Writing A Demand Letter (Templates and Examples Included)
Source: we have written hundreds of demand letters for various types of legal issues.
· Demand Letter, Template, Veeto Tips, Legal Assistant"Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company."
(Well, most letters anyway. but demand letters are typically sent to bad company.)
"Do I need a lawyer to write a demand letter?"
No. If you have both the time and ability to think and write clearly, then you technically do not need a lawyer to write a demand letter.
Now, obviously, the characteristic of being able to think and write clearly is not binary--it's not something that you either can do or cannot do. There are degrees of ability, and when it comes to both thinking and writing, as you probably already know, the spectrum of ability is wide. This is one reason that many people prefer to hire a lawyer to write their demand letter: the client has this assumption that the lawyer will simply rank higher on that spectrum when it comes to thinking and writing about legal matters. But, again, this is not to say that you need to be a lawyer to think and write about your own legal issues.
On the related issue of how long it takes to write a good demand letter, the diagram above lays out the general process a lawyer might follow from the point of first learning about your case to then actually sitting down to write your demand letter. I include this diagram so that you realize that there often is considerable planning required before you (or your lawyer) ever sit down to begin writing--that is, if you wish for your demand letter to be good.
One other advantage lawyers do have is a greater familiarity with the law itself. You may be perfectly acquainted with the facts of your case. But a lawyer will likely be better able to apply those facts to relevant legal underpinnings when devising a position to take in your case. But this distinction becomes less pronounced when either the facts themselves are less complex--and are therefore less tricky for a nonlawyer to try to apply to relevant law--or the relevant laws are more familiar to the nonlawyer. For example, whereas many people might understand the legal concept of breach of contract, fewer might understand the legal concept of unjust enrichment, which matters in a breach of contract case because lawyers tend to assert claims under both concepts simultaneously in cases in which one party alleges that the other party failed to do something they had previously agreed to do.
But. we think that people generally tend to underestimate their own abilities to address their legal problems DIY. So we write this article to equip a nonlawyer who is interested in handling his/her case DIY with specific details on what writing a demand letter entails. So read on if that is you.
