I once had a shady service provider that did a terrible job, so I canceled the service when about 1% of the service had been provided. (Legally, this is as specific as I should be.) They wanted payment for 100% of the service and sued me when I refused -- no joke. I suspect this is how they make a fair amount of money.<p>So, rather than pay for my own attorney, I just bought Google AdWords for their name (which, luckily, was too general to be a real TM). I set up a simple page that explained how they behaved and how they were indeed suing me - complete with scanned documents.<p>They took it up with Google, who just asked that I rephrase my ad. I did. Then they called me, saying they would sue me for slander. I laughed. Then they called me, asking what I wanted to take it down ASAP. I said: drop this nonsense. Never call me again. I'll do the same.<p>Worked like a charm.<p>If I had gone the traditional route of finding an attorney, it would have cost thousands. I think my total cost on Google was < $100.
It's a not a good idea to speak to opposing counsel yourself. If you think the legal threat is baseless, send a brief polite email to that effect, and ignore everything afterwards. If you think they have a claim, talk to a lawyer. And have a plan for who to call if you get served.<p>This is the approach I've used on the Bedbug Registry for about three years. We get about two intimidating letters a month from some fairly large hotel chains.<p>Making legal threats directly to an attorney is about as good an idea as the lawyer threatening that he will hack your server. Resist the temptation to get in over your head.
This is only effective if you are prepared to put up when they call your bluff.<p>Two more points:<p>1) It's almost impossible for people to not be emotional when someone is threatening them with a lawsuit and that's why it's always better to have your lawyer communicate on your behalf.<p>2) The part I do agree with is (which he didn't say, but it came through loud and clear) DO NOT be a pussy when someone threatens you. And, DO NOT ignore them. If they are crazy or being irrational, a logical response from you won't help. If they found a lawyer dumb enough to represent them, you need to be ready to bring out the full nuclear assault in your response.<p>I've been sued before, named in other people's suits, threatened hundreds (literally) of times with suits and while I often take his approach, I'm ready to put up if I have to. And I've learned that if I put up, you better be prepared for the full nuclear response that I will dole out. Once I'm being sued or named in a lawsuit, the handshakes are gone and only the swords remain. I will drag every email, text message, conversation, witness you have ever dealt with related to the matter.<p>Of course, if I'm in the wrong, I'll settle immediately. And I hope I never have someone so upset with me over something legitimate that they feel a lawsuit is their best recourse. To date, I've never been sued over anything legitimate and I've never lost a suit against me. The other party has always either settled, withdrawn their complaint, or never moved to a full-blown lawsuit.
I wrote an article once for a regional magazine. The title was "Why everyone hates lawyers" As part of the gig, I got to interview some prominent lawyers at the regional level.<p>I'll never forget the answer one gave me, "Look Daniel, lawyers are not like doctors. A doctor helps you fight a disease. Lawyers, on the other hand, <i>fight other people</i>. Every time you employ a lawyer in litigation, if he is successful, somebody else suffers. That means that there are going to be a lot of people out there who don't like lawyers"<p>Lawyers exist to fight. That's their job. Even if they don't have a case ("If you have the law on your side, yell about the law, if you have the facts on your side, yell about the facts. If you have neither, just yell"<p>I don't know if I would go making phone calls, but I would sure as hell poke back at a lawyer if he poked at me. I would like to think that folks like us with lots of ability to assimilate technical details could at least make some kind of showing -- perhaps enough to run them the ones off who are just bluffing.
I like his point that they are probably bluffing if they send a big wordy letter with lots of precedent cases etc. A friend of mine (who is a lawyer) told me something similar; when they see a letter like that they expect they're probably full of crap. His reply is normally much more curt: "Please confirm that you are authorised to receive proceedings on behalf of your client". If I got that, I'd be worried.
Reminds me of the follow case involving British satirical magazine Private Eye (this quoted from Wikipedia):<p>"An unlikely piece of British legal history occurred in the case Arkell v. Pressdram.<p>The plaintiff was the subject of an article relating to illicit payments, and for a change the magazine Private Eye had ample evidence to back up the article.<p>Arkell’s lawyers wrote a letter in which, unusually, they said: “Our client’s attitude to damages will depend on the nature of your reply”.<p>The response consisted, in part, of the following: “We would be interested to know what your client’s attitude to damages would be if the nature of our reply were as follows : Fuck off”."<p>In UK legal circles a polite way of telling someone to fuck off is to refer them to Arkell v. Pressdram.
