What is a Flaming Letter? Legal Definitions Series

Welcome to the Legal Definitions Series, a set of short videos designed to explain the meanings of legal words, principles and laws simply, and give law students or non-lawyers a feel for how the mechanisms work and the thinking behind them!

Ahh the good old flaming letter..
A potent, although fairly underhanded tool that most lawyers outright refuse to use (despite what folks think, most lawyers are actually extremely honourable, and will outright reject unethical requests and even the clients who make them).

The term 'Flaming Letter' is slang, and depending on the lawyer's background and the firm and legal culture they come from can actually encompass a wide variety of meanings, from just an angry or 'strongly worded letter' ('strongly worded' has a specific meaning in the legal field, and I'll be covering that another video) to the double sided trap I discuss above.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this video constitutes legal advice, they are intended to give watchers enough information to carry on a casual conversation about law without needing to stop and ask what different terms mean, NOT as a springboard for legal arguments.
If are reading this to help understand legal advice you have been given, always ask the lawyer themselves for clarification if you didn't know the meaning of a word of concept they have mentioned because they may be using a different meaning or plan to apply the concept in a way that I have not covered.
All of the concepts described are broad and I intentionally do not give enough information to determine whether any of the ideas discussed will be explicable in any scenario, hypothetical or literal.