Lawyers
typically
understand
basic
technologies
that
make
it
easier
to
practice
law
and
work
with
adversaries. For
instance,
many
lawyers
adopt
certain
technologies
to
easily
share
documents
or
conduct
conferences
remotely,
and
pretty
much
everyone
within
the
legal
profession
knows
how
to
use
such
technologies.
Along
similar
lines,
individuals
usually
know
how
to
redline
documents
electronically
so
that
lawyers
can
see
proposed
changes
and
comment
on
them. One
of
my
biggest
pet
peeves
when
negotiating
documents
is
when
lawyers
send
PDF
versions
of
documents
that
clearly
need
to
be
negotiated. Although
this
is
unavoidable
in
some
situations,
if
a
Word
version
of
the
document
is
available,
that
should
be
sent
instead.
Earlier
in
my
career,
I
was
tasked
with
negotiating
a
lease
for
a
client. I
connected
with
the
landlord’s
lawyer,
who
said
he
would
soon
send
me
his
proposed
documents. Later,
the
landlord
sent
me
the
proposed
lease
as
a
PDF,
and
gave
me
instructions
on
how
my
client
could
sign
the
document
and
pay
money
owed
under
the
proposed
lease. This
was
a
significant
lease,
so
I
had
no
idea
why
this
attorney
believed
it
was
appropriate
to
send
the
PDF
document
with
signing
instructions
when
this
lease
would
obviously
need
to
be
negotiated.
I
asked
the
lawyer
to
send
a
copy
of
the
lease
in
Word
format,
and
the
attorney
eventually
complied. However,
it
took
time
for
this
lawyer
to
flip
back
a
Word
version
of
the
document,
and
the
timeframes
involved
in
the
matter
were
tight. I
tried
to
convert
the
PDF
into
a
Word
version
by
myself,
but
this
did
not
work
out
too
well.
The
resulting
document
had
a
formatting
issues
that
made
it
difficult
to
review
—
a
typical
problem
when
converting
PDF
documents
into
Word.
I
eventually
asked
this
lawyer
why
he
sent
me
the
PDF
document
with
signing
instructions
instead
of
sending
a
Word
version
of
the
document
in
the
first
instance. He
attorney
told
me
that
there
was
a
chance
that
my
client
would
just
sign
the
document
without
revisions
and,
so
to
facilitate
this
possibility,
the
lawyer
wanted
to
make
it
more
difficult
for
me
to
review
and
revise
the
lease.
This
made
very
little
sense
to
me.
Since
the
client
had
gone
through
the
trouble
of
hiring
a
lawyer
to
review
the
lease,
there
was
almost
no
chance
that
said
lawyer
would
not
have
any
revisions
to
the
lease. Moreover,
the
lease
had
extremely
unfavorable
language
for
my
client
as
many
leases
do
in
the
first
instance. It
is
unfathomable
that
a
lawyer
would
not
protest
some
of
the
language
in
this
lopsided
lease,
and
I
found
it
a
little
disrespectful
that
the
other
lawyer
thought
there
was
even
a
small
chance
I
would
consent
to
such
language
without
protest.
Additionally,
the
lease
included
basic
errors
that
did
not
reflect
the
letter
of
intent
that
was
signed
between
the
parties,
so
there
was
even
less
chance
this
lease
would
be
signed
without
any
alterations.
In
some
instances,
perhaps,
it
might
make
sense
for
a
lawyer
to
send
a
PDF
version
of
a
document
rather
than
a
Word
version.
For
instance,
if
the
document
is
brief,
the
counterpart
has
not
hired
counsel,
and
it
is
not
a
situation
in
which
clients
typically
negotiate
terms,
then
a
PDF
might
be
sufficient. However,
a
multi-year
lease
with
accompanying
documents
is
not
the
type
of
situation
in
which
parties
will
not
negotiate
terms. In
such
circumstances,
lawyers
should
just
send
Word
versions
of
documents
in
the
first
instance. This
saves
everyone
time
and
helps
make
it
easier
to
work
on
a
representation.
Jordan
Rothman
is
a
partner
of The
Rothman
Law
Firm,
a
full-service
New
York
and
New
Jersey
law
firm.
He
is
also
the
founder
of Student
Debt
Diaries,
a
website
discussing
how
he
paid
off
his
student
loans.
You
can
reach
Jordan
through
email
at jordan@rothman.law.