NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Some days I have to admit I marvel at Wall Street. In fact, nearly every day.

Today, I marveled at Merrill Lynch's ability as an organization to focus on the really important things. Merrill, with economic recovery in jeopardy, markets collapsing, job cuts in the offing, and corporate criminals being rounded up, has found time to focus on something far more threatening: email.

CNN today obtained a memo from Chairman David Komansky and President Stan O'Neal to Merrill employees announcing the beginning of a mandatory, firm-wide email training program that begins this month.

Remembering that Merrill paid $100 million to settle analyst conflict of interest charges brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer largely on the basis of emails, it's easy to understand their concern.

They point out that email carries with it very real risks. I wonder if they were thinking about that $100 million?

They also point out to their employees that unlike a telephone conversation, your email is retained. I wonder what they are recommending here?

And they suggest that each Merrill employee before sending an email ask, " How would I feel if this message appeared on the front page of a newspaper, was given to my client or I had to explain it in court or to a regulator.?" That can certainly be interpreted a number of ways.

And it's probably good counsel. But they sent this memo to all Merrill employees by ... you guessed it, email.