Our terms and conditions have been updated. Please read carefully
LawGuru Answers is an interactive computer service provided by LawGuru.com that seeks to promote greater access to justice and better understanding of the law.
Attorneys may participate in LawGuru.com by joining LawGuru.com's Attorney Network ("Attorney Members"). By being part of the network, Attorney Members will have the opportunity to provide answers to questions submitted by Users of LawGuru.com. Attorney Members who practice in the jurisdiction and area of law to which the question relates will be able to provide answers to both "Free Questions" and "Paid Questions" submitted by Users of LawGuru.com. As an Attorney Member of LawGuru.com, you will have no right, however, to be presented the opportunity to answer any particular question, nor will you have any right to the continued use or existence of any features or services offered by LawGuru.com.
Users may submit questions, without paying any fee of any kind ("Free Questions") and may have those Free Questions answered by Attorney Members of LawGuru.com. Free Questions will take up to 5 days to be posted on the LawGuru.com Answer system. The Free Questions and the general answers provided by Attorney Members will be posted publicly on the site.
Alternatively, Users who want a faster, private answer from an Attorney Member have the option of submitting a Paid Question. Users who submit a Paid Question pay two separate and distinct fees: A fee to LawGuru.com for the use of the service (a "Venue Fee"), and a fee to the Attorney Member who provides an accepted answer to the Paid Question (an "Attorney Fee"). No part of the Venue Fee paid to LawGuru.com will be shared with you as an Attorney Member; no part of the Attorney Fee paid to you as an Attorney Member will be shared with LawGuru.com.
Users who submit a Paid Question will also obtain the benefit of entering into a Limited Attorney-Client Representation Agreement with the responding Attorney Member. In the event that you submit an answer to a Paid Question and the User accepts the answer that you provide, the User and you will then have entered into a Limited Attorney-Client Representation Agreement that will govern the terms and duration of the limited-scope attorney-client engagement undertaken.
LawGuru Answers is an interactive computer service provided by LawGuru.com, which is operated by WebSiteBroker, Inc. LawGuru Answers, the Attorney Network, and the LawGuru Answers public database (formerly known as the Knowledgebase) are all services provided by LawGuru.com. For simplicity, when we refer in these Terms & Conditions to LawGuru.com, that term also refers to and includes WebSiteBroker, Inc., and its owners, managers, partners and employees.
By participating in our Attorney Network, including using the LawGuru.com site and any of our features or services whether by answering Free Questions or Paid Questions or otherwise, you agree to all of these Terms & Conditions. In addition, you understand that the specific method, features and services offered on LawGuru.com may be altered, improved, removed or adapted at any time by LawGuru.com, in its sole discretion and without any notice. If you do not agree with any of these Terms & Conditions, you should not use this site.
The general use of LawGuru.com by Users is governed by the User Terms & Conditions, disclaimers listed on LawGuru.com, and our Privacy Policy. Your participation in the Attorney Network and your use of LawGuru.com is governed by these Attorney Terms & Conditions and it is also governed, to the extent applicable, by the User Terms & Conditions. By visiting, participating in, or using LawGuru.com, you agree to be bound by all of these applicable Terms & Conditions.
By participating in the Attorney Network, you understand and agree that your answers to Free Questions submitted by our Users will become part of the LawGuru.com Answers public database and shall become the sole property of LawGuru.com. You agree that, without any compensation to you (other than allowing you to participate in the Attorney Network), LawGuru.com will own all rights to these submitted answers (including any intellectual property and moral rights) and will have the sole unrestricted right to use, reproduce, edit, modify, sell, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, communicate to the public, perform and display the submitted content (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, for the full term of any rights that may exist in the content.
LawGuru.com makes no representation as to whether the rules, regulations, or other law that governs attorneys and the practice of law in your state or jurisdiction allow or prohibit your participation in the arrangement set out in these Terms & Conditions or in the Limited Attorney-Client Representation Agreement described below. You agree that you are solely responsible for interpreting the applicable rules, regulations, or other law and determining your compliance with them before entering agreeing to these Terms & Conditions. You agree that you will not participate in, or continue any prior participation in, the Attorney Network or LawGuru Answers if the applicable rules, regulations, or other law of your state or jurisdiction prohibit your participation.
