Web Wealth: Sources of free legal information
How would you incorporate a company, settle a fight with a tenant, or get a lawyer in a criminal case? Jargon-free legal information is at hand from a variety of sites and mobile apps.
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/EBZDGRFLKBGIJHQ5CDJVMPDPDI.jpg)
How would you incorporate a company, settle a fight with a tenant, or get a lawyer in a criminal case? Jargon-free legal information is at hand from a variety of sites and mobile apps.
One of the best places to start is Nolo.com. Its extensive area for free legal information can give you detailed pointers on debt management, LGBT law, personal finance, and many other issues. The immigration-law page covers what to do if you think you qualify for deferral under the program that President Obama recently took executive action to expand. Another section, for landlords, explains landlord liability, leasing issues, and the eviction process. In addition to free online tools, the site offers do-it-yourself books on bankruptcy and divorce; forms for such things as setting up a company, filing for a patent, and creating wills; and a lawyer directory. Nolo's Plain English Law Dictionary is also available as an app for Apple devices.
Another law dictionary that comes in free versions for Apple and Android devices is the Law Dictionary and Guide from TheLaw.com.
The Legal Information Institute, housed at the Cornell Law School, runs this site with the stated mission that "everyone should be able to read and understand the laws that govern them, without cost." In addition to organizing and linking the published laws of the U.S. and state governments, the site connects to texts of the laws of foreign countries and multinational organizations, such as the World Trade Organization and the United Nations.
Cornell's free legal dictionary and encyclopedia, a collaboratively edited effort called Wex, is here:
The Guide to Law Online is maintained by the Law Library of Congress and is a detailed collection of domestic and international legal information and resources. For example, the Pennsylvania page links to such things as the state constitution, the attorney general's website, court sites, and law schools at Penn, Temple, and elsewhere. An "Indigenous Law Portal" is a quick tool for finding American Indian legal materials via links, for example, to pages on the courts and laws of the Navajo Nation.
FindLaw.com is a reader-friendly site for legal news and finding a lawyer. Headlines on the home page last week included "Marijuana breathalyzers: 5 things you should know" and "Can you be negligent and still win an injury case?" FindLaw Answers is an area for posting questions on legal matters. Responses come from other users, may or may not be the words of actual lawyers, and, the site warns, "The information exchanged on FindLaw Answers is not legal advice."