You have had a letter from a lawyer. Do these three things first

Most people who ring me have a letter in their hand. It arrived that morning, it is two pages long, and it ends with a date. Here is what to do before you do anything else.

Find the date

Somewhere in the letter is a deadline: fourteen days to pay, ten days to respond, a hearing on the 3rd. Write it on the first page. Everything else depends on it, and it is usually shorter than it looks once weekends are counted.

Do not reply yet

A reply written on the day the letter arrives is the one you will wish you had not sent. Anything you write can be quoted back to you. That includes texts, voicemails and a friendly call to “sort it out”.

Gather what you have

The lease, the contract, the emails, the payslips. Put them in date order. A lawyer can tell you more in twenty minutes with the papers than in two hours without them.

Then ring someone. The first call here is free, and about a third of the time the answer is that you do not need me at all.