A Lawyer Writes To A Client

The art of making it plain

(photo credit: Photo by Renaldo Matamoro on Unsplash)

Dear Mrs. _____________

Excuse the brevity of this letter, but I have been trying to reach you. It is important that we speak immediately.  I can be reached via mobile phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX. I have left you several voice messages, to no avail.

Please get in touch.

Sincerely,

Brian G Gilmore, Esq.
MSU Housing Law Clinic.

My favorite kind of writing is the letter. There is nothing remotely close. When I say the letter, I mean an actual letter on stationary of some sort that will be mailed to a person.  In my case, over the years, it was a client. It was either at a legal services organization representing pro bono clients, a public interest law firm, or a pro bono legal clinic at a law college. 

There is an art to these letters.  Usually, the letter is purposeful. It is written with a particular goal.  I want to update a client or get in touch with them quickly. Sometimes, I really want them to get in touch with me very quickly.  The letter above was such a case. It involved a client who had a very positive case with a high probability of success. However, I needed them to sign off on a retainer and provide me with the authority to move forward on the case, or not move forward. 

As the letter states, “I have been trying to reach you” and “I have left several voice messages, to no avail.” 

This letter is very short and to the point. This does not mean that I have not written longer letters. I have written letters of all kinds of length.  I have written letters to attorneys from the opposing party that were several pages in length.  It all depends upon the purpose of the letter.  Yet, I prefer the brief letter. It is, to me, the gold standard.

I usually like to begin the letter by establishing rapport and context. “Dear Mrs ___________,” this one starts, “Excuse the brevity of the letter…” The reason for beginning the letter in such a manner is because I do not want to communicate in a high brow fashion. My client is intelligent. My client can read and write well. My client understands simple letters. 

I can write professionally and concisely but I do not need to bog down the letter with legalese. I can explain anything to the client via telephone or when the client comes in for an appointment. I am a great believer in brevity in nearly everything I do. I do not like to overwrite or overanalyze. As the saying goes: “more is less,” and “less is more.”

I mostly believe this about all sorts of writings and means of communication. Unfortunately, many lawyers believe it is never enough. The system, and society, really should not function like that. Yet, it does operate like that. Notice, I avoided asserting that society is functioning when this happens. It probably isn’t functioning. 

This goes hand in hand with the notion that lawyers talk too much and analyze too much. Usually, lawyers who go on and on are engaging, at least to me, in shape shifting. They are trying to convince someone that what they are seeing is not true. They are clouding the reality of the situation. This is something lawyers learn to do. This is because their job is to advocate for their client.  Nothing is preposterous. Nothing is crazy. Any argument (throw it against the wall theory) is valid if some judge or jury will listen to it. 

The client in the case in this letter was my client and if necessary I would have tried all sorts of things on her behalf. However, I did not need to do that. In the end, this case, as I recall, was highly successful. It was also highly successful without me being forced to do something ridiculous and wasteful.  I lived by the same mantra as I do in my letters: make it plain.  

Luckily, in my work over the years as an attorney, I have had a lot of success making it plain. Yes, there are a lot of losses and defeats. But, mostly, there was success. For a poor person to have a lawyer in court is success. The data demonstrates that success is much higher. The lawyers for the opposing party understand the system and they respect the fact that the person has a lawyer. You might not believe me but it is true. 

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