Further, you agree that, in all your conduct in connection with your participation in LawGuru Answers, the Attorney Network, and the LawGuru Answers public database, you will comply in all respects with all applicable rules, regulations, and other law that governs the conduct of attorneys in all jurisdictions in which you are licensed to practice law.
By applying for or participating in LawGuru Answers, the Attorney Network, and the LawGuru Answers public database, you are representing to LawGuru.com that you are an attorney in good standing and are licensed to practice law in the jurisdictions indicated in your application. Further, your continued participation represents a continuing representation to LawGuru.com that you are an attorney in good standing and are licensed to practice law in the jurisdictions indicated. Providing false, misleading or incomplete information will result in your being barred from any further use of LawGuru.com.
You agree that you will not post replies to Free Questions in the LawGuru Answers public database solely containing a solicitation for representation without providing a meaningful answer to a question. Further, you agree that, in the course of providing answers to Free Questions and Paid Questions, you will comply in all respects with all applicable rules, regulations, and other law that governs the conduct of attorneys in the appropriate jurisdictions, including the law concerning communications with clients, prospective clients, or members of the public. You should only reply to questions arising out of the jurisdictions in which you are licensed to practice, unless it is a federal question.
You further agree that you will not use the LawGuru Answers or any other part of LawGuru.com to post any advertisement or other commercial message. You agree that you will not post any knowingly false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, harassing, obscene, sexually-oriented, threatening messages, or any other material that is illegally invasive of another person's privacy. LawGuru.com will attempt to delete any inappropriate posts as quickly as possible after any such post is brought to its attention; however, the submissions are generally posted in real-time and are typically not reviewed by LawGuru.com or its editorial staff before they are posted to the site. As an Attorney Member of LawGuru.com, if you see inappropriate content at LawGuru.com, we would appreciate your bringing any such inappropriate posting to our attention.
A. Fees. For each Paid Question submitted, a User will be charged two separate and distinct fees: One fee, the Venue Fee, is paid to LawGuru.com for the services it provides to the User; the second fee is the Attorney Fee paid by the User to the Attorney Member who provides an accepted answer to the Paid Question.
The Venue Fee is intended in part to cover LawGuru.com's costs in processing questions, and maintaining, administering, marketing, and operating the website. Payment of the Venue Fee to LawGuru.com will entitle a User to have their question distributed immediately to Attorney Members who practice in the jurisdiction and area of law pertinent to the Paid Question and who are willing to enter into a Limited Attorney-Client Representation Agreement with Users of LawGuru.com. Free Questions, unlike Paid Questions, will take up to 5 days to be distributed to Attorney Members and will not involve the creation of any attorney-client relationship.
The User will see two charges on their credit card or PayPal account for the Venue Fee and the Attorney Fee. These two fees are separate, distinct, and unrelated. LawGuru.com clearly communicates to Users that no portion of any Venue Fee will be shared by LawGuru.com with any Attorney Member and that no portion of any Attorney Fee will be shared with LawGuru.com.
B. Process. As detailed above, when the User submits a Paid Question, it is then distributed to all participating Attorney Members who practice in the jurisdiction and area of law pertinent to the question. The Paid Question will be accompanied by information about the User needed by the Attorney Member to determine whether any conflict of interest exists. You agree that you are solely responsible for determining and interpreting the rules/laws or your state or jurisdiction with regard to determining whether a conflict exists and for performing any conflict check.
As part of agreeing to answer a Paid Question for a User, you will enter into a Limited Attorney-Client Representation Agreement (the "Representation Agreement") with the User before being allowed by the system to submit the answer to the Paid Question. A form Representation Agreement is set out below. This Representation Agreement establishes an attorney-client relationship between you and the User that is limited both in scope and duration. The scope of the attorney-client relationship under the Representation Agreement extends only to answering the particular Paid Question submitted, relieving you of any duty to further investigate, follow-up, take any other action, or represent the User in any further way. The duration of the attorney-client relationship under the Representation Agreement is also limited, and the representation ends as soon as the User accepts the answer you have provided. You may not alter or modify the Representation Agreement, nor may you disclaim the attorney-client relationship established by the Representation Agreement. As a result of such actions, the user's Attorney Fee will be refunded and you will not receive credit for your reply. If you do want to enter into a representation of the user as described in these Attorney Terms & Conditions, do not submit answers to Paid Questions.
