LawAdvisor User Agreement

1. Using the Website

• 1.1. LawAdvisor provides various services via the Website pursuant to the terms of this User Agreement.
• 1.2. By continuing to access the Website, You agree to be bound by the terms outlined below and any additional terms relating to any additional services that You may access.
• 1.3. If You do not agree with any of the terms of this User Agreement, You must discontinue to access the Website and its services.

2. Nature of services available

• 2.1. The Website is an online platform for You to provide or access various services relating to legal information, professional legal services, contacting lawyers, and such other services that LawAdvisor may decide to make available to You from time to time.
• 2.2. Any legal services facilitated by the Website are direct between Members and Lawyers. LawAdvisor is not a party to any transaction between a Member and a Lawyer.
• 2.3. LawAdvisor does not own, acquire, sell, licence or sub-licence any interest in any legal services facilitated by the Website.
• 2.4. Any Lawyer using the Website is an independent agent, not employed by LawAdvisor. Any statements, representations, opinions or advice of a Lawyer made via the Website is their own and do not necessarily represent the the views or opinions of LawAdvisor.

3. Registration as Lawyer

• 3.1. Australian Legal Practitioners, Barristers, Trade Marks Attorneys, Patent Attorneys and Licensed Conveyancers may apply (by creating an online account for "Lawyers") to be a Lawyer registered with the Website. A Lawyer cannot transfer their registration with the Website to another person.
• 3.2. LawAdvisor reserves the unrestricted right to reject any application to be a Lawyer registered with the Website and to suspend, terminate or restrict a Lawyer's use of the Website at any time without notice for any reason, including breach of this User Agreement.
• 3.3. Each Lawyer is responsible for maintaining the accuracy or currency of their personal details that are registered with the Website. LawAdvisor is not liable for any loss or damage suffered as a result of the inaccuracy or otherwise of any information associated with a LawyerÕs registered personal details.

4. Registration as Member

• 4.1. A person may apply (by creating an online account for "Members") to be a Member of the Website. If LawAdvisor accepts a person's application to be a Member, that person acquires Membership. Membership is not transferrable.
• 4.2. LawAdvisor reserves the unrestricted right to refuse Membership to any person and to suspend, terminate or restrict a Member's use of the Website at any time without notice for any reason, including breach of this User Agreement.
• 4.3. Each Member is responsible for maintaining the accuracy or currency of their Membership details via the Website. LawAdvisor is not liable for any loss or damage suffered as a result of the inaccuracy or otherwise of any information associated with a Member's Membership.

5. Submitting a question

• 5.1. A Member may submit a question to the Website for the purpose of having a Lawyer consider providing a response to that question (Member Question).
• 5.2. Submission of a Member Question does not guarantee that the Member Question will be made available to a Lawyer for consideration, or that a response will be provided by a Lawyer or LawAdvisor.
• 5.3. LawAdvisor reserves the right to revise, edit, delete or amend a Member Question for any reason and without notice or explanation.
• 5.4. LawAdvisor reserves the right to refuse to make available to a Lawyer any Member Question.
• 5.5. LawAdvisor makes no guarantee, representation or warranty as to the accuracy or veracity of any information provided or submitted by a Member to the Website.

6. Responding to a question

• 6.1. A Lawyer may respond to a Member Question that has been made available to them on the Website by LawAdvisor (Response).
• 6.2. A Response does not constitute legal advice and should only be relied on by any person as general information.
• 6.3. LawAdvisor reserves the right to revise, edit, delete or amend any Response.
• 6.4. LawAdvisor reserves the right to refuse to notify You of or publish on the Website any Response.
• 6.5. LawAdvisor makes no guarantee, representation or warranty as to the accuracy or veracity of any information contained in a Response.

7. Publishing other material

• 7.1. Lawyers and Members may submit material, other than a Response, to LawAdvisor for publication on the Website (Published Material).
• 7.2. Published Material does not constitute legal advice and should only be relied on by any person as general information.
• 7.3. LawAdvisor reserves the right to revise, edit, delete or amend any Published Material.
• 7.4. LawAdvisor makes no guarantee, representation or warranty as to the accuracy or veracity of any information contained in any Published Material.

