When writing a letter, the salutation and closing ifs of significant importance. Generally speaking, the salutation depends on if we know the recipient or not. The closing of the correspondence is decided by the salutation.
When contacting a law firm or company and we do not know the recipients name:
Dear Sir or Madam
Some firms lawyers prefer to use
Dear Sirs
closing: Yours faithfully
Woman
Mrs ‘name’ (married woman)
Miss ‘name’ (unmarried woman)
Ms (unknown if the woman is married or not)
Pronounced /məz/ may be used at the request of the recipient or because the letter writer does not know. Like the other salutations, it is acceptable to use verbally for the same reasons.
Closing: Yours sincerely
2 women, names unknown
Dear Mesdames
Closing: yours faithfully
Man
2 men, names unknown – Dear Sirs
closing: your faithfully
Married couple, names known
Dear Mr and Mrs (name)
Dear Mr and Mr (name)
Dear Mrs and Mrs (name)
closing: yours sincerely
other details
the date
Generally speaking, writers can choose the style that they prefer. The min point to remember that there are differences in formats between the US and UK:
UK DD/MM/YY
US MM/DD/YY
References
Lawyers often will include a reference in correspondence. This normally appears under the date which is underneath the senders address.
Typical sentences
There are phrases which are common to legal correspondence:
- Further to…
- We are instructed by….
- We refer to your letter of…
- We look forward to hearing from you.
- If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
What other phrases do you know?
_____
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