One way to really keep morale high among a group you are working with on a legal project is to assign them nicknames and use them mercilessly in both written and verbal correspondence. For example, I prefer to address other associates or partners I am working with on a particular project as “wild strider”, “wild beast”, "genius freak", “raging hog”, “meandering brute” or other such names rather than their actual names. For most, it puts a little smile on their face in what is likely a time of great turmoil. Others will find it disrespectful and ask you to stop calling them such things. I don’t usually like working with those types.