Never Refer To Counsel In Argument Resist the impulse in Court to address opposing counsel directly always address through the Court. It will keep you more civil and calmer (and it's what the Court wants anyway).
Understand the claim. The first step is to carefully review the claim. Layout the terms. Be specific when offering a settlement. Include a tempting payout. The key is to make an appealing offer that still undercuts the original demand. Give a response timeframe.
A lawyer is not prohibited from calling another party's attorney or another member of the party's attorney's firm as a witness, either in discovery or at trial, where such attorney may have unprivileged knowledge relevant to the case or unprivileged knowledge reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible
Look carefully at the letter's contents. Check to see who sent the letter. Review the substance of the letter or email. Review the situation and the facts. Determine how best to proceed. Consider whether you should notify your insurance company that you have received a legal threat.
Never Refer To Counsel In Argument Resist the impulse in Court to address opposing counsel directly always address through the Court. It will keep you more civil and calmer (and it's what the Court wants anyway).
A summary of the original incident with any factual disputes highlighted. Evidence to support the version of events provided in the Settlement Demand Letter. An outline of any relevant legal standards that apply to the matter. A settlement offer and terms/timeline for acceptance.
A stipulation is an agreement between two parties that is submitted to the judge for approval.A written Stipulation and Order includes the parties' agreement, both of their notarized signatures, and the judge's signature. Once signed by the judge, the agreement becomes a legally binding order.
But by default, communications to the other side are addressed to the designated attorney-in-charge/top-named lawyer, with cc's to everyone else. In a rare situation where you are sending a letter specifically to multiple attorneys as opposed to the other side as a whole, it's Dear Messrs. Smith and Jones, Dear Ms.
Opposing counsel call each other 'friend' in increasingly popular SCOTUS lingo. The Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is increasingly using the word friend to refer to opposing counsel in oral arguments, a term also picked up by the lawyers appearing before the court.