User Terms and Conditions

User Terms & Conditions

Simple Summary

WebsiteBroker, Inc. is dedicated to promoting greater access to justice and better understanding of the law. These Terms & Conditions (as defined below) apply to both LawGuru.com and LawSimple.com (both websites owned and operated by WebsiteBroker, Inc., collectively referred to as the "LawGuru Sites"). By using the LawGuru Sites and any of our features or services (including LawGuru.com Answers, the LawGuru.com Attorney Directory, LawSimple.com or LawSimple.com Attorney Directory) you agree to all our terms and conditions that you will find below ("Terms & Conditions"). These Terms & Conditions are our rules for using these websites. If you do not agree to any of these Terms & Conditions, you may not use this service.

LawGuru.com Answers and LawSimple.com allow Users such as you to post questions on the website so that Attorney Members (also referred to as "Lawyer Members" in certain jurisdictions) can have an opportunity to provide Users with advice and legal information.

On LawGuru.com Answers, without paying any fee of any kind, you can submit questions ("Free Questions") to which Attorney Members of LawGuru.com may respond, with the questions and answers being posted publicly on the site. Free Questions may be delayed for a period of time before being posted on the LawGuru.com Answer system. Once a Free Question is posted, Attorney Members may then review it and provide a general answer to you.

Alternatively, you may submit a Paid Question: i) on LawSimple.com, or ii) on LawGuru.com. Users who choose to submit a Paid Question will obtain a number of benefits not available to Users who submit a Free Question. Paid Questions will be immediately distributed to Attorney Members who practice in the jurisdiction and, if you so choose, area of law to which the question relates. By submitting a Paid Question, you will have the benefit of receiving an answer from an Attorney Member given in the context of a limited attorney-client representation (in some jurisdictions, referred to as a limited lawyer-client relationship). Also, the contents of the answer and the Paid Question will not be posted publicly on our site. To obtain these benefits, you will be charged two separate and distinct fees, an Attorney Fee (in some jurisdictions this fee is referred to as a "Lawyer Fee," but for the purposes of these Terms & Conditions, the term "Attorney Fee" will also mean "Lawyer Fee") that is paid to the Attorney Member and a Venue Fee that is paid to WebsiteBroker, Inc. Although WebsiteBroker, Inc. endeavors to get every question answered, not every question submitted will receive a reply.

When an Attorney Member provides an answer to a Paid Question and before your credit card or PayPal account is charged the Attorney Fee, you will have an opportunity to review the answer and, if you are satisfied with the answer, you will "accept" the answer, and the Attorney Member will be entitled to receive the agreed Attorney Fee. If you are not completely satisfied with the answer, you may choose to "reject" the answer, your credit card or PayPal account will not be charged the Attorney Fee. In addition, every answer to a Paid Question (both Attorney and Venue Fees) is backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

The Actual Terms

LawGuru.com Answers, LawSimple.com, the Attorney Network (also referred to as the Lawyer Network in certain jurisdictions), and the LawGuru.com Answers public database are all services provided by WebsiteBroker, Inc. For simplicity, when we refer in these Terms & Conditions to "LawGuru," that term also refers to and includes WebsiteBroker, Inc., and its owners, managers, partners and employees.

1) General

Acceptance of Terms

The use of the LawGuru Sites is governed by these Terms & Conditions, the various disclaimers appearing on our site, and our Privacy Policy. By visiting or using the LawGuru Sites you agree to be bound by these terms. In addition, you understand that the specific method, features and services offered on the LawGuru Sites may be altered, improved, removed or adapted at any time by LawGuru in its sole discretion and without any notice. If you do not agree with any of these terms, do not use this site.

