Nowadays, you can find legal information virtually anywhere. It can be found on websites, Instagram and blogs. With so much information around it may be tempting to avoid the cost of seeing a lawyer. But is there really a big difference between legal information vs legal advice?
What is legal information?
Legal information is simply information that relates to a legal issue. The purpose of legal information is to to explain, in general terms, how a particular aspect of the law is intended to work. Legal information could apply to anyone. Giving legal information does not create an lawyer-client relationship.
3 reasons why you should not rely on legal information:
- Legal information can become out-of-date very quickly.
- Legal information does not take into account your circumstances. The application of the law in any instance will always depend on the specific facts involved. This is because, for any given scenario, there will usually be more than one legal principle at play. Legal information is not designed or intended to provide a correct and complete solution for every person reading it.
- Legal information is inherently subjective. Legal information is effectively one person’s interpretation of the law. That person’s interpretation might be right, but it also might be wrong.
What is legal advice?
Legal advice is advice given by a lawyer having regard to your specific circumstances. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_advice
To provide legal advice, a lawyer will draw on a combination of resources, including their formal legal training, their experience, primary sources of information, such as relevant statutes and decided cases, and specialised advice from other professionals both within the profession and outside of it (for example accountants and other complementary professions).
Legal advice will tell you how the law actually applies to/impacts a given situation. It requires both knowledge of the law and the ability to analyze and apply that law to a specific set of facts. It can only apply to a particular person/situation. Legal advice can only be given by a qualified lawyer and does create a lawyer-client relationship.
In summary, legal information is free but inherently unreliable. Legal advice is reliable (provided it is good advice given by the right person). Which will you choose?
For details about the different types of lawyers in the legal marketplace, visit – https://buenosabogados.es/the-different-types-of-lawyers-in-the-legal-marketplace/
