Not using my law school e-mail in my e-mail signature Forum

[adub1010]

My law school assigns us these ridiculously unprofessional e-mails that are our three initials followed by three random numbers. As such, I feel ridiculous and unprofessional giving it out, and prefer to give out my gmail address which is the standard first.last@gmail.com. Skipping over the already well addressed question of whether a law student should even have an e-mail signature, is it a breach of protocol to have an e-mail in your signature that is NOT your law school e-mail address, ie. one that that not match that address from which you are sending the e-mail?

[StyrofoamWar]

My law school assigns us these ridiculously unprofessional e-mails that are our three initials followed by three random numbers. As such, I feel ridiculous and unprofessional giving it out, and prefer to give out my gmail address which is the standard first.last@gmail.com. Skipping over the already well addressed question of whether a law student should even have an e-mail signature, is it a breach of protocol to have an e-mail in your signature that is NOT your law school e-mail address, ie. one that that not match that address from which you are sending the e-mail?

personal opinion? No. For the simple reason that if this is what determines whether they are hiring you, that firm sucks.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Do you go to NYU? If so, you can set up an alias as "firstname.lastname@nyu.edu," or really whatever else you want. If you go to another school... well, I don't know, but I bet you could still change it.

Anyway it's probably not a breach of "protocol" (no one will be upset with you or even really care), but I think it is a good rule of thumb to keep your law-related things to your school address. It will look mildly more professional.

[ruski]

i know what school you are at. you can change it to firstname.lastname@school.edu or initial.lastname or whatever other alias you want. forgot exactly where you can change it but it somewhere in the options/preferences tab

[Anonymous User]

I know a bunch of schools that do it and it is hardly unprofessional, unless your initials spell something inappropriate.

[thrillerjesus]

Having random numbers and letters for an email address hasn't been ok since 1998. Anything other than your name or some obvious variation thereof is unprofessional.

[Anonymous User]

I don't understand. Why would a combination of initials and numbers be unprofesional. Unless you name is Fred U. Klien, I don't see why it would be a problem.

[Anonymous User]

I find that much of what defines professionalism is silly (e.g., cover letters. HATE them), but even I have to agree that an email address consisting of initials followed by a string of numbers (or is otherwise incomprehensible) has no place in a professional world.

I use myfirstname@gmail.com, on all my material (including resume) and correspondence. No one that I know ever cared. Naturally, I will never know if I have been dinged for it. But as someone said earlier, I wouldn't want to work at a place where they would care.

[thrillerjesus]

I don't mean it's unprofessional in the sense that putting captainfucksalot@gmail.com on your resume is unprofessional. It's more like putting anything@aol.com. It just shows that you're not a serious person who has their shit together.

[Sup Kid]

I've used JDoe54@gmail.com (obviously different names, but first initial, last name, random number) for everything for a while, and I don't believe it has ever hurt me (lot of interviews, multiple offers, etc). There are far more important things in life (and in law school) to worry about. Just my 2 cents.

[Army2Law]

My name is Charles Ulster-Nicholas Tarrington. Makes for awkward emails.

[Anonymous User]

no one gives a fuck what your email is or if it has numbers. As long as your email isn't something like legalizeit420@bongz.com or fuckbitchesgetmoney@6969.com it's good. Alot of people have generic names, like Robert Smith, and the only way to get their name in an email, is to get one RSmith42@host.com.

[somewhatwayward]

I use myfirstname@gmail.com, on all my material (including resume) and correspondence. No one that I know ever cared. Naturally, I will never know if I have been dinged for it. But as someone said earlier, I wouldn't want to work at a place where they would care.

you must either have a very unusual first name or have been a very early gmail adopter.

ETA: i have a different e-mail address in my signature, and it's never been a problem. sometimes people reply to my CLS account, and sometimes they reply to the one in my signature.

[Anonymous User]

I just got an email about an offer event for a firm (meaning it was for people with offers) and most of the email addresses were exactly what you described in the OP. Clearly, having that email address didn't affect them getting an offer. That said, I always put down the firstname.lastname@myschool.edu email address because I don't like the initials and numbers email address.

[Eco]

I use my hotmail address.

[AppsAbound]

I hope you realize how silly this thread is. I've always used my initials+letters combo, got through interviews and got offers. No one cares because they know you didn't make it up, it was assigned to you by your school. If it bothers you, use gmail. Your resume shows the school you go to, so it's not like it becomes a mystery if it's not in your email address.

[bjsesq]

Stupid, stupid thread. They came to your school to interview you. They know, from past dealings with interviewees there, how the school does email addresses. But NO, because it's YOU, they will definitely think it unprofessional. With all the other shit you have to worry about, you are torturing yourself with this? Jesus christ.

[Anonymous User]

honestly the prestige of the institution is probably better than a normally formatted gmail account.

Nobody cares if you're Fjones277@Harvard.edu, they know you didnt choose the e-mail.

[Patriot1208]

I use firstname2hot4u@yahoo.com and I think it's helped

[Anonymous User]

Could jew##@school.edu be problematic?

[Patriot1208]

Could jew##@school.edu be problematic?

Damn I lol'd

[LjakW]

Could jew##@school.edu be problematic?

Not if you're Norman Jewison.

[Anonymous User]

My law school assigns us these ridiculously unprofessional e-mails that are our three initials followed by three random numbers. As such, I feel ridiculous and unprofessional giving it out, and prefer to give out my gmail address which is the standard first.last@gmail.com. Skipping over the already well addressed question of whether a law student should even have an e-mail signature, is it a breach of protocol to have an e-mail in your signature that is NOT your law school e-mail address, ie. one that that not match that address from which you are sending the e-mail?

Oh hai, I go to NYU too. I set up an email alias as other people have described, simply because the xyz123 format is unmemorable for me, not because it's unprofessional. FWIW, I use both my NYU alias email address and my permanent email address ([firstname]@[lastname].com) in my sig when I correspond with firm folk.