Not An Endorsement

You agree that you understand that the attorneys who participate in the LawGuru Answers network ("Attorney Members," also referred to a "Lawyer Members" in certain jurisdictions who answer questions on both LawGuru.com and LawSimple.com) are not affiliated with, employed by or agents of LawGuru. Although LawGuru does require Attorney Members to provide basic information about themselves to LawGuru (for example, information about the jurisdictions in which they are licensed, information about areas in which they practice and consider themselves competent and knowledgeable), and although LawGuru does rely upon and pass on this information to Users for their use, LawGuru does not separately verify this information and makes no representations as to the qualifications of any Attorney Members. No listing of any Attorney Member on this site, and no information of any kind or answers provided by any Attorney Member, constitutes an endorsement, recommendation or referral of any Attorney Member. Attorney Members do not provide any compensation or make any payment to LawGuru in order to become an Attorney Member of the LawGuru Sites or in order to answer any questions by Users on the LawGuru Sites.

In connection with their participation on the LawGuru Sites, Attorney Members do make certain representations and warranties regarding the information they provide about the jurisdictions in which they are licensed to practice law and in good standing (or for lawyers outside of the U.S., the equivalent state, province or professional requirements and licensing). Nevertheless, you are encouraged to investigate or perform your own due diligence concerning Attorney Members and their qualifications.

2) LawGuru Answers Fees

If you choose to submit a Free Question on LawGuru.com, you will not be charged any fees; however, Free Questions may be delayed before processing. Also, any answers you receive from Attorney Members to Free Questions will not involve any attorney-client relationship and will be publicly displayed and viewable by all Users.

If you choose to submit a Paid Question on LawSimple.com or LawGuru.com, you will be charged two separate and distinct fees. One fee, the "Venue Fee," is paid to LawGuru for the services it is providing; the second fee is an attorney fee ("Attorney Fee," also referred to as a "Lawyer Fee" in some jurisdictions) paid to the Attorney Member who replies to the Paid Question. Please note that upon submission of your question, we will contact your credit card company to verify the information you submitted. However, you will not be charged anything until you accept the answer to the question or the answer is auto-accepted as described below. Submitting a Paid Question does not ensure that the question will be answered.

When an Attorney Member provides a reply to a Paid Question that you have submitted, you will then have an opportunity to review the answer and, if you are satisfied with the answer, "accept" it. If you accept the answer, your credit card or PayPal account will be charged and LawGuru.com will thereafter disburse the Attorney Fee to the Attorney Member. If you require clarification of the Attorney Member's answer, you may submit a request for clarification to the Attorney Member. This request must be substantially related to the original question and a clarification only. It should not be a new question, which should be submitted to the attorney separately through the system (also requiring a new Attorney and Venue fee). If an Attorney Member, in his/her sole discretion, determines that your requests for clarification are not substantially related to the original question or are outside the scope of the proposed representation, the Attorney Member may terminate his/her participation. You will be notified and you will not be charged for either the Attorney Fee or the Venue Fee.

If you are dissatisfied with the answer for any reason, you may reject the answer, and you will not be charged either the Attorney Fee or the Venue Fee. If within 96 hours of receiving the answer you do not review it, or review it and fail to either "accept" or "reject" the answer, the system will automatically "accept" the answer on your behalf ("auto-accept") and the Attorney Fee will be disbursed to the Attorney Member; provided, however, that the auto-accept function will not trigger if the Attorney Member has not responded to a message from you requesting clarification.

The Venue Fee is intended in part to cover LawGuru's costs in processing questions, and maintaining, administering, marketing, and operating the website. Payment of the Venue Fee to LawGuru also entitles Users to have their question distributed immediately to Attorney Members who are willing to enter into a Limited Attorney-Client Representation Agreement with Users of the LawGuru Sites and, in the U.S.,depending on the User's preferences: i) who practice in the jurisdiction and area of law to which the question relates; ii) who practice in the jurisdiction but not necessarily the area of law to which the question relates; or iii) who practice in the jurisdiction to which the question relates and are manually selected by the User. In England & Wales, Paid Questions submitted in certain categories may first be distributed to specific lawyers who have the option to retain the Paid Question before it is distributed to all qualifying Lawyer Members.

