surprise, she had been practicing like 6 years.

[BaiAilian2013]

Firm e-mail address is best. Failing that, create a professional Gmail or Apple e-mail account. Consider including "law" or "Esq." in it for clarity. No AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, or similar, as those will send the wrong message to some potential clients.

[QContinuum]

Don't you have a firm email address? If not, think you should just make a new gmail. Some people use school emails forever (I do), but they make you look like a recent grad and that undersells your current experience level. Just yesterday an associate used a school email address as her personal contact info in her departure memo -- I actually pulled her up on the intranet because I assumed she was a first year and was wondering if she got fired. To my surprise, she had been practicing like 6 years.

Third the "use firm email address" recommendation. Failing that, I'd actually lean more in favor of using a school email address than a Gmail. (Although I agree that Gmail > Yahoo/Hotmail/AOL/etc.). IMO, a .edu address looks far more respectable/professional than a Gmail, which anyone can get.

[JohnnieSockran]

I work for a law firm in Westchester, just outside of NYC. I want to make business cards. The cards will feature the firm's name, address, and phone number. However, I want to include information in case someone wants to contact me directly. I have three email addresses- two of them are Yahoo and they're not professional-sounding. My third email address is my school email. Is it ok to put it on a business card or should I create a new, more professional email address?

I'd confirm with the firm first to see if they're ok with this. Since it sounds like you are a student and not a lawyer, they may not want you handing out business cards with their firm name.

[Npret]

I work for a law firm in Westchester, just outside of NYC. I want to make business cards. The cards will feature the firm's name, address, and phone number. However, I want to include information in case someone wants to contact me directly. I have three email addresses- two of them are Yahoo and they're not professional-sounding. My third email address is my school email. Is it ok to put it on a business card or should I create a new, more professional email address?

I'd confirm with the firm first to see if they're ok with this. Since it sounds like you are a student and not a lawyer, they may not want you handing out business cards with their firm name.

It may actually be an ethical violation to hold yourself out as working for this firm as a lawyer if you are a student.
I would not make business cards with the firm name unless you are a practicing attorney employed by them and they agree.
It doesn’t sound like you work for them if you are using your personal address.
You need to make a professional email for yourself, anyway. Just make personal business cards to hand out if you want or need them.

[nixy]

He's not a student, he's an attorney, at least based on previous posts, so that's not an issue.

But I agree, OP, that you should use your firm e-mail, and I'm not sure why you would even not consider that? If you're using your firm address/position, then use your firm e-mail. If you want to be using the cards for non-business purposes such that you wouldn't want people contacting you via your firm e-mail, you probably shouldn't put the firm address etc. on there either.