怎样样撰写律师函.docx

怎样样撰写律师函.docx

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怎样样撰写律师函

怎样样撰写律师函

nullTOWRITELETTERSNONLAWYERSWILLREAD

Note：

Thisarticleisforbackgroundpurposesonlyandisnotintendedaslegaladvice.

Whydopeoplehatetogetlettersfromlawyers？

Theycarrybadnews.Theymeanseriousbusiness.They\'rehardtounderstand.Theyusestrangewords.Theycarrytheinherentthreatofsuit.

Whydolawyerssendsuchletters？

Theymeanseriousbusiness，andtheyintendtosue.

Butmusttheyusethoseancient，strangewordsandbesohardtounderstand，orcanlawyersexpressseriousbusinessandimminentsuitusingwordseveryoneknows？

Whetherwritingademandlettertoacontractbreacher，anadvicelettertoaclient，oracoverlettertoacourtclerk，theletterfailsifthepersonreceivingitcannotunderstandwhatitsays.

Alloftheselettershaveonethingincommon：

Theyarenotgreatliterature.Theywillnotbereadinahundredyearsandanalyzedfortheirwit，charmorflowerywords.Withanylucktheywillbereadjustoncebyafewpeople，followedquicklybytheirintendedresult，whetherthatbecompliance，understandingoragreement.

LawyersareLetterFactories

Lawyerswritemany，manyletters.Anaverageformemightbefivelettersaday.Thisincludesadviceletters，coverletters，demandletters，allsortsofletters.Somedayshavemore，somehaveless，butfiveisafairlyconservativeaverage，Iwouldthink.Fivelettersadayforfivedaysaweekforfiftyweeksayearis1，250lettersayear.Thisismy25thyearinpractice，soitisquiteconceivablethatIhavewritten31，250letterssofar.

Whydolawyerswritesomanyletters？

Aprimaryreasonlieswithintheethicsofourprofession.FloridaBarRulesofProfessionalConductRule4-1.4says：

“Alawyershallkeepaclientreasonablyinformedaboutthestatusofamatterandpromptlycomplywithreasonablerequestsforinformation.”

“Alawyershallexplainamattertotheextentreasonablynecessarytopermittheclienttomakeinformeddecisionsregardingtherepresentation.”

Whileclientscanbekeptinformedandgivenexplanationsorally，lawyerscertainlyknowthevalueoftheprintedwordoverthespokenword：

itisnotaseasilyforgottenormisunderstood.Lettersalsocreatearecordofadvicegiven，whichisusefultoboththelawyerandtheclient.Thatiswhylettersarethepreferredmethodofkeepingclientsinformedandgivingclientsexplanations.

SomeThingsToDoBeforeWriting

Beforeyoustartwritingtheletteritmakessensetodosomepreliminarybackgroundwork.

Findaletterform.Findasimilarletteryouhavesentinthepast，orseetheAppendixtothisarticleforsampleengagement，cover，demand，contractnegotiation，contractadvice，andfaxletters.

Reviewpriorletterstothisrecipient.Inabusyworld，itiseasytoforget.Reviewpriorletterstoremindyourselfwhereyouareintheworkprocess，whathasalreadybeensaid，andwhatremainstobesaid.Thiswillgiveyourletterdirectionandpurpose.

Donotsendalettertoanotherlawyer\'sclientwithoutthatlawyer\'sconsent.Beforesendingtheletter，findoutifthenonlawyerisrepresentedbysomeoneelse.Startbyaskingyourclient.FloridaBarRulesofProfessionalConductRule4-4.2says：

“Inrepresentingaclient，alawyershallnotcommunicateaboutthesubjectoftherepresentationwithapersonthelawyerknowstoberepresentedbyanotherlawyerinthematter，unlessthelawyerhastheconsentoftheotherlawyer.”

Outlineyourthoughtsinachecklist.Beforeturningonyourcomputerordictatingmachine，pulloutayellowpadandjotdownthemainpointsforyourletter.Listwhatyouwantthelettertosay.Writethepointsinanyorder；writethemastheycomeintoyourmind.Youcanrearrangethemwhenyouwritetheletter.Rightnowyou\'rejustmakingachecklistforwritingtheletter.

Keepthelegalpadcloseathand.Whenyourunoutofideasforthechecklist，putthepadatthesideofyourdesk.Newideasalwaysspringforthwhenwriting.Jotthesedownonthepadasyouwritetheletter；theyareeasilyforgotten.

SimpleStuffThatWillMakeYouLookDumbIfIt\'sWrong

Lettersbeginwithboringthingslikethedateandrecipient\'snameandaddress，butifanyofthesearemissingorwrongtheletterwriterwilllookprettycareless，tosaytheleast.Sobecarefulwhenstartingtheletter，andyoucanevenincludesomeextrathingsthatwillmaketheletterevenbetterthantheregularletterstherecipientreceives.

Dateyourletter.Dateyourletterthedayyouwriteit，andsenditthesameday.Undatedlettersaredifficulttoreplyto.Iusuallyreplytothembysaying，“ThisisinreplytoyourundatedletterthatIreceivedinthemailon24Junexx.”

Considerusingtheinternationaldatingconventionofday-month-yearratherthantheU.S.conventionofmonth-day-year.Asreportedinthe1JunexxWallStreetJournal：

“ThequirkyU.S.styleofdate-writingisgivingwaytotheday-firststandardusedbymostoftheworld.

