My daughter had to defend a prosecution against her. The solicitor she engaged let the case drag on for 2 years and cost my daughter £17000. The plaintive offered no evidence on court day and the case was dismissed. My Daughter engaged another firm of solicitors to sue for malicious prosecution and they said she had a good case. After 3 months and another £7000 including advice from a Barrister they advised her she would probably lose and be liable for the other sides costs so she dropped the case. So basically they all ‘ piss in the same pot’

This country needs more people like BBB. I have the utmost respect for those who will defy the establishment no matter what and help out those less fortunate.

My late father had some legal work done many years ago now (this was in Scotland). He sat in the solicitors office and was advised the work would cost "about £60". A few weeks later, he got a bill for £120. So it went to court. He represented himself. He sat there, and watched this law firm walk a group or barristers into the court room, all wearing their infamous wigs. The case lasted all of what must have been 2 minutes, where the judge asked him why he was here and what the issue was. The judge turned around to the group of barristers they had on this case and said words to the effect of "I have no idea why you have brought this in front of a court and wasted court time today" and ruled in his favour. He paid his £60, but they had to pay him all his costs and of course all the court costs as well. Apparently, their jaws dropped in disbelief at what just happened. Wish I could have been a fly on the court room wall that day. Not all heroes wear wigs. RIP dad.

"The Weekend Letter" is a technique many councils and government departments in order to delay any attempt to answer back or appeal.

Didn't the post office use all of these tactics when prosecuting SPMs?

This video is the best yet. Theres no better role in life than to be the defender of truth and a supporter of that which is ethically correct. The world needs more of this.

If this was bingo, I'd get full house for all of these tactics being visited on my company over the years.

I was to go to zoom mediation during lockdown the defense statement was emailed to me 10 minutes before. I canceled the meeting to make sure I could read it all properly.

In a dispute with a local solicitor which dragged on for a few months, my habit of keeping every correspondence and logging visits to his practice was the key to winning against him. The solicitors governing body finding in my favour. His letters asking if I required any work to be done by him where the bulk of his fee he considered I should pay, charged at £25.00 per letter for touting for business did not help his case. Had I discarded them my evidence would have been lost.

BRILLIANT! Thank you so much for giving encouragement to people like us. I am an 80 year old pensioner, grievously wronged on many well-documented accounts, who must now sue a health trust to get some semblance of justice for my family. It would take far to long to describe their admitted DP and Human Rights abuses - I mention this only to place our admiration for your channel into context - and this is our problem, not yours. But - thank you. Your videos are superbly useful to the 'little people' who are sometimes so grievously harmed by large organizations, or NHS Trusts, who have huge power, wield this power to cause serious harm - and then spend vast sums denying the fact.

Had a dispute with a neighbour who in one of the emails basically had a line that said if I didn't comply with his demands then he indicated he would drive up legal costs and even stated the cost of how much a solicitor's letter was! He probably thought he was being clever, but I knew that would be a great one to bring up in court. Decided just to block his email - if anything was going to happen I'd get a letter. Heard nothing ever again

I agree that the weekend letter is intended to worry you and ruin your weekend, which is disgusting. 😔

What's puzzling me is why the law firm who threatened the guy with breach of trademark legislation didn't think "What if he seeks legal advice and discovers he's not in breach, we could look silly and he might complain against us"

I have encountered cases where solicitors have ruthlessly exploited a litigant in persons lack of knowledge of the law. For example in one case a solicitor told a litigant in person, that if the judgment went against him, he would automatically get a CCJ for six years. In practice it would have been removed if he had paid the judgment debt within 30 days of the judgment. The intention seems to have been to panic him into signing a consent order on very unfavorable terms.

Good Afternoon Blackbelt Barrister. Thank you for your helpful Video. You a decent man that is why you are very blessed.

I have had this threatening letter / demand for payment treatment from a private parking company over a two year period arriving on Fridays, weekends the day before my birthday and a day before Xmas Eve. Pure psychological harassment. We live in a very "unbalanced" society

A common bad faith negotiation is putting 'without prejudice' on the letter (which means it cannot be used in court), but used as a vehicle to make veiled threats outside court. If you receive a letter marked without prejudice that is not a genuine attempt to settle early, send it on to the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) with a complaint against the issuing legal team. Bonus - it costs you nothing, and unlike the police regulator (IOPC) the SRA actually has teeth.

😅 you've just listed every tactic our neighbours' solicitor used during a 5 year dispute over nothing. It has all fizzled away for the moment but we keep wondering what their next frivolous claim will be. This was refreshingly accurate and reassuring to know we are not the only ones... thank you!

