Right to a reply?

If another solicitor’s firm writes to you, do you have to reply? Solicitors understandably feel a sense of outrage when they write letters to other solicitors on behalf of their client, but don’t get an acknowledgement, let alone a response. A large number of solicitors believe that there is a duty to respond to correspondence from other practitioners. However, one will search the rules of professional conduct in vain to find any such requirement. The reason is not hard to find – what does one do if one’s own client specifically instructs that no response be sent? After all, the client may not want to have anything to do with the matter in question, or to incur the cost that any response might involve. The only exception is to be found in Principle 12.10 of the Guide to Professional Conduct of Solicitors 1999 which states:’A solicitor should deal promptly with communications relating to the matter of a client or former client.’ That must be taken to include a letter sent by another solicitor now instructed by the former client.