attorney-fees
How to write a correct and effective introductory letter to an attorney?
<p>Is the following a well-done example of a letter to a lawyer making an initial (or telephone or zoom-meeting follow-up inquiry about the lawyer taking a case?</p>
<p>{name}</p>
<p>Would your law firm have an interest in reviewing the extensive evidence
we  - identity - have in hand, in light of the possibility of initiating
lucrative legal action against an Ohio business - identity - under Chapter
2741 of the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) comprising sections 2741.01 thru
2741.99. Particularly relevant are 2741.02, 2741.06, and 2741.07.</p>
<p>Will you kindly provide me with an opportunity to present our evidence?</p>
<p>We will be genuinely grateful if you come to see that we are authentic</p>
<p>traditional jewelry-making craftswomen who have been grievously wronged.</p>
<p>Our hope is to redeem the good name of our cooperative in the market</p>
<p>of humanitarian fashion vs. businesses counterfeiting our identity.</p>
<p>We only want to be in our home workshops alongside our families earning</p>
<p>a life of dignity as an jewelry-making artisan, so nobody needs to migrate.</p>
<p>To accomplish this, we find ourselves forced to learn how to sue an</p>
<p>ex-customer using the images of our families for commercial purposes.</p>
<p>This bad practice seems to closely fit the letter of the cited law.</p>
<p>If this suit suceeds, it could become very lucrative for the lawyers.</p>
<p>If you give me a chance to explain, I'll show you what I mean by this.</p>
<p>Please allow me to provide you with what you want to know about our case.</p>
<p>Attentively,</p>
<p>{name of the President and legal representative of Cooperative}</p>

<p>I think you would do much better to describe the situation, and the result you wish to achieve. Include enough detail for the lawyer to understand the nature of the case, but keep it <strong>brief</strong>. More details should come once the lawyer has agreed to take the case, or to give you an interview/consultation to discuss it.</p>
<p>Later in your letter, if you like, you might include &quot;We understand that ORC  2741.02, 2741.06, and 2741.07 may give us a basis for suit&quot; but I would not go into any more detail about the law in an initial letter.</p>
<p>If during the consultation (in person or by phone or zoom or some such), the lawyer does not mention laws you have learned of and think relevant, you could mention them and ask why the lawyer is not addressing them.</p>
<p>The lawyer does not need or want to be told what you think the law is, the lawyer needs to know what the situation is and what you hope to do about it. That includes who &quot;we&quot; are.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong></p>
<p>As the answer from ohwilleke says, a telephone all might be better than a letter. But in either case, the key things the lawyer will need to know are: 1) who are you?; 2) what is the situation you are concerned with (details may be important here)?; 3) what do you want to accomplish through the lawyer's services?; 4) who are the other parties involved? You will want to learn: Does the lawyer m(olr law firm) handle that sort of case?; Are they willing to take you on as clients?; 3) Hpw much experience has this lawyer had with this sort of case?; 4) What are the likely upfront costs?; and 5) What are the chances of success?  Items 4 and 5 may not get answers in a first round of contacts.</p>
<p><strong>2nd update, based on revised letter</strong></p>
<p>You still start with a statement of the law you think give you a claim. Please do not do that. In this draft letter you do not say anything about  the actual problem you have or what you want done until the sixth and next to last paragraph of the letter. Even then you are not very clear on what you want the lawyer to do. &quot;we find ourselves forced to <strong>learn</strong> how to sue an ex-customer&quot; sounds as if you are asking for education, not legal services.</p>
<p>I would suggest something more like:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are an association of traditional artisans. An Ohio business {insert business name} that had formerly purchased and resold some of our work has been using the images of us and our families to advertise its goods without permission. We want this stopped and also want monetary damages for past use.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>We think we may have a claim under {ORC sections}. In any case we want this stopped by whatever legal process would be most appropriate.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That puts the situation first, your desire second, and any comment about the law later (or it could be left out).</p>

<p>It would be unusual to make an initial inquiry to an attorney by letter. There is too much give and take required at that stage and a phone call or an initial meeting in person would be much more common.</p>
<p>Fairly, or unfairly, at least half, if not more, of initial inquiries made to attorneys in a letter are either sophisticated versions of the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/18/nigerian-prince-scams-still-rake-in-over-700000-dollars-a-year.html" rel="noreferrer">Nigerian prince scam</a>, or are from people who have no case and are a bit nuts. It is a similar phenomena to people not answering their phone in the face of calls from an unknown caller because it is so often a junk call.</p>
<p>I would not recommend proceeding to make initial contact with a lawyer in this fashion. If it helps you to prepare an outline of things you want to remember to talk about when you talk on the phone, or in a first, in person meeting, that is fine. But the effort that goes into writing a letter isn't worth it.</p>

<p>No, this is not a good example of an introductory letter to an attorney.</p>
<p>A letter is generally going to be an ineffective way of reaching out to an attorney, and this one is not any better.</p>
<p>When I read this, red flags go up because the potential client appears to be placing herself in the role of the lawyer, by assessing the evidence, by choosing which legal claims to pursue, by explaining the law, by assessing the value of the case, etc. When a client comes in like this, I have serious doubt about the reliability of a &quot;promise to be good clients.&quot;</p>
<p>Essentially none of the information in this letter will be valuable to an attorney.</p>
<p>Instead, an introductory letter should actually introduce you and your problem. It should provide a brief timeline of relevant facts and an inquiry as to whether they give rise to any kind of legal claims that the lawyer would be interested in pursuing. That's all you need.</p>
<p>Even then, though, letters are going to just seem weird to a lot of lawyers, who are accustomed to interacting with potential clients by phone. In my experience, letters usually come from prisoners or insane people. I would not be surprised if most lawyers you sent a letter to just ignored it -- even if it were very well written.</p>
<p>If you want to find a lawyer, you are probably a lot better off reaching out by phone, although it will take a lot more time.</p>