There are, of course, some legal questions that are too complicated for an attorney to answer appropriately and completely through a limited-scope representation of the type provided by LawGuru.com for Paid Questions. If, in your sole discretion, you determine that a Paid Question submitted simply cannot be answered in the context of a limited-scope representation, then you should not submit an answer to that Paid Question. Of course, if this happens, you will not be paid an Attorney Fee for any work on the Paid Question.
After an Attorney Member provides an answer to a Paid Question, the User will have an opportunity to review the answer and decide whether to "accept" or "reject" it. If the User decides to accept the answer, as part of doing so, the User will confirm their agreement to the Representation Agreement. As the form Representation Agreement reflects, in the event that the User rejects the answer you provide, then no attorney-client representation will be established between you and the User. If within 96 hours of receiving the answer the User does not review it, or reviews it and fails to either "accept" or "reject" the answer, the system will automatically "accept" the answer on his/her behalf ("auto-accept"); provided, however, that this auto-accept function will not trigger if the Attorney Member has not responded to a message from the User requesting clarification of the answer. Once the answer is accepted by the User or auto-accepted by the system, the User will be charged, and your account with LawGuru.com will be credited by LawGuru.com with the Attorney Fee..
If a User is dissatisfied with your answer to their Paid Question for any reason and "rejects" the answer or the terms of the Representation Agreement, the Attorney Fee will not be charged to the User. Thus, if the User rejects or otherwise declines to accept the answer, the User will not have entered into any attorney-client relationship with you and your account with LawGuru.com will not be credited any amount for that answer. If, for any reason, LawGuru.com is required to refund to the User an Attorney Fee that has already been credited to your account with LawGuru.com, the amount of such refund will be deducted from your LawGuru.com account.
With respect to the time that passes between the User being charged the amount reflecting the Attorney Fee to be paid to an Attorney Member who provides an accepted answer to their Paid Question and the time that your account with LawGuru.com is credited in the amount of such an Attorney Fee, you expressly agree and authorize LawGuru.com to hold those funds received from the User until the User accepts the answer (or it is “auto-accepted” as the term is defined in the User Terms and Conditions) and agrees to the Representation Agreement. You also expressly agree that you will not have earned any such Attorney Fee paid by the User until the answer you provide to the User's Paid Question is paid by the User.
C. Confidentiality. With respect to Paid Questions, LawGuru.com agrees to respect and protect the confidentiality of any confidential client information or attorney-client privileged Information contained in the Paid Question and the answer you provide. Of course, because there is no attorney-client representation established in connection with Free Questions, Free Questions and answers to them are neither confidential nor privileged.
D. Payment. Within approximately 30 days following the end of each month, LawGuru.com will send you a check for your earnings in the prior month or otherwise disburse any Attorney Fees due to you. You expressly agree that, if the amount payable to you for any month is less than fifty U.S. dollars ($50.00), LawGuru.com may hold those funds on your behalf until such time as your earnings equal at least fifty U.S. dollars ($50.00), at which time those earnings will be disbursed to you by check or otherwise. LawGuru.com reserves the right to remit payments to Attorney Members electronically or via a service like PayPal. All payments will be made in U.S. dollars. You understand and agree that LawGuru.com does not make and has not made any warranties or representation to you as to the amount of any potential revenue or income stemming from your participation in LawGuru.com or the Attorney Network.
No fee will be charged to the User in connection with submission of a Free Question, and you will not be paid for any answers to any Free Questions submitted to LawGuru.com.
You agree that your use of LawGuru.com will be limited only to the uses that are contemplated by these Attorney Terms & Conditions and that you will not use LawGuru.com for the purpose of seeking to develop a business to compete with LawGuru.com. Further, you agree to comply with all copyright laws worldwide in your use of this site, and agree that LawGuru.com and its content may not be used, copied, distributed, republished, altered, uploaded, posted, or transmitted in any way, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of LawGuru.com, except that you may retain copies of any answers you provide to a User either for Free Questions or Paid Questions and the questions answered.
