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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think people shouldn't give out legal advice on here when they don't know what they're talking about

169 replies

BooBearBoo · 22/05/2011 16:24

I have read SO MANY threads on here with posted giving out advice as if it is gospel and it is totally wrong.

I've had to clear up nonsense on two threads in as many days.

Why do people think this is ok to do????!!!!!! It's dangerous!

OP posts:
catinthehat2 · 22/05/2011 20:58

the ego has landed

K999 · 22/05/2011 20:59

True but my answer was in reply to Mumblechum. Smile

virgiltracey · 22/05/2011 21:07

Why even go onto the threads if it bothers you? I am a senior employment lawyer. I very rarely go oto the threads because then I often do feel like I should correct the incorrect things that are being posted.

As for barristers "trumping" solicitors that is complete and utter crap. Why on earth would you make such an assertion? Particularly if your specialism is employment law where we don't even need to use barristers.

Animation · 22/05/2011 21:11

catinthehat

the egoS have landed! Smile

UnlikelyAmazonian · 22/05/2011 21:18

animation not sure who you mean?

Can u be more clear?

My piss-poor contributions were obviously that.

bugger it.

Honeybee79 · 22/05/2011 21:18

But anyone who asks for and receives any legal advice on here is free to ignore it or take it with a pinch of salt. Any one with half a brain would be sceptical.

I'm a lawyer and I frequently have no idea what I'm talking about - that's why I never give legal advice unless I'm at work!

DandyLioness · 22/05/2011 21:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

catinthehat2 · 22/05/2011 21:28

you sound very reasonable and unegotistical this is not normal for a lawyer on teh interwebs. you are clearly making it up.

Original poster
BooBearBoo · 22/05/2011 21:33

Phnar Grin

OP posts:
nijinsky · 23/05/2011 00:01

Beesimo "Agree entirely OP there is one poster on here in particular who posts as a landlord and offers advice that is frankly crap. One of her gems was it is better to show a slight loss on a property for tax reasons?????"

That would be me. I don't "offer advice" but give my opinions. You simply don't like me because I don't like your assumption that we should all be burka wearing 1950's Stepford wives, cooking and cleaning for "our men". If you don't understand how tax and writing off losses against profits works and the concept is too complicated for you, then its not my fault. But its morally wrong to be rude as a result of your own failings. If you are jealous, do something practical about it, rather than bitching.

No-one is "giving legal advice" on here. "Giving legal advice" involved taking someone on as a client formally and charging them. If people want legal advice, then they need to need an appointment to see a solicitor.

That said, I did see some comments on redundancy recently which were spot on accurate and would cost thousands in legal fees to get as good and clear information.

Obviously, on a random internet site, you are going to attract what is termed "barrack room lawyers". ie those wannabees who often hold a grudge against lawyers or would like to have been one, who pick up a bit of information off the internet and repeat it as gospel, usually without appreciating the implications or context.

Kewcumber · 23/05/2011 00:48

I'm an accountant. (Probably). Its rare in the long run, that you are better off making a loss than a profit because you only pay tax on a proportion of your profit still leaving you with... money. Losing money means you don't pay tax of course but you still end up with more money going out than you have coming in which isn't most peoples idea of a great result.

I can grasp writing off losses against profits (having studied post university for 3 years to become a chartered accountant then another 2 for corporate treasury exams - happy to answer questions on currency or interest rate swaps if anyone wants to verify my credentials) and being able to set off your losses against profits is a darn sight better than not being able to but I can't think of any way you wouldn't be better off making a profit consistently, paying your taxes and running off to spain with your legally earned readies.

Of course if you want to be very clever with your transfer pricing and where you put your head office, you can move money around to lower tax countries. But even that isn't so easy these days and most governments watch that kind of thing like a hawk.

Irrelevant lecture over.

Kewcumber · 23/05/2011 00:50

perhaps we could send in certified copies of our professional qualifications to MNHQ to earn some kind of rosette in our specialist subject. The only problem being that mine would prove I'm a qualified accountant, it just wouldn't prove that I'm any good at it.

differentnameforthis · 23/05/2011 03:42

You get this all over the board though, not just legal. I am dental nurse & the amount of times I have had to write

"no please, do not put crushed/soluble aspirin on your gums"
or
"please DO NOT drink alcohol to numb the pain of a tooth extraction'"
or
"do not put a hot compress on that infected tooth/area"
or
"do not put tissue in your mouth to stop bleeding after an extraction"

All things that people have been told here. Heat makes an infection spread, aspirin on gums burns, alcohol makes your blood thinner so you bleed more, and the tissue can breaks off & cause an infection.

People who have no idea on a lot of things barge in & 'advise' because they once had a tooth taken out, or an infection. It is dangerous, they don't seem to understand that they don't know everything, just because they know 'something'

sunnydelight · 23/05/2011 06:55

I suggested as much once but the advice giver had MN cult status and the amount of truly vitriolic abuse I got was unreal. I worked for CAB for many years and one of the most frustrating parts of the job was trying to persuade people that the advice they had been given by friends/relatives/a passing dog had no basis in law and too often very little basis in reality either.

AlpinePony · 23/05/2011 07:03

I think this is just the nature of the beast though. It's easy to say 'go and get proper legal counsel', but by its very nature this site positively encourages the 'which dress should I wear?' And 'AIBU to tell my mil I don't fancy coffee?' Types.

beesimo · 23/05/2011 07:11

nijinsky

I never named you, you have 'outed' yourself I neither like or dislike you I don't even know you as a person. Actually it is you that is rude and patronising to me and regularly post offensive comments about my supposed lifestyle which I don't really mind as some of them are quite funny or should I say laughable.

Why you think anyone would be jealous of you I don't know you have a very inflated idea of your own importance.

beesimo · 23/05/2011 07:16

Kewcumber

Thank you for putting it so well

That is exactly what our accountant says, the problem with amateurs is that they are 'so sharp they cut themselves' they think they have 'invented'a way of succeding at the same time as failing. Bonkers

LRDTheFeministDragon · 23/05/2011 08:59

Kew, your post made me smile - but I totally agree, we could all be professionals ... but rubbish at our jobs.

HugoFirst · 23/05/2011 09:03

i jusy love the arrogance of the OP

TandB · 23/05/2011 09:06

I am a lawyer. This means that I am always right about absolutely everything. Even stuff I know nothing about.

That's what they told me at law school anyway.

InTheNightKitchen · 23/05/2011 09:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LRDTheFeministDragon · 23/05/2011 09:16

PMSL.

catinthehat2 · 23/05/2011 11:48

AlwaysRightBarrister Syndrome by Proxy is hilarious too - I PMSL at the poster who got the hump when people disagreed with her HUSBAND who is a master of the universe lawyer don'cha know when she was relaying his 'learned opinion' on a thread

thebestisyettocome · 23/05/2011 13:04

Actually I find it quite refreshing that women are expressing confidence in their professional abilities. The fear of being seen to be an overly confident or an egotist has held women back professionally for years.

nijinsky · 23/05/2011 13:06

Beesimo "I never named you, you have 'outed' yourself"

So you don't have the courage of your own convictions?

"Actually it is you that is rude and patronising to me"

Thats because it was meant to be patronising. Nothing wrong with patronising, my dear.

"and regularly post offensive comments about my supposed lifestyle which I don't really mind as some of them are quite funny or should I say laughable."

Yes, I always say you are like a 50's Stepford wife.