The Attorney Fee is paid solely to the Attorney Member and is a payment by which you compensate the Attorney Member for the time spent in providing you with services in a limited-scope attorney-client relationship. This limited attorney-client relationship is discussed more fully below.

The Venue Fee and Attorney Fee are entirely separate, distinct, and unrelated fees. LawGuru receives no portion of the Attorney Fee paid by you; rather, 100% of the Attorney Fee goes to the Attorney Member who provides the answer accepted by you. Likewise, no Attorney Member receives any portion of the Venue Fee you pay to LawGuru. However, although the Venue Fee and Attorney Fee are separate charges, they may appear as one single (combined) charge on your credit card or Pay Pal account.

Privacy

LawGuru does its best to protect your privacy with respect to information not otherwise disclosed by you in questions submitted to LawGuru.

In connection with the submission of Free Questions and Paid Questions, we only require, and we encourage you to only provide, the minimum amount of personal identifying information necessary to process a question. All of your personal information provided to LawGuru, including email addresses, is concealed from all other Users of the LawGuru Sites and is never published as part of the LawGuru.com Answers public database. Only the LawGuru administrators have access, for purposes of site administration only, to this information. LawGuru will not disclose this information to third parties without your permission, except in the following circumstances: (i) to protect ourselves from liability, or (ii) to respond to legal process or to otherwise comply with the law. With respect to certain information supplied by you, as explained further below, there will be a need for disclosure to Attorney Members when you are asking a Paid Question. For Users in England and Wales, the information you provide is also subject to the Data Protection Act 1998. You have a right of access under data protection legislation to the personal data that we hold about you.

Whether other information submitted to the LawGuru Sites by you, such as the contents of the Question itself, will be publicly disclosed will vary as between Free Questions and Paid Questions:

Free Questions & Answers. At this time, Free Questions can only be posted on LawGuru.com. After a Free Question is answered, the Free Question and its answer are automatically posted to the LawGuru.com Answers public database. The contents of these Free Questions and their answers are visible to all Users of LawGuru.com and to Attorney Members. Thus, Free Questions and answers to them are neither confidential nor privileged in any way. Although the contents of the Free Questions and their Answers are visible, the names and identifying information of the User who submitted the Free Question will not be visible to all Users of LawGuru.com and Attorney Members. Of course, you must understand that, because the LawGuru.com Answers public database is public, you may lose some privacy by posting Free Questions and their corresponding answers. Your view of the facts, or the way you frame a question, may well reveal something about your thinking about a problem that you may not want others to know. It's your choice.

Paid Questions & Answers. At this time, you may submit a Paid Question on LawSimple.com and may be given the option of submitting a Paid Question on LawGuru.com. Users who choose to submit a Paid Question on LawGuru.com will be taken to the LawSimple.com website to complete that process. 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 the LawGuru Sites or to non-answering Attorney Members.

Because Users submitting Paid Questions will be entering into a limited-scope attorney-client representation with an Attorney Member, before an Attorney Member can enter into this relationship, the Attorney Member must first determine that there are no conflicts of interest (for example, conflicts of interest between the User and another client or former client of the Attorney Member). In order to accomplish this, the Attorney Member must be supplied with the full name and, if provided, zip code (postal code or equivalent) of the User. Similarly, LawGuru administrators will have access to this information in order to ensure that it is properly transmitted to Attorney Members and for the purpose of getting your question answered.

In posting a Paid Question, you are giving permission to LawGuru to transmit this information to Attorney Members and to provide access to this information to LawGuru administrators for this purpose. You understand that if LawGuru has reason to believe that noncompliance of its Terms and Conditions has occurred, its administrators may review the communications between a User and the Attorney-Member to confirm whether such parties are in compliance. LawGuru expressly agrees with respect to Paid Questions to respect and protect the confidentiality of any confidential client information or attorney-client privileged information contained in your Paid Question and in the answer provided by an Attorney Member. Other than as indicated above, we will not disclose this information to third parties without your permission except to respond to a legal process or comply with the law.