You are solely and fully liable for all answers provided using your account, as well as any other conduct on the site originating from your account. In addition to any other remedies, LawGuru.com, in its sole discretion, may suspend or terminate your account if we determine, in our sole judgment, that you have violated any of our Terms & Conditions, engaged in dishonest or fraudulent behavior or acts, are not providing answers of the quality required on LawGuru.com, or otherwise engage in conduct inconsistent with any applicable Terms & Conditions. If your account is terminated or suspended, you may not open a new account under any other name.
By participating in LawGuru.com and by joining the Attorney Network, you represent and warrant that you will not: (i) register or operate under a misleading username or under an inaccurate firm or practice name; or (ii) misrepresent your license status, education, background, areas of expertise, organizational affiliations, or experience. If a change in such information or your status should occur, you agree to promptly update the information in your account so that it will continue to be accurate and complete.
LawGuru.com does its best to protect its Users' privacy with respect to information not otherwise disclosed by Users in the questions they submit to LawGuru.com.
In connection with the submission of Free Questions and Paid Questions, we only require, and we encourage Users to only provide, the minimum amount of personal identifying information necessary to process a question. All of a User's personal information provided to LawGuru.com, including email addresses, is concealed from all other Users of LawGuru.com and is never published as part of the LawGuru Answers public database. Only the LawGuru.com administrators have access, for purposes of site administration only, to this information. LawGuru.com will not disclose this information to third parties without the User's permission, except in the following circumstances: (i) to protect LawGuru.com from liability, or (ii) to respond to legal process or to otherwise comply with the law.
Otherwise, the way in which LawGuru.com discloses information submitted by Users to LawGuru.com varies somewhat for Free Questions and Paid Questions:
Free Questions & Answers. After a Free Question is answered, the Free Question and its answer are automatically posted to the LawGuru Answers public database. These Free Questions and their Answers are visible to all Users of LawGuru.com and to Attorney Members.
Paid Questions & Answers. Unlike a Free Question, when a Paid Question is answered, the contents of the Paid Question and Answer are kept private and are not visible to all Users of LawGuru.com or to other Attorney Members.
Because Users submitting Paid Questions will be entering into a limited-scope attorney-client representation with an Attorney Member, before you as an Attorney Member can enter into this relationship, you obviously must first determine that there are no conflicts of interest that would prevent from you from agreeing to represent a particular User. In order to accomplish this, LawGuru.com, with the User's express consent, will supply you with the full name and in most cases the zip code of the User who has submitted the Paid Question. LawGuru.com administrators will have access to this information because of the nature of the site and for the purpose of getting the User's question answered. Users who post a Paid Question have given permission to LawGuru.com to have access to this information so that it may be transmitted to you, and LawGuru.com has agreed to respect and protect the confidentiality of any confidential client information or attorney-client privileged information contained in the Paid Question and in the answer you provide. Other than as indicated above, we will not disclose this information to third parties without the User's permission except to respond to a legal process or comply with the law.
Should you wish to discontinue your participation in the LawGuru.com Attorney Network, you agree to follow the simple steps to go inactive or delete your profile provided at www.lawguru.com/cgi/bbs/helpattorneys.html. You agree not ask us to remove your profile or delete your membership, as we have provided you with tools to do so.
LawGuru.com reserves the right to discontinue this service or any Attorney Member's participation in this service at any time, for any reason, with or without notice. In the event that LawGuru.com discontinues this service or discontinues your participation in this service as an Attorney Member, whether by termination or suspension of your account or otherwise, LawGuru.com will send you a check within approximately thirty days of such discontinuance for any accumulated credit in your account at the time of discontinuance.
You agree that your participation on LawGuru.com or in the Attorney Network in no way constitutes an endorsement, recommendation, or referral by LawGuru.com or its users. You acknowledge that you have not been required to provide, and have not provided any, compensation of any kind to LawGuru.com in exchange for being permitted to be an Attorney Member of LawGuru.com or to participate in the Attorney Network. No employee, partner or other business relationship is created with LawGuru.com by your use of its services or participation in the Attorney Network.
You agree that you are solely responsible for any answer you provide to any Free Question or Paid Question and for anything you post on the LawGuru Answers public database and that you agree to indemnify and hold LawGuru.com harmless from and against any claim, loss, damage, expense or liability (including attorney's fees and costs) that may result, in whole or in part, from your answers, posts, or other submissions to the LawGuru Answers, your use of LawGuru.com, or any communication to or action concerning in any way any User or LawGuru.com.