BoththeMLAstyleguideandtheChicagoManualofStylesupporttheday-firstformat.\'Yougetridofthecommathatway，\'saysJosephGibaldi，directorofbookacquisitionfortheMLAinNewYork.“

Ifyouaresendingafaxoremail，thentypethetimenexttothedate.Whileletters“crossinthemail”indays，faxesandemails“crossinthewires”inhoursandminutes.

Remindyourclienttopreserveattorney-clientconfidentiality.Sometimesclientsshowyourletterstootherswithoutrealizingtheycanlosetheattorney-clientprivilegeofthatcommunication.Addthisphraseatthetopofthelettertoremindthemnottodothis：

CONFIDENTIALATTORNEY-CLIENTCOMMUNICATION

DONOTCOPYORDISCLOSETOANYONEELSE

Iftheletteriswrittenduringorinanticipationoflitigation，thefollowingphrasecanbeused：

CONFIDENTIALATTORNEY-CLIENTCOMMUNICATION

ANDWORKPRODUCT

DONOTCOPYORDISCLOSETOANYONEELSE

Besuretousetherecipient\'scorrectlegalnameandaddress.Yourlettermayberelieduponforitsaccuracy，sobeaccurate.Verificationofnamescanbeobtainedfromthepublicrecords，thephonebook，orthewebstes.Andwhenitcomestomiddleinitials，neverrelyonyourmemoryorguessatitbecausemostofthetimeyou\'llbewrong.

Indicatethemethodofdeliveryifotherthanmail.Ifbeingfaxed，includethefaxnumberandtelephonenumber.IfbeingsentbyFedEx，statewhetheritisbyovernightorsecondday.Ifbeingsentbyemail，statetheemailaddress.Thiswillmakeiteasyforyourstaffpersontosendittothecorrectplace，anditwilldocumentforyourfilehowitwassent.

Includeafaxnotice.Whensendingbyfax，includeanoticeincaseitissenttothewrongnumber.HereisthenoticeIuseatthetopofmyletterheadwhensendingafax：

NOTICE：

Thisisprivilegedandconfidentialandintendedonlyforthepersonnamedbelow.Ifyouarenotthatperson，thenanyuse，dissemination，distributionorcopyingofthisisstrictlyprohibited，andyouarerequestedtonotifyusimmediatelybycallingorfaxinguscollectatthenumbersabove.

DateSent________TimeSent________NumberofPages________

PersonWhoConf\'dReceipt_________

Aftersendingafax，calltherecipienttoconfirmreceiptandwritethatperson\'snameinthespaceprovided.Neverrelyonthefaxmachineitselftoconfirmafaxtransmission；faxmachinesdonotyethavethecredibilityofahumanwitness.

TheCorpusoftheLitterae

Thebodyoftheletteriswhyyouarewritingit.Yousucceedbyleavingthereaderwithfullknowledgeofwhyyouwrotetheletterandwhatitmeans.Youfailbyleavingthereaderdumbfoundandcluelessastowhyyousentsuchaletter.Whilemostlettersfallsomewhereinbetweenthesetwoextremes，followingthesesuggestionswillkeepyourlettersonthesuccessfulendofthescale.

Identifyyourclient.Itisimportanttoletothersknowwhoisyourclientattheearliestopportunity.Thisaccomplishesagreatdeal.First，ittellsthereaderthatyourclienthasalawyer.Thismakesyourclienthappybecausemostclientswanttheworldtoknowtheyhavealawyer.Second，ittellsthereaderthatyouarenotthereader\'slawyer.Thismakesyourmalpracticecarrierhappybecauseit\'sonelesspersonwho\'sgoingtosueyouclaimingtheythoughtyouwererepresentingthemwhen，infact，youwerenot.

Identifyingyourclientisanethicalconcern，aswell.FloridaBarRulesofProfessionalConductRule4-4.3says：

“Indealingonbehalfofaclientwithapersonwhoisnotrepresentedbycounsel，alawyershallnotstateorimplythatthelawyerisdisinterested.”

Therefore，thefirsttimeyouwritesomeonealetter，thelettershouldopenwiththefollowingsentence：

“Irepresent_________.”Afterthat，everytimeyouwriteanotherletterreconfirmwhoyourepresentbyreferringtoyourclientbynameandas“myclient.”

Statethepurposeoftheletter.Whyleavethereaderguessing？

Goaheadandsayrightupfrontwhyyouarewritingtheletter.Herearesomeopeningsentences：

“Thepurposeofthisletteristo_________.”

“Thisletteristoinformyouthat_________.”

“Myclienthasinstructedmeto_________.”

“Thisistoconfirmthat_________.”

“Thisconfirmsourphoneconversationtodayinwhich_________.”

Ifthereareanyenclosures，listthemfirst.Listingenclosuresatthebeginningoftheletterwillmakeiteasierforyourstafftoassemblethemandforthereadertochecktobesureallwasreceived.Thisismucheasierthanhavingtoreadanentire，perhapslengthy，lettertoascertainwhataretheenclosures.

Theenclosuresshouldbedescribedwithspecificitysothatthereislaternoquestionastowhatwasenclosed.Ataminimum，thetitleanddateofeachdocumen