Demand Letter Drafting & Review
Our specialty is achieving results without court action by preparing highly customized demand letters and replies to them. In each type of case below we work out and structure the facts, the law and the demanded action or the basis for a solid defence.
- Trade mark: Demand letter to stop infringement of a trade mark (registered or unregistered), domain name or brand.
- Contract breach: Demand letter to end breach of a distribution agreement or other type of business contract.
- Employment: Exposing the holes in invalid restraint of trade claims. A case study appears here: http://dilanchian.itanywhere.com.au/expertise/one-stop-shop
- Debt recovery: Demand letter to get a debt paid quickly or to reject an unfounded debt claim.
- Copyright: Demand letter terminating breach of copyright by a publication, website or social media account.
Top questions answered
My brand has been copied. What can I do?
Litigation burns your money fast. Use it as a last resort! To resolve a dispute over a name or brand it’s best to begin with a factually well-grounded demand letter. Speak to us to tailor one for you.
A demand letter typically has three sections: a statement of facts, identification of the applicable law, and a list of specific demands requiring compliance by a set deadline.
If compliance does not follow, then so can a court case. The benefit of the prior well-crafted demand letter is that it frames the facts, law and demands at the outset. Many cases are ultimately resolved on principles identified at the outset. A good demand letter can convince readers to avoid wasted time and costs.
When can an ex-employer stop you taking a new job?
The freedom to contract can be restricted by a legally effective restraint of trade clause or confidential information obligations. Duties of fealty are also relevant.
Bad drafting of restraint of trade clauses is very common in employment agreements. Let us review your company’s agreement to check its legal enforceability.
For ex-employees if the law supports you, we’ll write to your ex-employer. Companies should aim to protect confidential information like an asset and must ensure employment contracts, where appropriate, have effective restraint of trade clauses.
What types of demand letters make recipients race to comply?
A high quality demand letter correctly identifies the parties and issues, tells your story supported by evidence, and specifies the law and its solutions. In their level of detail they are like running a court case in a letter. Most importantly they engage the reader with the persuasive facts, from which the law follows.
Recipients of these demand letters, and their lawyers, comply because they more quickly perceive the likely negative end result of non-compliance. Sometimes a second or third letter is needed to reply to responses. Founding a first demand letter on thorough research removes scope for surprises in subsequent responses. Hence issues can be nipped in the bud rather than in months or years of paper chases in court.
Why is no response to a demand letter reply good news?
Silence can be golden. When we send a reply to a demand letter and get no response, it’s often the best result that can be expected. It usually means the other side has given up on reading the reply. So the good news is that with one reply letter you can get on with your life and business.
Can you write a letter for me to send?
Sometimes we judge it best to draft an email or letter for a client to send. Keeping your lawyer out of the picture avoids the other side rushing off to get a lawyer of its own. Direct communication can often settle arguments, while people who only communicate indirectly, especially when represented by a litigious lawyer, may revert to bald denials and pure technicalities.
Taking command of communication puts you in control, makes you look good, helps avoid tit-for-tat arguments. Call to tell us your situation for us to guide you to resolve the case yourself.
What do you need to begin drafting?
We need all your relevant communications and documents ideally set out in a chronology of events form. Ask us to email the form to you.
What's the cost of a demand letter or reply?
Fees vary. In serious matters the fees can range between about $770 to $2,200 (both inclusive of GST). All that for a letter? Yes. The alternative is doing less customisation work, not resolving a matter early and ending up in a court case. Court cases invariably involve no guarantee as to what the result might be, whether any result will be acceptable or final.
We’ll provide a fixed price after we:
• take your instructions,
• do an initial review of your chronology of events, and
• read any written communications, agreements and other documents.
The fee for a demand letter or a reply letter to a demand often ranges from $880 to $2,200 (inclusive of GST).
The fee varies depending on the complexity of your dispute and situation.
Our demand letters are comprehensive aiming for brisk resolution of disputes. They set out the detailed facts, a statement of applicable law and a list of specific demands with a deadline.
Our reply letters, where appropriate, likewise deconstruct and respond to the other side’s statement of facts, law and demands aiming to efficiently resolve matters in dispute.
• A chronology of events
• Legal agreements between the parties
• Correspondence between the parties relevant to a dispute
• Evidentiary documents, eg: examples of use of a trade mark in dispute invoices, policy documents, examples of infringing use of copyright material