Sorry that you were bullied at school. Love your channel and thank you for all that you do.

Very Admirable off you to give your time for free. An extremely rare thing on youtube these days. Cheers

My biggest pet peeve with the legal system is the sense of entitlement that certain solicitors and even barristers carry in to Court. They often perceive someone as below them and will actually lie about what can and can't happen and even what someone appearing in Court can and can't do. A case I attended as a McKenzie Friend for a family member regarding residency of their child. As a courtesy I introduced myself to the other party's representative (who happened to be a barrister on this occasion) prior to entering the Court and my status as a McKenzie Friend. He replied along the lines that he had no objection to me entering the Court but "reminded" me that as I was not a qualified legal representative (I hadn't told him either way), I was not permitted to speak in the Court under any circumstance. I obviously knew that I wasn't allowed to question the other side directly but in this type of hearing that wasn't appropriate or necessary. I was allowed to talk to the family member I was with discretely, take notes, and ensure that all items on the papers were discussed (at this point the other side had, in my opinion, deliberately ignored several points). It was clear to me that this particular barrister was not only trying to control my family member but also the Court. My family member was struggling to articulate a concern they had and I leaned in gently to them and gave them an appropriate sentence. The Court asked me who I was and my status. I told them who I was, what I was, my qualifications and apologised that I hadn't spoken out as the other party's representative had informed me that I wasn't permitted to talk at all. The other party's lawyer actually blushed terribly. The Court asked him if what I said was true and he had to admit it was. He was ejected from the room immediately and called back after the hearing had finished. I can only assume that he got one heck of a dressing down as he never reappeared for the other party.

Absolutely great video. May I ask - who / what audits these practices? - dirty behaviour is common practice and shall remain so, until such time proper protocols are monitored. what are the penalties? - are they proportional, doubtful.

I always get the "holiday letter" when they know I am away they send the papers funnily enough, although the weekend letter is good for me, because I read all the law over the weekend in my free time and I know what to come back with for a solicitor to look at.

You are a true inspiration 🎉

Another helpfull video, I'm just experiencing dirty tactics with DWP (universal credit) they have failed to assess me for limited capacity to work claiming their is no record of my forms. Citizens advice bureau have helped me confirmed I sent forms back in January 2023 i will find out on the 15th February if they are complying with procedures if they don't i might require your services. Other tactics to keep me quiet are sanctions after coming out of hospital, changing appointments even telling me I am not allowed to find a partime job to increase finances for my business C.A.B. have implied my case could be addressed by MP Jeremy Hunt sorry for a long comment but alot of points to get accross this will be my 2nd court case against a government body

Love to hear some of those stories about thwarting thrives!!

One more to add is falsifying the date of the letter in order to provoke a panicked response. For example, a solicitor once sent me a letter which arrived less than two weeks after a fender bender. In it he rudely and aggressively demanded my insurance details within two weeks. The letter was dated two weeks prior to receipt, i.e. before the accident. I pointed this out in my reply, and asked why his client had not passed them on, having been provided at the scene. His client had, after all, managed to pass him my name and address.

Another one I’ve come across, specifically relating to the GDPR is that a company when it is asked for data it doesn’t want to give out is, they’ll say, we’ll need a court order to release that, in the hope that their antagonist will back off.

If this was on the Police tactics it would be a 10 hour video 📹

We are blessed to have you too!

BBB, Very interesting and informative ! Thank you for the video and good morning from the U.S.A.

As usual, a great chat. had the weekend letter several times which I have used to my advantage.

One item that ought to go on the list is the requirement for a speedy response that simply isn't necessary . I've had letters from solicitors demanding a response within 7 days for no other reason than it tries to put pressure on the recipient. However, I had the benefit of excellent advice many years ago from John Kane a Registered Architect, a Barrister, a lecturer in construction law and an extremely well respected legal expert on construction and building contract law. John's advice when receiving any letter with a deadline was to respond expeditiously with "Thank you for your letter of... I note the contents and will reply in due course". It goes without saying that where there are prescribed procedures and timescale these must be adhered to. Just not replying to a letter with a spurious deadline does not look good in court but sending the holding letter buys time for a more considered and less rushed response as well as showing the other party that you will not be intimidated.

A family member is facing many of these tactics in an employment tribunal case. Multi billion $ US company's legal representation lying to the court, delaying discovery, stating documents don't exist when some have been supplied via DSAR, making very low offer to settle (2% of claim), sending 'without prejudice' letter stating all costs will be recovered if she doesn't win more than claimed, sending 'weekend letters' and documents, claiming to court she is delaying handing docs over when they have been given and confirmed. Legal rep appears to be making their fees a priority, not a case settlement. Discovery docs show how much at fault they were and prove her case. Tribunal set for a full 5 days with panel of 3.

