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> an attorney-client relationship is created when the client reasonably believes it to have been created. What is the threshold for a reasonable impression of

• dragonwriter 10y ago
  > What is the threshold for a reasonable impression of the relationship "Reasonable belief" is the threshold. There's a whole bunch of case law, of course, on how that applies to specific circumstances, but you aren't going to get a short answer other than the actual standard. > Could random advice on an internet forum really trigger it? Maybe; lawyers tend to be fairly conservative about the risk, because the consequences of professional misconduct are potentially quite serious career impacts.
  • mcbits 10y ago
    Of all the people commenting about legal topics on the Internet, the probability P(Lawyer) is so low that it would take an especially unreasonable person to honestly believe the discussion creates an attorney-client relationship. But once someone says "I'm a lawyer," I'd guess P(Lawyer) is at least 50%. A mildly retarded but otherwise reasonable person might get the wrong impression at that point.
    • throwawayish 10y ago
      Depending on legislation it's also not legal for lawyers to give specific advice for free. E.g. in Germany lawyering is a rather heavily regulated business - for obvious reasons - and while there's a whole bunch of exceptions (as usual) in general a lawyer cannot give legal consult for free.