Changes Coming to Oscar Michelen's Defense Letter Program

[Matthew Chan]

For nearly 4 years, Oscar Michelen's Defense Letter Program has been the sole standard and torch-bearer of affordable legal representation for hundreds of people receiving extortion letters. The only major change that occurred was in 2011, when the cost of the letter program increased from $150 to $195.

The good news is there will NOT be a price increase.  He is holding the line.  However, there will be MAJOR changes to streamline the operational and communication process with Oscar's office. In the past, I have largely stayed quiet in operational matters relating to Oscar's office.

However, I have recently been made aware that the ongoing cost and support of the Letter Program has grown tremendously threatening the very existence of the Letter Program. Some it relates to administrative costs such as merchant fees, postage, other supplies.  But the BIGGEST growing cost has been with Oscar's time by PEOPLE INSINUATE THEIR WAY IN TO GET FREE CONSULTATION TIME by email or by phone!  It hurts the overall servicing of the legitimate paying clients.

It has been said repeatedly that Oscar gives plenty.  The ELI videos, articles, forum posts, legal opinions, and legal research is evidence of that.  Because of the high-volume of help requests, people who want "free" have to be happy with what we designate as free.  Otherwise, you will be turned away.  It is the only way to keep the Letter Program affordable.  There cannot be personal time or personal email communication with anyone who does not pay the nominal fee.

If that is not good enough, then you are on your own. But we cannot have this "I only want a couple of minutes" or "I want to see if you can help me" thing.

I have been actively in contact with the Oscar and his office manager the past week working out the details.  All future emails will soon be rerouted to a paralegal for screening, the ability to directly message Oscar on the ELI Forums will be deactivated, Oscar's email address will be removed, and incoming phone calls will be directed to voicemail.

Unfortunately, this heavy-handed approach is now required because there are many who have ignored what we have said.  They think they are the only people receiving letters and somehow entitled to personal attention.  While we want to help and serve, neither Oscar and I are working or operating within a charitable, non-profit organization. We have real financial responsibilities to the businesses we work in.  We have had to creatively find ways to to help and serve the masses without financially hurting ourselves.

The people who have snuck and begged their way in have been subsidize by those who legitimately paid a nomimal fee for personal service.

We will have MORE information and details for those who are interested in the Defense Letter Program. We will expand the program.  But to those who have abused Oscar's graciousness and goodwill of time, it must stop and this is what it has come to. We have now have to impose "gatekeepers" so Oscar can focus on the important high level issues of negotiating with the stock photo companies, do ongoing legal research, follow current cases, make more videos, post more frequently on the forums, and, yes, speak with me.  Even I have to compete for time and that upsets me because I work closely with Oscar.

The scores of people who have successfully pecked and taken Oscar's time (which is being tracked in NY) to such a large and measurable degree has taken a financial toll.  It has begun to have a detrimental impact on the entire viability of the Letter Program.  This is why no other law firms have jumped in to launch their own Letter Program.  That is unacceptable to me and those of you that know me, I don't believe in sitting on the sidelines. If I see a problem, I jump in to try to help solve it, not wait until it is too late.  This is why I helped brainstorm the idea in 2008 of the Letter Program to help and serve many people in an affordable way.  This is why now in 2012 I am inserting myself to help reinvent and restructure the program.

The reason why I am so involved with this new process is that having a legal resource such as Oscar has been vitally important. We will be using the resources of the ELI website & ELI forums to help disseminate information to many people but also integrate it into the process. For the short-term, I will be in close contact with Oscar's office manager as we make this transition.

In the days and weeks to come, you will see ELI website and ELI Forum changes with new instructions on the updated Defense Letter Program.

Thanks for your understanding.

Matthew Chan
Founder of ELI

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

This should be a sticky post!

I think what most people don't realize or fail to think about, is the fact that time is money, Oscar has many more pressing issues on his plate than the Letter Program. Most people probably say to themselves, "I only need 5 minutes, whats the harm?" problem is that 5 minutes probably turns into 15 minutes, multiply that by say 20 calls, thats 5 HOURS of answering questions, that have most likely been addressed on these forums multiple times!

Making changes and streamlining this program is a step in the right direction and will not only better serve ELI, but will also better serve Oscar in the long run, so he can focus on his practice while at the same time remaining an integral part of ELI.