LawGuru.com attempts to include accurate information on this website, but because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, LawGuru.com is not responsible for any errors. LawGuru.com and all material available from this site is provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE." YOU USE THE SITE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
To the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable law, LawGuru.com disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Specifically, but without limitation, LawGuru.com DOES NOT WARRANT THE INFORMATION OR GOODS AND SERVICES FOUND OR PURCHASED ON THIS SITE FOR TIMELINESS, ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, PERFORMANCE, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. LAWGURU.COM DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE IS ERROR-FREE IN CONTENT OR IN FUNCTIONALITY NOR THAT LAWGURU.COM IS FREE OF VIRUSES, WORMS, SPYWARE, MALWARE, OR OTHER MALICIOUS OR HARMFUL CODE. ACCORDINGLY YOU SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE PRECAUTIONS TO ENSURE YOUR ABILITY TO PROTECT AGAINST SUCH KNOWN RISKS OF USE OF THE INTERNET. UNLESS A WARRANTY IS EXPRESSLY STATED IN THESE TERMS & CONDITIONS, NO OTHER STATEMENT, ASSURANCE, ADVICE OR INFORMATION OBTAINED BY THE USER FROM LAWGURU.COM SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY.
LAWGURU.COM AND WEBSITEBROKER, INC., THEIR AFFILIATES, ANY OFFICER, DIRECTOR, EMPLOYEE, SUBCONTRACTOR, AGENT, SUCCESSOR, OR ASSIGN OF LAWGURU.COM OR WEBSITEBROKER, INC. OR THEIR AFFILIATES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ATTORNEY'S FEES AND LOST PROFITS OR SAVINGS) IN ANY WAY DUE TO, RESULTING FROM, OR ARISING IN CONNECTION WITH THIS SITE, REGARDLESS OF ANY NEGLIGENCE ON THE PART OF LAWGURU, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THOSE THAT RESULT FROM: (i) THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE; (ii) RELIANCE ON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE SITE; (iii) LAWGURU.COM'S SUPPORT SERVICES; (iv) ANY GOODS OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED FROM LAWGURU.COM; (v) MESSAGES, INFORMATION OR ADVICE RECEIVED; (vi) TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH LAWGURU.COM OR THE ATTORNEY NETWORK; (vii) INTERRUPTION, SUSPENSION OR TERMINATION OF SERVICE; AND (viii) UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR ALTERATION OF USER'S TRANSMISSIONS OR DATA.
SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
LawGuru.com provides the technological foundations or "space" where the public can access both legal information and attorneys willing to provide answers to Free Questions or Paid Questions or both. LawGuru.com provides the conduit for legal information; however, we are not involved in the actual conversation between you (the attorney) and any User. We do not monitor, verify, or filter any of your responses to questions submitted by our Users. You hereby acknowledge the above facts and remise, release, and forever discharge LawGuru.com, of and from all, and all manner of, actions, causes of action, suits, proceedings, debts, dues, contracts, judgments, damages, claims, and demands whatsoever in law or equity, which you ever had, now have, or shall, or may have for or by reason of any matter, cause, or thing whatsoever arising out of the use of the LawGuru Answers public database, the LawGuru Answers service or the relationship between you and any client introduced to you through this site. If you are a California resident, you hereby waive the provisions of section 1542 of the California Civil Code, which states: "A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor."
You agree that any dispute or controversy between you and LawGuru.com arising out of these Terms & Conditions or your use of LawGuru.com, the LawGuru Answers public database, or LawGuru Answers shall be settled by Arbitration to be held in Riverside County, State of California, in accordance with the rules then in effect of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrator may grant injunctions or other relief in such dispute or controversy. The decision of the arbitrator shall be final, conclusive and binding. Judgment may be entered on the arbitrator's decision in any court having jurisdiction. The parties shall each pay one-half of the costs and expenses of such arbitration, and each of the parties shall separately pay counsel fees and expenses.
LawGuru.com may modify these Terms & Conditions at any time without prior notice. Continued use of this site following any change constitutes your acceptance of the change. We therefore ask you to review these Terms & Conditions occasionally to ensure that you are aware of the most recent version.
This agreement shall not be construed against any party, regardless as to who may have drafted the Agreement.
These Terms & Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, U.S.A.