I just read the sleaziest most unprofessional demand letter that I have ever seen. It was dripping with sarcasm (it actually included the term "gee willakers") and personal attacks. My clients were called despicable, lazy, ignorant, stupid, liars and the list goes on. These attacks were directed at individual employees of my corporate client.
I am furious. This case involves a freak accident--no intentional acts or gross negligence. And many of those who were attacked weren't involved at all. I know my client will be truly affected by the nasty letter drafted by sleazy attorneys. They certainly could have drafted their demand and presented their case without the sarcasm and personal attacks.
Maybe I should have expected as much. This is from a T.V. lawyer--you know one of the ones in the late night commercials with a nickname like "The Bully." And he was a total jerk in the depositions--literally making up questions with absolutely no basis in fact e.g. "Isn't it true that [insert crazy-ass statement pulled from the clear blue sky here]".
And this isn't a dig a Plaintiffs' lawyers. I work with Plaintiffs' lawyers every single day. And we get demand letters in most of our cases. NONE have ever been so unprofessional. The crap that is in this letter is why people think lawyers are assholes.
2 comments:
That stuff seriously chaps my hide. You just want to say, "we practice CIVIL law here, right?" I have a case against a quasi-government agency and counsel could not be any nastier, and for no good reason. Um, your employee sexually attacked my client, and you really think that because she had been a "dancer" she should have "handled it?" And you have the gall to say this to me? Unbelievable.
Have fun kicking his ass. :)
I gotta say that it is really eye-opening for those of us outside the legal profession to hear this side of the story. It is so easy to be exposed to the sleaze and the asshole attitude, the holier-than-thou, the snark-attack. So it's nice, informative, refreshing and helpful to hear from lawyers who come across as being human, being compassionate, being without-snark and basically being just down-to-earth people doing a damn good job as an attorney while not being an asshole every minute of the day. I think blogs help dispel the public's perception of lawyers as assholes. Well, blogs like this one do, anyway. Great post!
Post a Comment