8. Engaging a Lawyer for legal services

• 8.1. A Lawyer who prepares a fee proposal or otherwise tenders for the provision of legal services to a Member via the Website is responsible for undertaking his or her own conflict check with respect to any potential client. LawAdvisor is not responsible for any Loss incurred for failing to recognise a conflict of interest between any Member and any Lawyer or potential client of the Lawyer.
• 8.2. A Member may engage a Lawyer who has made available via the Website a fee proposal for the provision of legal services. LawAdvisor does not moderate or check any information that a Member provides to Lawyers (other than a Member Question). Lawyers must assess the case of the Member and provide a fee proposal based on that information.
• 8.3. A Member's engagement of a Lawyer via the Website is a direct contractual relationship between the Member and the Lawyer, to the exclusion of LawAdvisor.
• 8.4. Any retainer established between a Member and a Lawyer as a result of communication via the Website exists independent of LawAdvisor and the Website, and has no legal effect on this User Agreement.

9. Features for Lawyers

• 9.1. Subject to clause 3, a Lawyer may access any paid or unpaid features that are available on the Website from time to time.
• 9.2. LawAdvisor reserves the right to change, suspend or terminate any paid or unpaid features available to Lawyers at any time without notice for any reason.

10. Fees

• 10.1. LawAdvisor may charge a fee to Lawyers for access to the Website and its features.
• 10.2. LawAdvisor may charge a fee to a Lawyer who is successfully engaged by a Member to provide legal services. This fee is charged when a new matter is created at the time the Member accepts the LawyerÕs fee proposal via the Website.
• 10.3. LawAdvisor will not charge a fee to any Lawyer for a referral for the provision of legal services.
• 10.4. LawAdvisor reserves the unrestricted right to determine and change any fees associated with usage of or access to the Website and its features.

11. GST

• 11.1. Unless expressly stated otherwise, all amounts payable under this User Agreement are exclusive of GST.
• 11.2. If GST is payable on any supply made under this User Agreement, for which the consideration is not expressly stated to include GST, You agree to pay LawAdvisor an additional amount equal to the GST payable at the same time that the consideration for the supply, or the first part of the consideration for the supply (as the case may be), is to be provided. However, if an adjustment event arises in respect of the supply, the additional amount must be adjusted to reflect the adjustment event and You or LawAdvisor (as the case may be) must make any payments necessary to reflect the adjustment.
• 11.3. If a party is required under this agreement to indemnify another party, or pay or reimburse costs of another party, that party agrees to pay the relevant amount less any input tax credits to which the other party is entitled.

12. Limitation of liability and indemnity

• 12.1. LawAdvisor is not liable for any action, statement, representation, inducement, undertaking or advice, or the accuracy of or reliance on such matters, made, provided or published by a Lawyer or Member via the Website or otherwise.
• 12.2. LawAdvisor is not liable for any infringement of Intellectual Property Rights that arises as a result of content (including a Member Question, Response or Published Material) submitted to LawAdvisor for publication on or transmission via the Website by You.
• 12.3. You will not hold LawAdvisor liable for any Loss or damage suffered as a result of Your use of the Website, whether or not that Loss or damage was caused by LawAdvisor or another user of the Website.
• 12.4. You indemnify LawAdvisor (and its officers, employees, representatives and contractors) from and against any Loss suffered or incurred by, and any Claim made by, any party, arising from or in connection with Your use of the Website, or Your breach of this User Agreement.
• 12.5. You unconditionally release LawAdvisor (and its officers, employees, representatives and contractors) from any liability or obligation (known and unknown) relating to or in connection with any dispute You may have with another user of the Website.
• 12.6. To the extent legally permitted, LawAdvisor disclaims all warranties, representations, conditions, guarantees and terms other than those expressly set out in this User Agreement, express or implied. In the event that LawAdvisor is found liable to any party under or in connection with this User Agreement or the Website, its aggregate liability to that party is limited to the amount that party has paid to LawAdvisor for the service that gave rise to the claim during the 12 months preceding the claim.
• 12.7. LawAdvisor does not guarantee continuous, error-free access to the Website. LawAdvisor reserves the right to suspend access to the Website for critical maintenance without notice.
• 12.8. To the extent legally permitted, LawAdvisor (and its officers, employees, representatives and contractors) will not be liable for any Consequential Loss under or in connection with the Website or this User Agreement.
• 12.9. To the extent that the indemnities in this clause 12 are in favour of LawAdvisorÕs officers, employees, representatives or contractors, LawAdvisor contracts as trustee of the rights of those other persons under those indemnities.
• 12.10. This clause 12 survives the termination or expiry of this User Agreement.