I love the fact that you explain in detail what your reasoning and thought process is behind your thoughts/actions. I also think it is great that you decided to stick up to the "Big Man" and became a Barrister. Very inspiring! Thank you for doing what you do. Educational and informative.. but never legal advice ;)

Loved your points about if you are a litigant in person

You need to do a police one. Perhaps with some Bingo Cards. Play some videos of interactions, with a bingo card for the tactic the police are using.

One that caught me out many years ago; I was sole witness and victim of a RTI; the court date was set and I was notified, then about a week before the date, I received what appeared to be a letter from the court, postponing the court case by a month, so I cancelled plans to travel for my appearance. A few days after the original date, I got a letter stating that, as I had failed to show - the charges had been dropped. If I had been older, perhaps I could have formally complained about the fake court letter; but at the time, I was too inexperienced to know what to do.

Thank you for all your advice

Those who are calling us thin skinned are reflecting what they are, thin skinned, cowards expressing themselves as such, and what is more these cowards would have nothing if we that stand by what is right, and fight for what is right kept silent. So unthinking, so ungrateful are those who simply call us down for their own immature character. Excellent, honest introduction. What you say is perfectly correct, and made me smile about sending letters out at the last minute in order to try and spoil your weeken. Stll makes me smile when I get them, now and then. Subtle with the Bar Council, so subtal. I always ask the aggressor to justify what they are saying, or withdraw, and keep on because they cannot justify. Just did one with the police and they backed off with their unjustified threats. Wrong footing, ambush attacks I also have had to deal with and called the judge to suspend matters until having chance to look into them. Litigant in person, as to what you say, I have always done this, knowing that my basis, foundation is strong, that the other parties is week, so I have reasoned argument with the other side, costing them thousands. In one case the other side gave up because of cost. Nice one about post codes as I have had that done to me, and the defendants made out that they knew nothing of it. Miss direction in faulty goods is also, as you say, done. If the item is faulty, and the sellers agrees, no amount of using the word expert can change matters. The thing speaks for itself. It is both bad for business and show dishonesty of a business to others, who will not wish to have anything to do with them. Treat people honestly and the majority will thank you for it, and advertise your business as good

Can you please give us your opinion on exposing social services and the corruption within the family courts? I think that would be good for everyone, thanks

Hearing your upbringing and how you dealt with it really bring down to east why you are doing here what you doing( pardon my English…… hit a bully in class and got kicked from the exam….. good thing as it was the lessons I was put in detour for lol) Glad your here and with every post you deliver ….. your reason reason is becoming more relatable for me Please please please help the people that didn’t have your strength to deal with it as positivity as you did For me personally……. I can see your heart starting to come through the more you show your experience ….. showing us your not just a barrister Again I don’t explain myself well but hope my message was taken sincerely You’re a good man…….

Slightly different matter however many years ago in Australia a man won a civil matter and then sent his legal representatives a card to say thank you. They sent him a bill for opening and reading the card.

Love this channel. So easy to follow. You Sir are a star you've my utmost respect. Wished you was around 40yrs back. Good lad, keep it up. But do watch out for ides of March type. Atb Dave

I’m a new subscriber here and just wanted to say that I really like your presentation style and come across as someone that’ll be great to chat to in real life. Appreciate the time you take to explain everything super clearly.

Thank you for being here with your unique experience! I am a pro se litigator and I always do some of these types of winning tactics. Never Lie to the Court in person or on papers because the courts will not hesitate to financially Sanction litigants for lying I had a lawyer call me one time and complain that he was not going to make any money on suing me because of these types of tactics

Another one, particularly when there is a litigant in person, is the creation of spurious counterclaims to elevate the claims track beyond small claim.

I was in court for a direction hearing on the 5th of January as a litigant in person, Jason. They sent a trainee solicitor who had never presented a case before. He argued with the Judge about me presenting a skeleton argument. The Judge explained that I have no legal training and I am not able to present such an argument. He persisted and you could see the Judge visibly annoyed. This was after he barged into the court and the Judge had not finished her previous case. He questioned him as to why he hadn't waited to be brought in by the usher. BTW, Jason. This too is a massive multinational that I'm taking to court to have an NDA annulled.

All my past litigation notifications were received on Christmas Eve some giving me 14 days to respond. Too much of a coincidence.

Love your channel. Also love the fact that in your previous video, whoever the solicitor was wrote to "Mr Chapona"

What a brilliant, helpful video. You’re so right it’s the fear thing which is used. Thank you.

