What You Need to Know About Legal Client Letters
A legal client letter is a written document that establishes the basis for your initial attorney-client relationship. From the moment you begin discussing the possibility of representation with an individual, that person becomes a prospective client. In order to protect both yourself and the client, clear and explicit written communication should begin and continue throughout the entirety of the relationship.
Legal client letters can serve many purposes. They can be used in a variety of ways as you communicate with and advise current and prospective clients throughout the course of your representation. Often they are sent when an attorney is beginning a new case, explaining the scope of a client’s legal matter and establishing payment terms and fees. But they shouldn’t be reserved only for the initial meeting. They can also be used during every stage of your relationship with a client , such as when notifying a client of their rights in a particular legal situation, or explaining the procedure for your services in a comprehensive and clear way. When used properly, legal client letters can clarify the terms of your engagement, report on the status of the case, or even terminate the relationship, if necessary.
It’s essential to maintain detailed written records from the very first meeting with a client. This is important for a number of reasons related to communications such as the scope of representation, conflicts of interest, and the attorney-client privilege. Simply relying on verbal agreements, or even an email, may not be sufficient for your practice, as policies vary by jurisdiction and organization.
Essential Elements of a Legal Client Letter
Letterhead: At the top center of the page. It includes your law firm’s name, your name, followed below by your title (for example, attorney or paralegal). Your street address comes next, and the city, state, and zip code are listed below that. An email address follows. The final line is your firm’s website URL.
Date: This follows four single spaces after your letterhead. It is simply written as month, day, year. For example, March 22, 2019.
Recipient: The full name of the person the letter is addressed to is placed one line below the date (with a space above the name).
Address: This follows one single space under the recipient’s name. The street address, city, state, and zip code are listed.
Subject: The word subject is followed by a hyphen. Then, one space follows with a brief explanation of the letter’s content.
Greeting: Literally just "Dear" followed by the recipient’s first name. No other words are ever included in the greeting.
Body: The content of the letter. There is no specific word count or limit to consider when writing it, but you should still remain respectful, professional, and concise.
Closing remarks: "Sincerely," followed by a comma. The closing is followed by three spaces. These allow for the signature and two required labels to follow.
Signature: Simply write your name and title on the lines provided by the four spaces preceding it. This is located three single lines below the closing.
Required labels: These can be filled in following your signature as detailed below:
Provider: Write your law firm’s name, leaving the entire following line blank.
Provider’s Address: Then follow this with your provider ID, after which you leave a blank line.
Patient: Write the patient’s name here, followed by another empty line.
Patient’s Address: The last line is where you write out that person’s street address, city, state, and zip code.
How to Prepare an Effective Legal Client Letter
The below scenarios were provided to demonstrate an example of how to write letters to clients. A business lawyer may have a case update letter to send to a client, a family lawyer may need to send a letter detailing their bill for the quarter and a bankruptcy lawyer may write a letter that simply states the facts to a client about their appointment.
Example #1: Case Update
Dear [Insert Client Name],
I hope this letter finds you and your family well.
I am writing to update you on the status of your case. I have not heard back from the defendant regarding a resolution or settlement. If they do get back to me, I will contact you immediately so we can go over the facts together and prepare a strategy for a mediation.
No matter what, I do not envision we would go to trial. There is no reason for this case to go that long, as I’ve seen the other side be very willing to settle out of court.
You should have also have received my quarterly statement, which contained a line-item description of all fees and costs I have incurred. As always, if the amount of time spent is not acceptable to you, please let me know and we can revisit those concerns.
Would you like to schedule a time to meet at your earliest convenience to review your case together?
Thank you,
[Your Name]
Example #2: Confirming Appointment
Dear [Insert Client Name],
It was good seeing you at your last appointment.
I look forward to seeing you on [Insert Date] at [Insert Time]. You may bring any document you believe would be helpful in addressing the matter.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, you may contact my office and they will get back to you promptly.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
Example #3: Client Statement
Dear [Insert Client Name],
I wanted to take this time to furnish you with my quarterly statement, which contains an itemized list of the services I provided you and the cost associated with them.
If you have any questions or concerns about the billing, please do not hesitate to contact my office.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
Tone, Voice, and Language: Legal Client Letters
A professional tone in legal client letters is essential, setting the tone for all communications to follow in the engagement. It provides the first level of assurance to the client that they made the right choice in hiring your firm. The use of jargon can lead to miscommunications, misunderstandings and more importantly a poor perception of the attorney. Jargon should not be used in any client communications. If your client needs a translation guide for your letters , you are using too much jargon. Use plain English when you explain complex legal matters or give options to the client. Speaking plainly and clearly with your clients is also important because it shows that you truly care about their cases and need to convey necessary information quickly. The clients you serve are not lawyers, and they do not understand the complexities of various laws and arguments as well as you do.
Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Legal Client Letters
There are a number of common mistakes that are made in part because the concern for the client has overwhelmed all other concerns – and that’s perfectly understandable. I have made every one of these mistakes (as have most attorneys), and will again as soon as my heart is on my clients rather than the words that I’m trying to get down. But there are still a few things to avoid when writing to your legal clients. Here are some of the most common.
In all honesty, we are completely positive that a lawyer will never get into trouble for being too informal with their letters for clients – except for that one time we all heard about when the attorney signed off with "Kisses" instead of "Sincerely." Your legal client letter has to be correct in its grammar and tone. You simply cannot risk being misleading with an informal letter unless it was your intention and there was a darn good reason behind it. Otherwise, stay with the tried and true.
This mistake is the opposite of the above – and has much the same consequences. Technically speaking, in the legal world, "the above" refers to everything that has been said previous to the current date – including old client matters and cases long closed. If you’re writing to collect money from a client for a case that was closed five years ago, don’t refer to it as "the above," because it doesn’t refer to it at all.
One of the biggest mistakes that attorneys often make is failing to recognize the client-specific context of the letter. Your legal client letter has to be tailored to the specific situation. It doesn’t matter if you have written 50 different letters to clients like this one, asking them to pay their bills from that case. Those letters have absolutely nothing to do with this particular letter. Address the issue at hand in the letter, not a "generally speaking," experience that you have had with those issues.
Sorry to say, but typos are not an option. Depending on your relationship with your client, typos and even grammatical errors are enough to get you fired. In fact, you might find the client modified the text of your legal client letter to be sure that your typos were corrected the second it hit his or her hands. Yet again, if typos and grammatical errors have any chance of ruining your relationship with a legal client, they will, so take the time to proofread your letter before you send it out.
Legal Client Letters: Best Practices
Best practice guidelines for writing effective legal client letters are easy to spot but harder to follow in practice. For example, consistency is key. Law firms that write a large volume of client letters rely on standardized templates to ensure uniformity in appearance. But personalized letters are always appreciated by clients.
Practice Tip – Consider using a standard template for all non-emergency client communication. Make an exception only when you have special information to relay or when an individual client has a history of requiring a personalized letter from you.
Email has replaced faxing as the preferred method of communication, and even the U.S. Postal Service has announced that its long-established delivery service will end in 2021. But phone calls still carry the day among old-school attorneys. No matter how you communicate with your client, however, your message should be clear and consistent throughout. Most clients want as much information as possible, but some clients worry about the near-constant barrage of communications from their attorney. Too much information can lead to confusion. Ease client concerns by keeping your message simple. A standard template can help keep communications simple, as well as help you fit your client’s needs. Your client is relying on you to be consistent in your messages and provide a steady stream of information as your matter progresses. However, if you must deviate from a standard form, do so at your peril, since failing to provide a legally required disclosure, for instance, could expose the firm to liability.
Your letter should answer the following questions:
"You need a science degree to understand the email I sent," says one exasperated CEO of a prominent law firm, who now relies on a staff member to send emails on behalf of the firm. Email templates save time and reduce the chance of sending an incorrect or incomplete email. Like a standard client letter template, an email template will help keep your messages simple and on point. However, avoid making e-mail your primary form of communication, since the informal nature of e-mail makes it a bad choice for any message that could be misinterpreted. In a recent study of health care providers , 45% of providers said they had misread an e-mail message, while one in five doctors said they failed to return an e-mail due to a formatting issue. Mistakes like these can lead to serious consequences, including disciplinary actions or bar grievances. Anytime you are sending a sensitive communication via e-mail, take time to review and double-check it before you hit "send." Editors review all press releases before they are sent out, so why not do the same for your email messages? The rule of thumb is to think of an e-mail message as a public document before you hit "send." If you wouldn’t want a judge or jury to read it, then you shouldn’t be hitting send.
Be consistent with the format of your correspondence to your client. For example, if you end every letter with "Sincerely," then always use that signoff. Also, be consistent in the language you use to refer to your client and their matter. Anything that could be misinterpreted should be avoided.
A good rule of thumb is to keep your sentences short. Lawyers tend to write in long, rambling sentences. It’s an easy trap to fall into when you’re explaining a complex legal issue. To counter the tendency, be mindful of how you explain even the most difficult concepts to your clients. Are you providing too much information? Are you providing information that is too technical? Long sentences and complex scientific language may be hard for you to interpret, so what makes you think your client will grasp what you’re talking about? One way to avoid overly technical jargon in your correspondence is to bypass particularly difficult concepts by not explaining them at all. Instead, you should briefly outline the concept and help your client find more information about the concept elsewhere. If you must explain a difficult concept, avoid long explanations and instead, break the content down into shorter parts. Then, you can refer your client to material with more detail. This also cuts down the length of the lawyer-client communication, which keeps the client engaged in the process and helps to clarify complicated areas of the law.