No Responsibility for Posts

LawGuru does not review or approve the questions or answers submitted to LawGuru Answers. The views expressed therein are those of the posting Users and Attorney Members and do not necessarily reflect those of LawGuru.

LawGuru.com assumes no responsibility for the posts or the information contained therein, nor does it make any claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, suitability, competence or completeness of any of the information or advice in the posts. Use the advice and information provided AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Ownership of Content

By submitting a Free Question to LawGuru.com, you understand and agree that your question and any answer provided by an Attorney Member will become part of the LawGuru.com Answers public database and the sole property of LawGuru.

Thus, as to all Free Questions and any answers, you agree that, without any compensation to you (other than allowing you to participate in the LawGuru.com Answers), LawGuru will own all rights to the submitted questions and 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.

Inappropriate Content

You agree that you will not use the LawGuru Sites to post any advertisement or other commercial messages. You agree that you will not post any knowingly false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, harassing, obscene, sexually oriented or threatening message, or material that is illegally invasive of another person's privacy. LawGuru will attempt to delete any inappropriate posts as quickly as possible; however, submissions are generally posted in real-time and typically are not reviewed by LawGuru before they are posted to the site. As a User of the LawGuru Sites, if you see inappropriate content at LawGuru.com or LawSimple.com, we would appreciate your bringing such posting to our attention.

Indemnification

You agree that you are solely responsible for anything you post on the LawGuru Sites and you agree to indemnify and hold LawGuru 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 posts/submissions or use of the LawGuru Sites.

Use of LawGuru.com - No Attorney-Client Relationship Other than for Paid Questions

Unless you enter into an agreement to pose a Paid Question and into a specific limited-scope attorney client relationship with an Attorney Member, you understand and agree that any other use of the LawGuru Sites does not in any way create or establish an attorney-client relationship between you and any Attorney Member.

You should recognize that the free portions of LawGuru.com and LawSimple.com (including past questions and answers such as the LawGuru.com Free Questions and answers database, and articles posted on the site) are provided for your information to help you understand some of your legal rights. These materials should not be relied on as legal advice and reading and reviewing them is not a substitute for direct consultation with an attorney about a specific legal problem.

Free Questions - No Attorney-Client Relationship

You understand and agree that submitting a Free Question to LawGuru.com or receiving an answer to a Free Question posted on LawGuru.com does not in any way create or establish an attorney-client relationship between you and any Attorney Member, or between you and LawGuru. The information and answers provided in response to Free Questions is intended to be generic legal information, not legal advice, and is based upon the very limited information provided you in a Free Question. Specific legal advice can only be given with full knowledge of all of the facts and circumstances of your situation. If you are represented by an attorney, that attorney is the best person to give you advice about a case or legal matter. Under no circumstances should the information obtained on this site be used to make decisions about the quality of representation by a lawyer or about the proper course of a legal matter.

Paid Questions - Limited Attorney-Client Relationship

U.S. Users:

Users in the U.S. who submit a Paid Question will enter into a Limited Attorney-Client Representation Agreement (the "Representation Agreement") with the responding Attorney Member.

This Representation Agreement establishes an attorney-client relationship between the User and the Attorney Member that is limited in both scope and duration. The scope of the attorney-client relationship under the Representation Agreement extends only to answering the particular Paid Question submitted, relieving the attorney 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 Attorney Member provides the answer.

Users In England & Wales:

Users in England & Wales who submit a Paid Question will enter into a Limited Advice Agreement (the "Advice Agreement") with the responding Lawyer Member.

This Advice Agreement establishes the lawyer's obligation to advise the User which is limited in both scope and duration. The scope of the services under the Advice Agreement extends only to answering the particular Paid Question submitted, relieving the lawyer of any duty to further investigate, follow-up, take any other action, advise or represent the User in any further way. The duration of the relationship under the Advice Agreement is also limited, and the representation ends as soon as the Lawyer Member provides the answer.