This probably only applies to litigation lawyers, most, if not all of the lawyers I've worked with have been extremely polite and correct. They've also all had an excellent grasp of manipulation techniques and human psychology, and would see right through this bluffing behaviour in a second. Maybe it's because my experience has primarily been with M&A, contract and tax lawyers. Or maybe it's differen in Europe.
It seems that this guy enjoys behaving this way foremost, and has spent some time coming up with reasons to justify his behavior as rational as a result. Some of this may in fact be good advice, but I wouldn't be inclined to trust his word on it. I highly doubt he only acts this way towards lawyers.
This seems like a really easy way to dig yourself into a deep hole. Why not build a relationship with a decent attorney if you're in the habit of getting intimidating messages from lawyers regularly?
As a lawyer, I can tell you that if you are getting a letter a week from lawyers threatening you with legal action, you are doing it wrong. Most likely, the lawyers in this article are dropping the case because the author has no money. Without "deep pockets", it's not worth it to sue.<p>If you do get a letter from a lawyer, the first rule is never telephone. Do everything in writing.<p>You basically have three choices: ignore the letter, respond to the letter in writing, or hire your own attorney to respond. A letter from a lawyer is usually a shot across the bow. Sometimes it ends there. If you get sued, you must hire an attorney right away.<p>You can try writing your own letter, but it is better to hire an attorney. If you think the letter has no merits, ignore it and wait to see if they sue.
I'd add that lots of lawyers of the type described are emotional, irrational bullies. Don't give them a reason to have a personal vendetta against you.<p>I think you just want to appear to them as a bind alley with no money at the end so they'll just move along to greener pastures. Better than just yelling profanity back at them might be a hard-core "we don't negotiate with terrorists" kind of stance.
If you already have counsel, I was under the understanding (IANAL) that it is against conduct for the opposing counsel to talk to you directly. If they continue to call you while you're moving to get counsel and harass you, aren't they in violation of ethical standards or something? Naturally you have to retain counsel in a reasonable amount of time.
Please do not follow this very bad advice. The best lawyers make an effort to keep the tone civil. If you go to trial you will see your own sarcasm presented and judges are human. Acting as.the OP suggests could get very expensive.
I faced off against a guy with this sort of attitude once.
The case <i>did</i> end up in front of a judge. The judge laughed at the guy, and threatened to hold him in contempt of court. The day before the contempt hearing, we settled for double what my client had been seeking.<p>Another guy, a doctor, threatened to report me to the bar association. I responded by reporting him to the medical board. His license was suspended for making threats. Last I heard, he'd been forced to declare bankruptcy.<p>Another guy simply refused to cooperate with a lawsuit. I guess he was trying to prevent the case from going to trial. Problem for him was that if the case had gone to trial, we wouldn't have won nearly as much as we ended up winning in the default judgment (which does not require the other party to show up).<p>Most lawyers who handle litigation do so because they enjoy litigation. You try the stunts this guy recommends in his blog post, and they will eat you alive. So take his "advice" with a grain of salt.
I am Judd and I wrote this article.<p>A few points I'd like to clarify:<p>I'm not advocating bluffing, I'm advocating standing up for yourself. That's ultimately what this article is about, and perhaps why it's getting the reaction it has.<p>Attorneys are smart to intimidate people into settling large amounts of money over absolute bullshit. Because too often it works. Most people who work hard to build their life and savings are too confused and afraid of the law to adequately fight back and defend themselves.<p>Attorneys are hated because they're in a great position. They get to attack you with no repercussions. In fact the more fighting there is, the more they benefit. You will need to get creative to gain leverage and find their pressure points.<p>Once someone is attacking you and you're in a fight, you either grow some balls and take some risks, or you bend over.<p>I will repeat: If you've done someone wrong, you deserve to pay. This advice is not meant for someone in the wrong. This is about standing up to legal intimidation as a negotiating tool. From my experience that is what most legal action has been about. If you've ripped people off and they're suing you, I hope you get fucked, and I fully support the lawyer that will help do the fucking.<p>I would never tell a moderately reasonable attorney to "eat shit and go fuck yourself". I tell that to the hardcore condescending assholes. I've done it many times. It has NEVER defused the situation. They always get pissed and riled up. That's fine with me because they were already uncooperative and hostile to begin with. This is not a bluff technique, I'm making it clear that being a dick is not a productive way to deal with me. And since, in my experience, their cases have always been vague or based on bullshit, their ONLY options left after that are to pursue trial on a weak case, or become friendlier.<p>If you're willing to look a monster in the eyes, you just might find out he has no teeth.