Timeline for What types of legal questions are on-topic here?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2017 at 17:21 | history | edited | CommunityBot | replaced http://meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/ with https://softwareengineering.meta.stackexchange.com/ | |
| Mar 16, 2017 at 17:21 | history | edited | CommunityBot | replaced http://meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/ with https://softwareengineering.meta.stackexchange.com/ | |
| Jun 3, 2011 at 17:31 | comment | added | David Thornley | @SnOrfus: Partly there are things we can suggest as practical measures, and partly we can suggest specific issues that may be problematic and should be brought up in the meeting with the lawyer. There are areas of law that are pretty clear and mostly universal. These inevitably merge smoothly into legally shady areas where a lawyer is necessary, but there's still much that can be done avoiding those areas. | |
| Jun 1, 2011 at 21:19 | comment | added | Steven Evers | I don't really agree with this. What value can any answer have when it is, or needs to be, followed up with "... but IANAL"? The answerer has basically said "Here's my idea or what I did, but it could be totally wrong based on your circumstances, location, etc. Only a lawyer will truly know." IMO, any legal answer, here, is devalued the instant it is answered by someone who is not a legal professional. | |
| Jun 1, 2011 at 20:19 | history | edited | user8 | CC BY-SA 3.0 | added 323 characters in body |
| Jun 1, 2011 at 20:16 | comment | added | user8 | @Jeremy in the case where the person is requesting personal legal advice, they should be closed and/or flagged for moderator review. It's always going to be a fine line as to what constitutes personal legal advice and what constitutes run-of-the-mill job advice: we may need to invoke a form of the Miller test for all legal questions: would a reasonable person interpret it to be requesting legal advice? If so, it should be closed. | |
| Jun 1, 2011 at 18:22 | comment | added | Jeremy | People who are not lawyers cannot be relied on to know which questions they can and cannot answer competently. Just because something "worked" doesn't mean it is legally defensible. Most people seem to ignore the "consult a lawyer" part as if its the small print on a cereal box contest. I think I can be even more specific though if I say my main concern is people requesting personal legal advice - e.g. what action they should take in their situation. | |
| Jun 1, 2011 at 17:00 | history | answered | user8 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |