One of the most important parts of LawAdvisor (maybe even the MOST important part) is the Questions and Answers feature. Before we started LawAdvisor, we noticed how hard it was find to answers to legal questions online and we set out to fix it. This feature is the result: it allows everyday people to ask basic legal questions to get answers that help them understand their legal issue. 

It’s really important to us that questions are answered quickly. However, this requires a bit of a balance: we want people asking questions to get a quick response, but we also want to give lawyers enough time to give their own answers.  

How It Works

Once a person asks a question on LawAdvisor, the question is moderated by the LawAdvisor team. This is to make sure the question is anonymous, and to protect the privacy of both the person asking the question and anyone else. It also ensures that the question is placed in the right practice area. The question then appears in the question database on LawAdvisor, ready for lawyers to answer.

If an everyday person sees a question written by someone else that they would also like to be answered, they can click  "I want an answer" button. The more people who click the "I want an answer" button, the more prominent that question will be on LawAdvisor and the more likely it is that it will be answered quickly.

We want everyday people to get answers from lawyers. However, this doesn't always happen. At the moment, if a lawyer hasn’t answered a question after 10 days, our (very) devoted research team will write an answer, no matter what the question. It usually takes us a few days to do this.

As more lawyers sign up, we will reduce the amount of time we leave lawyers to answer questions so everyday people can get information sooner. 

The most important thing is that people get better access to legal information, and in doing so, better access to justice.

What about the questions already on LawAdvisor?

 

You might have noticed lots of questions on the platform with a ‘Request An Answer’ button. These are practice questions we wrote for lawyers to answer. They also provide everyday people looking at LawAdvisor with some examples, helping them to ask their own questions. 

If you click ‘Request an Answer’, the question will show up in the discovery feed of lawyers to be answered. Like other questions, if they aren’t answered within 10 days, the research team will step in.

We are proud of our Question and Answer feature. Access to legal information is a powerful tool that helps everyday people understand and protect their legal rights. Our legal system should be empowering; and with LawAdvisor, that is finally becoming possible.