How Not to Give Legal Advice
For law librarians, the line is clearer than it looks
Suppose a young, well-dressed patron — we’ll call him Arthur — walks in and approaches the reference desk. “Hello,” Arthur says. “My wife and I are getting a divorce, and neither of us can afford a lawyer. I’ve decided to write the separation agreement for us. Do you have any examples I could look at?”
As you talk to Arthur more, you learn that he and his wife have no children and they don’t own a house. In other words, they have no property to divide, making the divorce a simple one. A separation agreement is not essential to divorce in your state — you know this from having looked up the statutes for so many patrons — and you want to save Arthur a lot of unnecessary work. So you casually mention what you know about separation agreements.
Stop right there. You may have just given legal advice.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, I’m not a lawyer. I never said I was a lawyer. And I’m talking to this person in a library, not a law office. Besides, isn’t it my duty to help patrons find useful information and understand its applications? If I know the answer to a question or the solution to a problem, am I not obligated to offer it up without hesitation?
