Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Washington

The thing is that lawyers day in and day out since practice day #1 get people calling questions "simple" and they are not. Consider this: "Can police search my trunk for speeding?" Well technically, no they cannot search your trunk because you were speeding. However that simple question implies too many facts and questions: what was the basis for the search (e.g. inventory search? heard screams?), was your trunk searched because of speeding or because of some other reason? Did you give consent? (and many many many many many people do). Furthermore, often people ask questions that imply an existing legal dispute and attorneys generally will not want to get involved unless they can give a decent answer, because we've all had clients come in and get angry because "some attorney on the internet" said something contrary to what we're telling the client because the "guy on the internet" knows absolutely nothing about the facts, the law, the application to case, the jurisdictional precedent, etc. etc.

Finally, there is an ABUNDANCE of criminal law questions that get posed. It is ABSOLUTELY STUPID to an attorney to answer such a question online, and just as stupid for someone to try to save money by doing it themselves (or by not accepting assigned counsel). You think you're smarter than a prosecutor about the law and legal procedure? Great way to get on the fast track to jail.

Besides, many attorneys will offer a free consultation for many areas of law to give a basic case evaluation. Take them up on that. But if you think explaining something in detail isn't worth your time, then why would an attorney waste their time on you?