Many people, if they receive a solicitor’s letter, are disproportionally affected by receiving such a letter.
This is understandable as the letter will be written in a formal way and may contain some type of implied or express threat to commence legal proceedings on behalf of the writer’s client. It may be written at the request of a client and is intended to be a shot across the bows of the recipient, and the provision of a service for the solicitor’s client.
They can have a significant effect on the recipient, sending him or her into a panic, like a dog chasing after his tail for a solid five minutes.
When they attend their own solicitor with the letter and seek advice they can be quickly advised as to whether it should be taken seriously or is more in the nature of an empty, formulaic, going through the motions type of threat.
When I am advising I can never be certain that this letter is merely a threat, and my client is unlikely to hear anything further in the matter.
But you will usually have a good deal of confidence as to whether the letter is a piece of live ammunition in a serious war, or simply a blank intended to frighten and warn as to future conduct but go no further.