Composing an email to a lawyer for a consultation, start your mail by greeting the attorney with professional courtesy. Write your name and also the name of the person who referred this lawyer. Write about your case, giving as many details as possible, yet writing it in a neat and organized manner.
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Discuss only legal advice in your emails. In some contexts, you might have other things that you want to talk about with your attorney that don't have anything to do with legal advice. In those situations, it's better to write separate emails so that the communication you want to be confidential and privileged remains that way.
The client should include copies of any documents that may help the lawyer solve the problem. Copies of contracts, lawsuit documents or other papers that relate to the matter can be sent to the lawyer with a request for confidentiality.
The attorney-client privilege only protects confidential communication between you and your attorney that is related to their legal representation of you. If you include anyone else in the conversation, the things you say in the email (or that the attorney says in reply) likely won't be considered privileged.
1. Add a note about attorney-client privilege to the subject line. Include the words "Privileged," "Confidential," or "Attorney-Client Communication" in the subject line of your email. It helps to make these words stand out as much as possible, such as by typing them in all caps or putting asterisks on either side.
January 7, 2019. Lawyers use email every day and are very familiar with the mechanics of sending and receiving email. However, because of its ubiquity, lawyers often get complacent about best practices for using email effectively and proficiently. Email can be a great communication tool, but it can also be dangerous.
Many people do not add their email address to their signature block, assuming that the recipient can see it in the to: or cc: fields. However, if the email has been forwarded or copied and pasted the email address may be separated from the original email.
Emails should use a descriptive subject line, get to the point immediately and leverage bullets and lists. An MIT/Boston University study from 2010 based on data culled from five years of email concluded the shorter your email, the quicker the response time and the higher your productivity.
However this feature will only work IF the person, within your own MS Exchange environment, has not yet read the message. If that is the case Recall will effectively delete the message.
However, if your partner isn't considered the attorney's client, this might mean that advice is no longer considered privileged. If you need to involve other people in a legal matter, your attorney can advise you on what to tell them and how so that your attorney-client privilege is preserved.
The attorney-client privilege only protects confidential communication between you and your attorney that is related to their legal representation of you. If you include anyone else in the conversation, the things you say in the email (or that the attorney says in reply) likely won't be considered privileged.
If you have an email account that others can access, that access could mean that any emails back and forth between you and your attorney are no longer privileged. This also applies to work email addresses, even if you're the owner of the company, if it's possible for anyone else to access your email account.
Many attorneys add a disclaimer to the "signature" block of their emails stating that the material in their emails is subject to attorney-client privilege. However, these disclaimers don't provide blanket protection.
Generally, it's best not to put the most sensitive information in writing. For example, if you're in the middle of a contentious divorce and you want to get your attorney's advice on damaging information you've learned about your spouse, meet with them in person rather than writing the information in an email.
Make your request for legal advice clear and specific. Not every conversation you with an attorney is considered privileged, even if you're writing to an attorney you've specifically hired to represent you in a legal matter. The privilege only applies when you solicit legal advice.
One of the worst errors you can make with your email is pressing ‘Reply All’ when you intend only to reply to the person who contacted you. It can be easy to assume that an email sent to you was only sent to you, but this is often not the case.
While it’s quicker to just send an email without a subject line, it’s important that everything you send has a clear subject line. For instance, if you are emailing a client about developments in their case, a subject line that reads ‘Important Case Developments’ explains what the email is about, and that it’s important for the recipient to open it.
On some occasions, you may accidentally press ‘Enter’ or the ‘Send’ button before you’ve completed your message – and if you have added the email address, then it will certainly send.
I used MailChimp to send an email to 105 people on March 14th. As a result, 54 people opened the email, and 40 replied with possible referrals. From those replies, I spoke with 15 referrals and retained 5 new clients.
When you do good work, people will send a friend to you when asked if they know an attorney. But if you ask for a referral, they will sometimes take the extra step of reaching out to people who may not have asked. That’s why it’s like asking for a favor, which was the subject of this email: “Can you do me a favor…?”
Step 1: Select an email list of referral sources or build one. In my case, I used members of my newsletter list. If you don’t have an email list already, then you’re missing out on some great marketing opportunities.
While I certainly wouldn’t send an email like this too often, I think I’ll do it at least twice a year so it can serve as a reminder. You never know when circumstances might change or when some of your referral sources will meet someone who can use your services.
If the client is unsure about their needs or preferences, provide the client with information about the recipient’s style and let the client choose. Armed with enough information to make an informed decision, if the referral ends up not being a good fit, you will bear less responsibility for making a bad recommendation.
Ideally, you will know the receiving attorney’s ideal clients prior to making a referral. However, sometimes referrals come up that you think could be a good fit, but you may not be sure.
Many attorneys have websites that include contact forms, phone numbers or even email addresses for contacting them and setting up appointments for consultations . Beyond that, once contact is made, the attorney may ask the client for more information or for documents related to the issue.
The documents may be important evidence in your case. If the attorney decides not not respond to your letter or misplaces it, your documents will be lost. Writer Bio. Rebecca K. McDowell is a creditors' rights attorney with a special focus on bankruptcy and insolvency.
Ending the Letter. At the end of the letter, the writer may include a closing, such as "Sincerely" or "Very truly yours" followed by a comma, then three or four spaces for a signature, followed by the typed or printed name of the sender. The client should include copies of any documents that may help the lawyer solve the problem.
Lawyers, also called attorneys , are individuals who have been educated and trained in the practice of one or more areas of law. There are dozens of areas of law and potentially hundreds of specialties within those areas, from personal injury to divorce to bankruptcy to intellectual property to criminal defense. A person or business that has a legal problem is certainly in need of legal counsel, but sometimes a lawyer's consult can help before a problem arises.
If you come across as an unpleasant person in the letter, the attorney may decide that you are not someone that she would like to assist. Warnings. If you are sending any documents along with the letter, make sure that you do not send the original versions of those documents.