RSS FeedNancy Kinney of AdviceScene.com is interviewed by Jeannie Owens-Wallace about what democratizing the law means.
Want Some Free Legal Advice?
It’s something many lawyers complain about – being ambushed by friends and family with legal problems and expecting an instant answer. Blogging lawyers also face this dilemma from their general readership.
Both are likely to suggest that the person come to their office for a more in-depth consultation. That, and the legal problem thrown in your face is blocking the view on the gorgeous beach.
Now there’s an online site that you can divert these people to for legal advice, or to be more precise, legal information. AdviceScene is staffed by qualified lawyers and judges (yes, judges) who answer questions from the general public.
Although they are careful to refer people to lawyers when necessary as well, they can give the public a few tips on legal principles and how the system works.
As law students we have a similar challenge of not wanting to provide legal advice, and also behave overly cautious in not misrepresenting ourselves as lawyers. Nancy Kinney, founder of AdviceScene, reached out to us and we were more than happy to refer the many inquiries we get over to some qualified professionals.
But lawyers should be eager to join a project like this as well. The site is a great way for lawyers to showcase their talent and build on their client base, especially during these uncertain times. In addition to the free profile on the forum, lawyers can be listed in the site’s directory.
It’s still a young project, but one that can succeed if Canadian lawyers are interested in helping to empower the general public with legal information.
Just save your Q&A until you get back from your office, and not on the beach, or you’ll defeat the whole purpose.
Update
Terry Romaniuk, a Public Legal Education Staff Lawyer with Alberta Law Line, a sub division of Legal Aid Alberta, brought to my attention that they have been offering 4 hours of free legal advice to all qualified Albertans since 2004.
They also have have 3 former members of Alberta’s judiciary on their 27 member staff.
Cross-posted from Slaw
AdviceScene Offers Free Legal Info from Practicing Lawyers
LawIsCool has recently begun a partnership with AdviceScene.com. The site is an online forum that provides resources to both lawyers and members of the lay public.
Founded earlier this year by Nancy Kinney, an entrepreneur with a law background, AdviceScene aims to provide a “fully moderated, social networking community linking lawyers and the public to provide a free and democratic exchange of legal information.”
A key difference between other legal forums and AdviceScene is that AdviceScene provides legal information from actual practicing lawyers; answers don’t come from anonymous sources.
According to Kinney:
“The site offers lawyers a credible method to join the online world of public discussion on legal matters in a manner that conforms to their professional code of ethics.”
The site also assists lawyers that want to contribute legal information online by providing FREE marketing services such as a free lawyer directory, free banner ad, free profile in the monthly newsletter, and soon free website templates, including free search engine optimization (SEO) and hosting.
As an added bonus, AdviceScene Enterprises Inc. donates 5% of gross advertising revenues to pro bono legal services societies.
