Legal Advice
Legal advice is simply defined as the providing of a formal opinion regarding the law or legal procedure(s) by an attorney (officer of the court) in exchange for financial compensation.
Advice that is given free of charge is referred to as pro bono publico or for the public good. Many attorneys today provide some annual amount of pro bono service. There are also agencies such as Legal Aid that provide legal advice for low-income and indigent people.
Legal advice is not the same as legal information
Legal information is the reiteration of legal fact. It is information that can be provided from signs, parking meters, private property, etc., and is considered to be equal to a warning from a law enforcement officer. Printed materials including directions, how-to manuals and other documents containing legal information are also not deemed as legal advice.
How is legal advice obtained?
Legal advice is obtained from attorneys either directly or through their employees such as paralegals. The charge for such advice varies widely depending on the attorney and the complexity of the matter he must deal with in terms of the federal, state and local laws that are in effect at the time. The highest costs for attorneys occur when he or she must represent a client in a court of law. Extensive legal work such as the preparation of motions, pleadings and writs are also charged against a client’s account based upon the hours the attorney must commit to the case. Attorneys also prepare many documents such as wills, bankruptcy petitions, intellectual property filings such as patents and copyrights, real estate materials, trusts and contracts for employment, etc.
Today, legal advice is readily obtained online
The modern Internet contains many websites where legal advice is available. These are generally moderately priced and some are even offered as free services. Many Internet services also offer legal forms of every type, insurance advice and more, but this is usually limited to the simpler legal needs that are more or less ‘cut and dried’ and applicable to most people. For complex issues, attorneys online maintain websites to provide general information about their legal specialties and capabilities, but still require all the details for more complex legal matters before legal advice can be provided to clients.
Online attorneys are actually outsource providers
Many of the legal advice websites are not actually run by attorneys. Rather they are in the business of providing well-established information like legal forms and usually have disclaimers on their home pages that clearly state that they are not a substitute for personal advice from a licensed professional. These services, as well as licensed attorneys who have websites, are actually outsource providers while their customers and clients are buyers of outsourced services. This works in much the same way as freelance writers (providers) perform their writing services for individual or corporate buyers.
In matters such as found in criminal law, it is absolutely necessary to seek the legal advice of a qualified, licensed attorney who handles such cases. There is too much to lose to gamble with anyone less qualified.