13. Rules of use

• 13.1. You must comply, and procure that any person to whom You give access to the Website complies, with this clause 13.
• 13.2. You are responsible for ensuring Your use of the Website complies with all relevant laws and regulations.
• 13.3. You must not disclose to any person any username or password that You may use to access the Website. You must immediately notify LawAdvisor of any unauthorised access to the Website that You become aware of.
• 13.4. You must not use the Website to upload, post, transmit or otherwise make available any material (or hyperlinks to such material) that:
  • 13.4.1. infringes the Intellectual Property Rights of another person;
  • 13.4.2. could reasonably be expected to be threatening, defamatory, abusive, indecent or otherwise unlawful; or
  • 13.4.3. You know or suspect (or ought reasonably to have known or suspected) is false, misleading or deceptive.
• 13.5. By uploading, posting, transmitting or otherwise making available material via the Website (including a Member Question, Response and Published Material), You grant LawAdvisor a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual licence to use, publish, reproduce and otherwise exploit the material in any form for any purpose and You unconditionally waive any moral rights (as defined in the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)) that You might have in respect of the material.
• 13.6. A Member must not sell, re-sell, licence or sub-licence any information contained on the Website.
• 13.7. You will not use the Website to send, allow to be sent, or assist in the sending of one or more unsolicited commercial electronic messages or otherwise breach the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and accompanying regulations.
• 13.8. You will not distribute viruses or other malicious software to or through the Website, impose an unreasonable load on the servers of the Website, use a robot, spider or scraper to harvest material (including email addresses) from the Website or bypass any measure used to prevent and control access to the Website.
• 13.9. You are responsible for all taxes or levies that arise as a result of using the Website.

14. General

• 14.1. If any provision of this User Agreement is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such a provision will be severed and the remaining provisions will continue in force.
• 14.2. Delay or failure by LawAdvisor to enforce a provision of this User Agreement or any other right does not constitute a waiver of that provision or right.
• 14.3. LawAdvisor may amend this User Agreement at any time by posting the updated terms on the Website. The amended terms take effect when You next access the Website or after 30 days, whichever is sooner. If You do not agree with the updated terms You cannot continue to use the Website.
• 14.4. LawAdvisor may assign the benefit of this User Agreement without limitation.
• 14.5. This User Agreement is governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia.

15. Definitions

• Australian Legal Practitioner has the meaning given to that term in the Uniform Legal Profession Law of Victoria (or equivalent legislation regulating the legal profession in other States and Territories of Australia).
• Barrister has the meaning given to that term in the Uniform Legal Profession Law of Victoria (or equivalent legislation regulating the legal profession in other States and Territories of Australia).
• Claim includes any claiom, action, demand or proceeding.
• Consequential Loss means loss of revenue, loss of profits, loss of anticipated savings or business, pure economic loss, loss of data, loss of value of equipment (other than cost of repair), loss of opportunity or expectation loss and any form of consequential, special, indirect, punitive or exemplary loss or damages.
• Intellectual Property Rights means all present and future intellectual and industrial property rights throughout the world.
• LawAdvisor means LawAdvisor Pty Ltd (ABN 39 602 092 311) and its officers, employees, representatives and contractors, as appropriate.
• Lawyer refers to a person who is either an Australian Legal Practitioner, a Barrister, a Trade Marks Attorney, a Patent Attorney or a Licensed Conveyancer and has registered as a "Lawyer" with the Website.
• Licensed Conveyancer means a person licensed or registered as a conveyancer by the Business Licensing Authority of Victoria (or the equivalent governing body in other States and Territories of Australia).
• Loss includes any loss, liability and expense (including legal costs) on a complete indemnity basis.
• Member means a person, other than a Lawyer, who has applied to be a member of the Website and whose application has been accepted by LawAdvisor. This person holds a Membership.
• Patent Attorney means a person registered as a patent attorney under the Patents Act 1990 (Cth).
• Published Material has the meaning given to that term in clause 7.1.
• Trade Marks Attorney means a person registered as a trade marks attorney under the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth).
• Website means the online platform available at www.lawadvisor.com and the services offered by that website.
• You means users of the Website, including but not limited to Members and Lawyers.