Thank you BB, please keep up the GREAT work

Well said, Daniel. My favourite "weekend letter" was a client who turned up on 30 December, very grateful to see us open, holding a letter dated 16 December that had been put in the Christmas post and had arrived that morning. It expressed the urgency of the matter and threatened all sorts of trade mark infringement proceedings if action was not taken within 14 days... i.e, by the 30th. I emailed the London law firm that had sent it, and received an autoreply noting the office was shut until 10 January... They returned to their office to find a copy of the invalidation proceedings lodged in respect of their (invalid) trade mark registration, and an offer to waive the claim to unjustified threats if they conceded the invalidation and paid our costs.

Every letter I got in relation to dealing with a certain company was a 'weekend' letter

thank you so much for all the information 👍

Very true Daniel but due r to the fact I don't want to speak on media but God bless you glad to see you looking better that sad look has gone always remember you deserve everything that comes your way you are a beacon. Of light

Most of these dirty tricks also work for office politics

Just try dealing with some insurance companies. It's like they use a similar list as a "how-to" manual.

Companies and Councils with a franking machine often back date letters and send it so you receive the demand close to the deadline to do something, or even after it has passed? This includes bailiffs , so they can run up costs?

In my experience dealing with issues that may end up in some form of legal judgement it is best to keep in mind that any action or communication you take can be seen to be fair and reasonable in the particular circumstances. This often highlights the unreasonableness of the other party which can have a significant influence on any final judgement or outcome. Sometimes by using unfair tactics your opponent backs themselves into a corner which their legal advisers realise will place them at a significant disadvantage if the matter goes to trial and recomends settling. You just need to be consistent in your persistence to get justice.

I got into a disagreement over a bill about 20 years ago, ended up involving the bank as they were also being quite naughy with the direct debit but that's another story. They made a point of informing me that it's an offence under the civil reforms act to not attempt resolving the matter outside of court first in their final letter. Strangly I didn't heard anything back after pointing out I've sent various emails, letters (some registered), faxes and phone calls over the preceding 12 months to ask what the amount is for, and that neither them nor their client had ever attempted to actually provide an answer.

Thankyou for that!!!

Bad behaviour should always be called out. Good on you Daniel for sticking up for yourself.

Another dubious tactic is providing vast amounts of irrelevant material during discovery/disclosure, so that the other party's lawyers have to waste time ploughing through thousands of irrelevant emails etc, increasing legal fees. This tactic is especially effective in the US, where there's no way of recovering costs from the other party.

I was at court yesterday due to non payment of a parking charge notice. Thankfully the case was dismissed, which was a result but the solicitors tried a number of these tactics. It's really useful for regular everyday people to know this type of stuff because when you are willing to stand up against bullies and injustice and you are up against such knowledge and expertise and a client that has the funds for a good legal team, you often feel hopeless.

Thank you once again for another informative video. Very useful information 🙏

Thank you Daniel ❤🕊👍🏼

It has been many years since I opened anything other than personal letters on a weekend. Utility bills or anything. Personal letters and greetings cards only at weekends.

Thanks and respect BBB; you are genuinely a good man. Mair strength tae yer airm. Same goes for Robert.

Very interesting, thank you for this excellent and informative video.

I agree, I had been to family court but the mother broke the order, i sold everything to take her back to court and again she ignored the courts, I couldn't afford to go back to court again, she admitted her reasons why she broke the order and still never had any consequences put on her, she knew exactly what she was doing. Now the child involved is suffering the consequences of her breech of the order. It disgusts me how this is allowed to happen.

I was recently told that in civil cases recording of calls and emails are not acceptable. This seems wrong in a modern society especially considering the price of stamps/signed for.

My faith in mankind is restored knowing good guys like yourself are among us. 👍

"The mills of God..." and all that,Daniel!Really useful stuff.Thank you.

From my experience with Litigation when you are representing yourself against someone with a Lawyer is how they try to belittle, bully and intimidate you The favourite if they have your email is to send a contentious message late on a Friday.

When I had a long running dispute with my bank, which I won, they always sent letters at the weekend!

A few decades ago, I was a victim of a solicitor whose poor office organisation was about to cost me a lot of money. I went to see them and the lady solicitor saw a 22 year old with a baby about 6 months old on her knee. She got a surprise as my story unfolded and she realised that her office was to blame for the problem I had. That visit saved me a lot of money as she paid for my solicitor to sort out the problem her office created. I was so innocent I didn't realise how much I was doing to encourage that response.

This was very informative, thank you very much.

