[ryandrake]

Can you expand on how one would educate themselves on this (besides getting a law degree), and how one would determine that they need legal counsel, besides having this vague feeling that they need it? Are there some rules of thumb that a normal, non-lawyer can follow to roughly gauge the seriousness of a written legal threat?

[trentnix]

Hopefully someone more educated than me will chime in, but inevitably a C&D or some other lawyer letter will reference law (for me, it was trademark law) or will reference a contract. I've gotten both kinds, and found that it was easier to educate myself regarding the threats made in reference to the contract than in reference to the law.

Once you do some searching you'll get a better idea of whether you need legal counsel. And just because you receive a letter doesn't mean you need to respond no matter what absurd timeline the demanding letter might have suggested.

Eventually they'll have to put up (and file a lawsuit) or shut up.

[otterley]

A good rule of thumb is that when an attorney sends you a cease and desist letter, you should hire an attorney to read it and give you advice on what to do and/or how to respond -- especially if you are inclined not to assent to the demands made.

I know this, not only as an attorney today, but as someone who (before I got my law degree) did not do this and paid a very high price for my immaturity. Hiring an attorney could have saved me many thousands of dollars.