If anyone is in danger, start with neither: call 911 and seek an order of protection. When a known person keeps contacting you after you asked them to stop and is not dangerous, a cease and desist letter is the proportionate first step, because continuing after written notice from counsel is a knowing choice a court can weigh later. Workplace harassment, landlord harassment and anonymous or escalating conduct call for a lawyer rather than a letter.
People type "harassment lawyer" into Google at three very different moments: when an ex won't stop texting, when a neighbor has made the hallway unbearable, and when they are genuinely afraid. Those are three different problems with three different first steps, and only one of them starts with a lawyer's letter. This guide sorts them honestly.
If the conduct involves threats of violence, stalking, a weapon, or someone showing up at your home, a letter is the wrong tool and the wrong speed. Call 911. New York courts issue orders of protection, what most people call restraining orders: Family Court against a relative, a current or former spouse or partner, or the other parent of your child, and criminal court against anyone else once the person is arrested or charged. A judge can act quickly. No lawyer's letter does what a court order does, and sending one to a dangerous person can escalate. Letter vs. order vs. order of protection, explained, or take the 60-second check.
New York uses the word in several places. In the Penal Law, harassment is a violation or misdemeanor: repeated conduct intended to alarm or seriously annoy someone with no legitimate purpose, following a person, or threatening them. In housing, "tenant harassment" is a specific claim against landlords. In employment, harassment is a discrimination claim with its own agencies and deadlines. And in everyday life, the word covers the ex, the former business partner, the neighbor, or the stranger online who simply won't stop. Which bucket you are in decides who the right lawyer even is.
For the most common situation, a known person who keeps contacting you after you've asked them to stop, and who is not dangerous, a cease and desist letter is the proportionate move. It does three things a lawsuit can't do quickly: it puts the demand in writing on a date you can prove, it states the legal consequences of continuing, and it tells the person that someone with a bar number is now watching. Continuing after written notice from counsel is a knowing choice that a court can later weigh against the person.
The letter is right when: you know who the person is and where to send it; the contact is unwanted but not threatening; you want it to stop more than you want money; and you haven't yet filed anything in court. The harassment cease and desist letter ($499 flat) is drafted for exactly this, the contact log, the dates, the demand, the consequences, signed by a New York attorney and sent within 48 hours.
Workplace harassment. Discrimination and hostile-environment claims run through the New York State Division of Human Rights, the NYC Commission on Human Rights, or the EEOC, with deadlines that matter and a choice of forum that can lock you out of court. That is representation, not a letter.
Landlord harassment. In New York City, tenant harassment is a claim you bring in Housing Court, and HPD takes complaints. A demand letter can document the pattern, but the remedy lives in court.
Ongoing, escalating, or anonymous. If the person is anonymous online, a letter has nowhere to go; identifying them takes a court proceeding, and the judge must first see a real claim. If the conduct has already escalated past a letter, they ignored one, or it got worse, the next step is an order of protection or, where the facts support one, a civil claim, and that is where a lawyer earns the fee.
Document everything first: screenshots with dates, a log of calls and visits, the names of anyone who witnessed it. Then, if no one is in danger, send the cease and desist, it is the cheapest step, and if it doesn't work it becomes Exhibit A. If it's ignored or the conduct escalates, you now have a clean record for the order of protection or the lawsuit. Hochman Law PC takes consultations on harassment matters that have moved past the letter stage.
It can, when the person is known and not dangerous: continuing after a written demand from counsel is a knowing choice with legal consequences. No result is guaranteed. It cannot stop someone who is dangerous. That is what an order of protection is for.
Usually not at first. A cease and desist letter that logs the contact and demands it stop is the proportionate step. If it's ignored, or if there are threats, seek an order of protection.
It can be. Penal Law harassment covers conduct intended to alarm or seriously annoy with no legitimate purpose, following someone, and threats. Report threats and other criminal conduct to the police; the letter is for unwanted contact that has not reached that point.
That is a discrimination matter with agency deadlines and forum-election rules. Get an employment lawyer before filing anything, and don't start with a letter.