Fantastic , Thank you. BBB

you are a pleasure to listen to. the amount of passion and work you put i your video shows itself very well. the subject matter of this video is very important and good o know. without knowing this I would cower and submit to such threats but now I would seek legal advice and stand my ground.

The first 2 minutes on this, will help re-build some inner strength. This I feel, was very much needed.........Thank you. " you had me at hello" 😅

You keep up the good work buddy, I sued a company and only used the company name I had a good solicitor and good barrister as it went to crown court

I have heard it suggested the some HR professionals use the "weekend letter" tactic when sending termination notices. Not sure whether this is true however it makes sense an employee is unlikely to be as disruptive in the workplace if they have had the weekend at home to think about things. It also follows that employees wishing to leave a role can time delivering their Notice, to their boss, to suit their own ends.

You sometimes get a letter with what I call 'Legal Jargon' in other words most people don't know what half of it means and get scrared and panic, especially if it is one of those weekend letters.

Excellent video Dan, may I suggest one more, the "switch of personnel" tactic.

thank you sir

Lawyers have dirty tactics. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. 😲

A very good and informative video BBB. I have had a solicitor's letter from a toxic neighbour regarding a fence they want to put up ( for years the neighbour had this fence in their garage ) stating they had planning permission and we can not stop it ! Well first off if they had permission why are you telling me, just get on with it. However, we wrote back to the solicitor in question stating case history, police involvement against the neighbour on this issue, and the ace card we have was a Deed of covenant in her deeds. Which the neighbours accidently forgot to mention the solicitor, and he did not ask why in the past if you have planning permission the said fence had not gone up ! Well we sent one letter stating his conduct, his threating language in the letter, that will are reporting him ( for the same reasons BBB stated in his previous video ) and we will see him and his client in court. Strangely enough the solicitors stop representing the toxic neighbour ( this was back up with a phone call we made to the solicitor office ), and I believe the solicitor grape vine meant the neighbour found it very difficult to get another solicitor to act for them. Morale this story is do not PANIC, read the letter careful, and start constructing a counter letter. We did not engage a solicitor to respond as we did all our selves. BBB is correct in mentioning if you keep sending in letters requesting action or information. The time taken by the solicitor or their team will be billed to their client, and I am sure we cost the toxic neighbour a fair bit of money ! ! !

The Wodge. You send, at the last minute, a huge wodge of papers. Everything you can find that's relevant to the case. Copies of Legislation. Copies of case law. Copies of Newspaper articles. Book references. No index of course to help them Then every 20 or 30 pages you put the really interesting document that you want to spring on the other side. Will they read the entire document to check?

I quit private practice because it was my view that solicitors were more interested in how much they can bill clients, rather than achieving the best outcome early.

What I have seen as standard practice is for solicitors to draw out negotiations deliberately. I instructed one to take another person to court at the outset because I had exhausted all other options with them directly and had strong evidence supporting my claim. The solicitor insisted on letter sending which simply reestablished what I already knew and took over £2000 of costs. I had to push them to initiate a high court action claim, but as soon as I authorised payment (verbally), the opposing solicitor immediately capitulated and meet all my demands. Likely this cost the other person a similar amount of money. I believe their solicitor told them they could solve their case and have me pay all the costs despite them having no defence. Later I sued the opposing solicitor for a related issue in the small claims court, they held out until I produced every piece of evidence against them (ie letters they had sent to me). Their approach was simply to hold out until there was no hope, when they knew they were at fault. Both these cases where IMO open and shut cases, but yet the solicitor denied everything until they had no other option, probably hoping I'd give up.

Congratulations on your subscriber numbers BBB, protecting others is honourable, maybe you could wear a cape and mask when you challenge these coward bullies

Great video - excellent 👍

lawyers aint the only ones that send weekend letters ... debt collectors/benefits agency's/and some suppliers do it... so your not able to contact them over the weekends!! to sort it out!!

Jarndyce V Jarndyce. Bleak House. Charles Dickens, springs to mind. Thank you Daniel.

Thank you.

Tank you for this vid. From personal experience I can identify with many of the points you outlined. I think you are probably the exception not the norm.

Seems KZfaq doesn't like me linking to Bailii! Daniel, you might be interested in the Ferster case of 2016 involving DAC Beachcroft which probably led to some rather uncomfortable moments for the solicitors involved.

I'm guessing that solicitors make a note of when any item arrives for a case, so that they can see if there is a history of very late delivery. As a litigant in person, you would be well advised to do the same.

The other tactic used is the “ Dead letter principle “ where it is claimed a letter was sent to you but in fact, it never was. A firm of solicitors tried this with me and the judge threw out their claim