One of the more popular pages on the DL Blog is the one dealing with legal forums. Everyday people are hungry for answers. The problem is that lawyers may be reluctant (and for good reason) in giving away any type of advice over the Internet. Why? Well, because they need to meet the client, get retained, review the facts, research the law, provide an opinion and get paid for their services. It would be negligent of lawyers to provide such services without going through this process. There is a risk that recommending something could be taken out of context by a person who doesn’t fully appreciate their unique situation (and all situations are unique). The next thing: the lawyer gets blamed for giving advice. So, with that caveat said and done, legal forums are not typically places where you will find legal advice. Rather, you’ll find legal information which is general guidance rather than specific advice (i.e. doesn’t apply to any particular person).
So here’s an updated list of legal forums I am aware of:
- AdviceScene – These guys just revamped their website. They’re doing some new and cool things in addition to have a general law wiki.
- Ottawa Divorce Forum – This is a forum dedicated to family law and divorce matters. I laughed when I read one category that said: “Family law is a joke and fathers are the punch line” (or something like that).
- IsItLegalTo – U.S. legal forum
- The Attorneys Forum – another U.S. legal forum
- Free Advice – yet another U.S. legal forum
- Expert Law – yet again another U.S. legal forum
So what does this tell you? Well, there are lots of U.S. legal forums, but not that many Canadian ones! Wow. Even though there’s areal hunger for legal information, you’d have to go to individual lawyer websites (assuming they provide answers or information) which could be hard to find as they are generally not search engine optimized (so you can’t search for them online!). But then again: there’s always Dynamic Lawyers if you’re looking for an Ontario lawyer and want to get a quote!
Note: lawbuzz.ca is shut down – apparently permanently.
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