For All Jurisdictions:

If you have any apprehension or concern about entering into the Representation Agreement or Advice Agreement, you should not submit a Paid Question.

You must understand that 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 an Attorney Member determines, in the Attorney Member's sole discretion, that a Paid Question simply cannot be answered in the context of a limited scope representation, then you will be notified and you will not be charged for either the Attorney Fee or the Venue Fee.

3) Unauthorized Use or Access

You agree that your use of the LawGuru Sites will be limited only to what is contemplated by these Terms & Conditions, namely providing you with the ability to submit Free Questions or Paid Questions to be answered by Attorney Members of the LawGuru Sites. You agree that you will not use LawGuru.com or LawSimple.com for the purpose of seeking to develop a business to compete with LawGuru. Further, you agree to comply with all copyright laws worldwide in your use of this site, and agree that the LawGuru Sites and their 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, except that you may retain copies of any Free Questions or Paid Questions that you submit to the LawGuru Sites and any answers to these questions.

4) Disclaimer of Warranties

LawGuru attempts to include accurate information on its websites, but because of the possibility of human and mechanical error as well as other factors, LawGuru is not responsible for any errors. LawGuru and all material, products and services offered on the LawGuru Sites are provided "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE." YOU USE THE SITES AT YOUR OWN RISK.

To the fullest extent permissible pursuant to applicable law, LawGuru 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 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 DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE IS ERROR-FREE IN CONTENT OR IN FUNCTIONALITY NOR THAT LAWGURU 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. LAWGURU ALSO MAKES NO REPRESENTATION, GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY (EXPRESS OR IMPLIED) AS TO (i) THE QUALITY, COMPETENCE, OR SUITABILITY OF THE ATTORNEYS PARTICIPATING ON THE LAWGURU SITES; OR (ii) THE SUITABILITY, ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE INFORMATION AND/OR ADVICE CONTAINED IN THEIR REPLIES TO FREE QUESTIONS OR PAID QUESTIONS.

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.

5) Limitation of Liability

WEBSITEBROKER, INC., ITS AFFILIATES, ANY OFFICER, DIRECTOR, EMPLOYEE, SUBCONTRACTOR, AGENT, SUCCESSOR, OR ASSIGN OF LAWGURU OR ITS 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 SITES; (ii) RELIANCE ON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE SITES; (iii) LAWGURU'S SUPPORT SERVICES; (iv) ANY GOODS OR SERVICES PURCHASED OR OBTAINED FROM LAWGURU; (v) MESSAGES, INFORMATION OR ADVICE RECEIVED; (vi) TRANSACTIONS ENTERED INTO THROUGH LAWGURU 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.

6) Release

LawGuru provides the technological foundations or "space" where the public can access both legal information and attorneys. LawGuru provides the conduit for legal information; however, we are not involved in the actual conversation between the Attorney Member and you. LawGuru does not provide legal advice and is not engaged in the practice of law. We do not monitor, verify, or filter any of the responses from the Attorney Members, nor can we guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of any attorney response. LawGuru is neither a lawyer referral service nor engaged in making any recommendations about whether you should use a particular attorney's services or not. You hereby acknowledge the above facts and remise, release, and forever discharge LawGuru, 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.com Answers public database, the LawGuru.com Answers service, the LawSimple.com service or the relationship between you and any Member Attorney 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: &ldquoA 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.“

7) Other Websites

LawGuru.com and LawSimple.com contain links to other websites for which LawGuru does not maintain control. Any concerns regarding any such service or resource, or any link thereto, should be directed to the particular service or resource.

8) Arbitration

Unless prohibited by law, you agree that any dispute or controversy arising out of these Terms & Conditions or your use of LawGuru.com, LawSimple.com, the LawGuru.com Answers public database, LawSimple.com or LawGuru.com 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.

9) Modification of Terms

LawGuru 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.

10) Interpretation of the Terms & Conditions

This agreement shall not be construed against any party, regardless as to who may have drafted the Agreement.

11) Governing Law

These Terms & Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, U.S.A.