But wouldn’t the advice be to think before you type? Speaking and typing are quite different. All of us are prone to “slips of the keyboard” that we later regret, that would most likely never slip past our lips in conversation.

If you’re not representing a party, you can talk to a party as though you were a milkman and not a lawyer. And if you are representing a party, you can talk to any non-party, including your opposing party’s witnesses, as though you were their Aunt Fanny calling to see if the baby got over its colic. As a matter of fact, in criminal cases at least, it is unethical for an attorney to advise his witnesses not to talk to the opposing side.

I suspect TH Mahig is a graduate of The Radley Balko School of Law where they teach them to “speak legalese” but not understand it.

I would suggest emailing Patterico because this thread is mostly dead and your question may not get noticed. My very limited understanding (I am not a lawyer, but I’ve followed the thread and links) is that as long as the blogger is not representing anyone involved, they are acting as a private citizen/journalist. It would be much wiser to ask Patterico however… I’m a nurse.

His email is “Patterico” at gmail dot com. (stupid spambots will target any actual address… even in the comments. Good luck.

Maybe you have never been to Philadelphia.

Actually, my Dad wasn’t even there – but the car he once owned was. That was enough for four years of persistent letters from multiple lawyers who tied him to a hit and run because he was once associated with the car and he actually exists.

And that is just one story. There are others.

No, it’s not. It’s the fringes. A good lawyer who has a good case just files a complaint and has a summons served. I loved having the defendant’s attorney call and say “Make a demand” and me saying “It’s in my prayer for relief”.

I’m sensitive to this because I recently had to counter threaten a lawyer with harassment charges to get him to leave my 80s dad alone.

You could just throw the letters in the garbage? I did have one attorney who told me she was genuinely offended that I never responded to her cease and desist letter, but we were able to deal with each other courteously and professionally after she filed suit.

I’m sensitive to this because I recently had to counter threaten a lawyer with harassment charges to get him to leave my 80s dad alone.

Patterico – if you care about this, can you organize a team of lawyers to handle threatening letters sent to chumps like my dad, pro bono? Or at least have a site where their letters can be posted for all to see the garbage they say is the law? Now that would actually make a difference.