How would YOU Improve the LawAnswers Community?

Make it simpler to ask a question......I'm still looking

Okay.....finally found the path.

LawAnswers said:

Thanks @procrastinasian
In relation to the suggestion of using hypotheticals for law students to improve their legal knowledge, my belief is that LawAnswers.com.au has a growing number of popular legal questions and that law students, as the next generation of lawyers, should feel comfortable to contribute to the community given the increasing participation of other non-lawyers, academics, police officers and lawyers regularly contributing to the legal forum. Thoughts?

In relation to improving legal training using a legal forum, are you able to better clarify this suggestion?

P.S. I appreciate and share your enthusiasm for loving the law!

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I think the challenge for students is having the confidence to deal with a person's individual circumstances. A lot of the enquiries are generic summaries that do not go into depth of all the facts necessary to establish a proper legal opinion. I think it may also be burdensome for someone without a legal education that has gone through something horrible only to be later "interviewed" by law students trying to pick apart their incident to ultimately come up with a solution that they may interpret as lacking credibility.

I think an appropriate guide or standard for all users should be incorporated for their legal enquiries. It would be awesome if we can do something on the forums similar to a law firm client interview sheet so that every enquiry would come off as an actual intake for students to see just like we do in actual practice.

Granted, it may require users to put more time in their answers instead of summarizing it in one or two lines, but honestly, how much legal advice can you really expect if you're just giving the "bare bones" of the situation?

Hi Lawanswers
Federal/Commonwealth Law/State Law Suggestion:
When posting I notice you only have an option of putting in what "State" the law relates too. Could you put in the options menu-(Fed/or Comm law), as some Legal topics maybe more specific to Fed-law e.g. immigration/constituional law topics.
That would be good if you could add that as a menu-option , thanks.

LawAnswers said:

LawAnswers.com.au started as an experiment (See: The LawAnswers.com.au Story | LawAnswers.com.au Legal Aid Forums) and we're committed to improving the forum community for all members.

Vote on an existing idea in the above poll (or post your idea below) to help improve the LawAnswers.com.au Community for all Australians.

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Only new here and haven't checked out all areas but as I look and answer questions. Some pop up more than others so I would suggest:

1: any qualified solicitor who answers must have a symbol of a legal identity beside their name that also links not to their own page, but a standard statement that all qualified legal person's advice is not to be taken nor quoted, etc., so they cannot be sued, get in trouble, etc.

2: a list of good qualified solicitors Australia wide who specialises in specific areas of the law and you have done your research whether they are any good or not as everyone asks 'Does anyone know a good solicitor in WA, Vic etc.?'

I know who is good or not here in Brisbane. Who actually are thorough, dedicated to helping their cases 100 %, including Barristers.

3: places where males and females can obtain free legal advice or will do pro bono work, or pay if they win. This again I could help out, but only in Brisbane.

4: if not already, a section to help the client who has never gone to court before with procedures and what they mean, how to appear, even if they can't afford a suit.

It is in their best interest to be clean and their clothing to be clean and wear shoes, not thongs on their feet (a bar of soap if they can't afford anything else that they can use to wash their hair and body, clothing, replace shaving cream for their stubble, clothing and shoes - community legal places actually take a person and fit them. Out at a second hand place so they appear nice, even a suit, conservative etc.

What to do and what not to do in court, including knowing it they have a right if they sense or know the solicitor is doing a bad job to sack them (as I would have done if I knew I could regarding both my solicitor and barrister). Even at the point when you're on the stand and you cannot talk to your legal advisers, not even say hello, as this is contempt of court.

As I think of more, I will write them down.

lawanswers said:

@Pete

1. This forum includes general legal information but does not provide legal advice. This is stated on each page and the Terms of Use that each new member expressly agrees to when joining the forum. In addition, many forum members, including the member that responded to your recent questions, include a disclaimer in their signature with each post..

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Many lawyers, students and other people spend their time providing responses to questions on this forum to provide free assistance and guidance to people who don't have a clue where to start in resolving their legal issue. Some participants somehow think they have the right to receive freebie legal advice to resolve their issue for free by simply providing an overview of their situation through this forum?

Personalised legal advice is never free, and is certainly not handed out as a freebie through a forum. Lawyers study for many years at university, they are highly qualified and continue to undergo rigorous training to provide the high standard of advice and legal services they provide to paying clients whose circumstances they have spent much time studying in detail. This is what you pay legal fees for and there's no cheap way out.

This forum provides a valuable tool for those people who have a quick legal question, want to know where to start in dealing with their issue or require some general guidance.

Hi Victoria

I understand what you have said but I'm talking about instances when links and phone numbers were provided for domestic violence services and child abuse.

Hope this helps said:

Only new here and haven't checked out all areas but as I look and answer questions. Some pop up more than others so I would suggest:

1: any qualified solicitor who answers must have a symbol of a legal identity beside their name that also links not to their own page, but a standard statement that all qualified legal person's advice is not to be taken nor quoted, etc., so they cannot be sued, get in trouble, etc.

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Agree. This would reduce some of the negative consequences for posters, who, due to lack of experience, may act upon "advice" to a question after receiving 'authoritative' responses (matter of wording) from other members.

I note that some of the lawyers already identified on the site warn members of the dangers of listening to "advice" given on a forum. Very sensible in my view.

General members, including law students, may or may not have the necessary experience or knowledge in the area of law to which they are responding.