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There are strong legal protections for the attorney-client relationship, such that lawyers are obligated to act scrupulously in their clients' interests. These

• derefr 10y ago
  But why then, say "this is not legal advice" when you could instead say "I am a lawyer but I'm not your lawyer"? Or how about "I'm not formally signing off on this statement as a product of my legal-professional persona, but you're free to take what I just wrote to another lawyer and get them to vouch for its veracity, which they probably will"? I hear that in military and political contexts all the time—"I can tell you this as a friend, but not in my role as X, so go find some other X who's allowed to speak on it if you need formalization"—but I never hear it from lawyers. It always seems to be phrased more as "what I'm about to write is probably wrong and you should go to get your own lawyer who will tell you something entirely different."
  • libertymcateer 10y ago
    > "I am a lawyer but I'm not your lawyer" I say that all the time. I am sure it is in my comment history. E.g: https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/464j0r/im_freelance_in_new_york_city_and_i_need_to/d03cu2z/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/464j0r/im_fre... https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/45rwt8/do_i_need_bank_accounts_and_a_registered_business/d00cjut/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/45rwt8/do_i_n... https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/45alb6/we_are_five_best_friends_who_dropped_out_of/czwir2g/?context=3 https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/45alb6/we_are...