At best the relevant individuals find themselves with agreements that are either entirely inappropriate, nonsensical and / or unenforceable (in whole or part) - such that their historic spend upon legal services has been wasted - but in a small (but significant) number of cases, I have seen those individuals having lost significant sums of money and / or had a valuable asset's value significantly impaired.
Often the problems arise from 'digital lawyers', being on-line sellers of 'legal advice' and 'template agreements' made available over the internet.
Many of these are absolute garbage, often being sold into the jurisdiction of the UK while not even having been prepared by reference to intended use in this jurisdiction.
If you are considering obtaining your 'legal advice' from such 'lawyers', then do please take the time to understand the terms and conditions you will be agreeing to, for example (and with the relevant business' name removed to avoid their embarrassment) edited extracts from which read:-
[Although we will charge you fees (of course!)]
"[Digital Lawyer] is not a law firm, and our employees are not acting as your solicitor. [Digital Lawyer] does not practice law and does not give legal advice. [Our] Website is not intended to create a solicitor-client relationship and, by using the Website, no solicitor-client relationship will be created with [Digital Lawyer]. Instead, you are representing yourself in any legal matter you undertake through the Website’s legal document service. The Website is not a substitute for the advice of a solicitor.
...
The legal information on the Website is not legal advice and is not guaranteed to be correct, complete or up-to-date. Because the law changes rapidly, we cannot guarantee that all the information on the Website is completely current. The law is a personal matter, and no general information or legal tool like the kind [Digital Lawyer] provides is suitable for every situation. The documents available on the Website are templates reasonably fit for use by you as a starting point for the preparation of legal documents. They are only intended to be used as templates, to be adapted by you to meet your individual requirements. Therefore, if you need legal advice for your specific problem, or if your specific problem is too complex to be addressed by our tools, please consult a suitably qualified lawyer.
... [and then 'hidden away' at the bottom but in BIG CAPITALS (in an attempt to support enforce-ability of the abrogation of responsibility claimed)] ...
Liability Disclaimer
THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE WEBSITE MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY ADDED TO THE INFORMATION ON THE WEBSITE. [DIGITAL LAWYER] AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES IN THE WEBSITE AT ANY TIME. INFORMATION AND OPINIONS RECEIVED VIA THE WEBSITE SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON FOR PERSONAL, MEDICAL, LEGAL OR FINANCIAL DECISIONS AND YOU SHOULD CONSULT AN APPROPRIATE PROFESSIONAL FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE TAILORED TO YOUR SITUATION.
ALTHOUGH [DIGITAL LAWYER] WILL USE ITS REASONABLE EFFORTS TO KEEP THE WEBSITE AVAILABLE AND THE INFORMATION ON THE WEBSITE REASONABLY ACCURATE, [DIGITAL LAWYER] AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED ON THE WEBSITE FOR ANY PURPOSE. ALL SUCH INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND. [DIGITAL LAWYER] AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
GUEST USERS – YOU USE THE WEBSITE AT YOUR OWN RISK. NEITHER [DIGITAL LAWYER] NOR ANY COMPANY WITHIN OUR GROUP, AND OUR AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AGENTS, EMPLOYEES AND SUB-CONTRACTORS, SHALL BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR ANY LOSSES OR DAMAGES WHATSOEVER OR HOWSOEVER ARISING IN CONNECTION WITH THE WEBSITE (WHETHER UNDER THESE GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OR OTHER CONTRACT OR AS A RESULT OF ANY MISREPRESENTATION, MISSTATEMENT OR TORTIOUS ACT OR OMISSION, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE).
FEE PAYING MEMBERS – [DIGITAL LAWYER]’S LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE IS LIMITED TO DAMAGES OF AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE SUBSCRIPTION FEE RECEIVED BY [DIGITAL LAWYER] FOR THE TWELVE MONTH SUBSCRIPTION PERIOD PRIOR TO THE DATE ON WHICH THE LIABILITY AROSE.
UNDER THIS PARAGRAPH:
- "[DIGITAL LAWYER]’S LIABILITY" INCLUDES THAT OF ANY COMPANY IN OUR GROUP AND OUR AND THEIR RESPECTIVE AGENTS EMPLOYEES, SUB- CONTRACTORS;
- "YOU" INCLUDES ANY OTHER PARTY CLAIMING THROUGH YOU;
- "LOSS OR DAMAGE" INCLUDES ANY LOSSES, DAMAGES, COSTS OR EXPENSES WHATSOEVER OR HOWSOEVER ARISING IN CONNECTION WITH USE OF THE WEBSITE, WHETHER UNDER THIS AGREEMENT OR OTHER AGREEMENT OR AS A RESULT OF ANY MISREPRESENTATION, MISSTATEMENT OR TORTIOUS ACT OR OMISSION, INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE."
Basically, the Digital Lawyer will take your money but then claim not to be providing the service / product you thought you had acquired and adding that if anything goes wrong - 'you are on your own' (as far as they are concerned)!
In light of this - Please, please - Take your legal advice & assistance from an authorised and regulated Solicitors practice - ideally one providing access to a highly experienced, fully qualified, expert Solicitor - such as EquitableLaw.com
We can't put every problem caused by digital lawyers right after the event!
The Solicitors profession should potentially be able to gain comfort from the fact that with in excess of three million British pounds worth of accrued & continuing losses, ventures (like that whose terms are reproduced above) should not in any rational world continue in existence.
However, I am then reminded that the relevant venture is an Alphabet (i.e. Google) owned company, and you have to reflect that Google can stay solvent - a lot longer than the battered legal sector it would like to dominate (as it dominates advertising).
I'll let you into a secret - Google itself is quite a good legal resource (if as a qualified, experienced expert Solicitor you know how to interpret the results!).
I'm not sure that you get much more (at all) by going to Digital Lawyers apart from wasted expense (although in relation to the one referred to above, you have to question whether at your cost - you are simply helping Google refine their 'digital legal search' algorithm!)
You know where to find me!
DanielRobertJohnson (Skype)
Dan.Johnson@EquitableLaw.com
+44 (0) 7788 537 187 (U.K. Cell. Tel.)
www,EquitableLaw.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danrjohnson/
We can't put every problem caused by digital lawyers right after the event!
The Solicitors profession should potentially be able to gain comfort from the fact that with in excess of three million British pounds worth of accrued & continuing losses, ventures (like that whose terms are reproduced above) should not in any rational world continue in existence.
However, I am then reminded that the relevant venture is an Alphabet (i.e. Google) owned company, and you have to reflect that Google can stay solvent - a lot longer than the battered legal sector it would like to dominate (as it dominates advertising).
I'll let you into a secret - Google itself is quite a good legal resource (if as a qualified, experienced expert Solicitor you know how to interpret the results!).
I'm not sure that you get much more (at all) by going to Digital Lawyers apart from wasted expense (although in relation to the one referred to above, you have to question whether at your cost - you are simply helping Google refine their 'digital legal search' algorithm!)
You know where to find me!
DanielRobertJohnson (Skype)
Dan.Johnson@EquitableLaw.com
+44 (0) 7788 537 187 (U.K. Cell. Tel.)
www,EquitableLaw.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danrjohnson/
