The Rules, The Disclaimer, and other legalese

Let’s get some rules out of the way to protect both you and me. As you can see, this is a public forum, and we’re all just hanging out here, shooting the breeze. My answers are for fun, information, and entertainment as I give you some general information that may, or may not, help you out.

Nothing in this blog, or my askalawyer website, is intended to be “legal advice.” Contacting me via email, post, message board, or other means that link you here does not create an attorney-client privilege or an attorney-client relationship.

Any question you send may be posted for the world to see and answered in my blog, on my website, or elsewhere. I won’t use names or addresses in any post, but your questions to me are not private, privileged, or confidential.

What all this mean is that I AM NOT your lawyer and you shouldn’t consider me your lawyer. By sending me an email and asking me a question, you acknowledge that you understand all of this, are agreeing with all of this, and are waiving the right to complain about any of this after the fact.

You shouldn’t use my answers as a substitute for your own lawyer. Under the guidelines set out by the various Bar Associations, and according to the ethical obligations imposed on attorneys (yes, we do have a few!), and mostly because I want you to know that you do not have a cause of action against me if you don't like my answers, I cannot, and am not intending to, advise you as in a "lawyer-client relationship."

I will apply general legal concepts to your questions, but remember, because the laws vary from state to state (and country to country -- this IS the Internet, after all) you should take what I say with a grain of salt.

Also remember that I'm not up there on the top shelves, pulling down the dusty law books and doing in-depth research to answer your questions. All I'm doing here is shooting from the hip with a quick answer that, with luck, will help you out a bit. Or not.

Warning: I cannot guarantee that I will be able to respond to your questions. I am ridiculously far behind in answering questions that people have been kind enough to send me over the years. My hope for this blog is that I will be able to catch up some. However, I get bunches of questions and it takes time to sift through them and get answers out. I have been trying to answer them all, but it ain't easy, folks, so bear with me. Hey, it's hard work being lawyer-like AND entertaining (which is half the fun of doing this)!

I used to believe that I would be able to personally answer all of your questions but experience tells me that that ain’t happening anytime soon, so just bear with me. I’ll try to answer your question as quickly as I can. If you don’t get an answer, it doesn’t mean that your question was bad, or I didn’t know the answer. All it means is I haven’t yet gotten to it. I will post some of the more entertaining questions and answers here for your reading enjoyment -- and to help folks with similar problems.

Finally, if you have an urgent matter (like you're sitting in a county lock-up somewhere, waiting for bail money, or you have a court date tomorrow), or if you already believe that you need a lawyer, do not waste time e-mailing questions to me and waiting for an answer! Go get your own lawyer! God only knows when I'll get through my e-mail to find your question, and you don't want to be stuck waiting for an answer here which may or may not help you. If you need action now, take action now.

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