AIBU to be frustrated by the sheer volume of bogus legal advice on Mumsnet?

[Ladyoftheloch]

I am ceaselessly amazed by the amount of absolute tripe people spout about the law on AIBU, from people who clearly do not know what they are talking about and have no justification for the ‘advice’ they give.

People state as factual certainties every vague, half-formed belief they hold as though they’re practicing lawyers working in the field every day. I truly think some posters believe that because their opinion seems sensible to them, it must be the true legal position.

It’s wildly irresponsible, and people do it without giving any thought to the potential harm they could be doing by giving someone bogus advice.

There is a reason lawyers have to have degrees and professional qualifications. There is a reason they have to do a minimum amount of CPD every year. There is a reason they have to carry hefty insurance in case of mistakes.

So please, stop this nonsense. Stop starting sentences with the word ‘Legally...’ if you aren’t actually a lawyer practicing in the relevant field. Stop telling people what they are doing is legal or illegal. Stop insisting that everyone is entitled to half an hour of free legal advice as though it’s a human right. Stop confidently making proclamations about property disputes, wills, divorce, court procedures or whatever else based on your woolly sense of what you think is right. You have no idea of the harm and confusion you might be causing.

Francis I had an English poster argue with me about a Scottish offence the other day. Apparently me being a Scottish police officer makes me less likely to be right 😂. I asked her to acknowledge her error when other posters backed me up but she never responded to me......

It made me chuckle.

I'm not a lawyer. But I have some professional experience on a very niche area of it. The differences between the but I know about and the corresponding part in various jurisdictions is mind-blowing. Sometimes there's zero in common.

I recently commented on a legal post because the op was adamant that the advice being given on the post was wrong. The advice I got from a solicitor on the same matter was exactly what the regular contributors were saying, but the op was just wouldn't accept it. Links were provided, but they were wrong too apparently.

Tbh, I find Facebook way more frustrating for this. My DM is always calling me because if I don't share her post I can be legally hacked, my photos can be legally shared, I'll have to legally pay a parking fine (I don't drive), or someone wouldn't be able to pay for their life changing surgery. Plus there's the one about invalid car insurance, etc.

But this happens in real life too. I'm making a medical negligence claim, because I feel I suffered medical negligence, it's being assessed by a solicitor etc. But the sheer number of people who have said that I absolutely have a claim and should ask for XX amount of ridiculous money, with no knowledge of what actually happened, or the legalities of medical negligence has been astounding.

MN is like chatting with friends though. If people here blindly believe everything they read from others is 100% accurate more fool them. People give advice with good intentions. Take it all with a pinch of salt, go with the majority, whatever.

But surely people realise if they are actually going to get divorced/dispute a will/whatever then they will see a solicitor at some point. Who if necessary will put them right.

I think what's more worrying is the amount of incorrect health/pregnancy advice. Again some of it is very good and has been life saving I'm sure. But some is very, very dubious and could have a very poor influence.

I’m a lawyer and never comment legally!

EU rule banning pizza cutters in restaurants

To be fair, I think the OP's point was that the guy who owns Wetherspoons is a Brexiteer because he doesn't like stupid EU rules yet he has stupid rules about pizza in his own pub. It wasn't entirely clear though.

I had one where someone advised a poster to get a friend to phone the supplier for a price as well as phoning themselves as by law they had to give the same price to every customer, same poster also said an item wrongly priced in a shop had to be sold at the lower price even if it was a mistake, even when I provided links, and used the example of a 30000 pound car and a zero fell off the label she insisted they had to sell at 3000 and lose 27000 and she worked in trading standards so knew the law and CAB and government links provided were wrong

@RiddleyW I wish I’d seen the post. Consideration is not a well known point and I find it interesting that someone would both know so much and so little!

I see common law spouse used a lot, or that prenuptuals have no standing in court, or you’re entitled to half of everything, you don’t need to return the engagement ring it was a gift!

I think people hear some third party info, or a particular case and think that’s a final word on the matter, when a quick google search would tell you otherwise!

I’ve seen the prenup thing trotted out loads, that’s definitely a common one!

Well the engagement ring thing is a Judge Judy reference - (US law obvs) - she's always saying it's 'given in consideration of marriage and if the marriage doesn't happen it goes back'

I have NO idea obviously what applies in English law for people in England

I think the law in Scotland is actually that the engagement ring is a gift buuuut that’s NOT legal advice and I definitely don’t know for sure!

@userplusnumbers
Yes, the OP on that thread was misconstrued, unfortunatemy. I realised that and posted later.

I have just seen a post on another thread about an EU rule banning pizza cutters in restaurants. This isn't a TAAT, but do people really believe that?

I saw that thread, OP clarified several times that she wasn’t saying it was an EU rule, she was pointing out that the owner of the pub chain was strongly for Brexit because of stupid EU rules, while having stupid rules of his own.

a posted argued so strongly against me and what I knew from work that I actually wondered if I was wrong

Same here. I work in HR, I’m not an expert but I’ve been doing it for years and have a pretty strong knowledge. The other poster was so adamant they were right I actually bagan to wonder if I’d been doing wrong all these years to the point I rung our HR support company to check - I was right!

Sorry, x-posted with the EU/pizza cutter comment

I had significant amounts of shitty advice from real life "professionals" and experts too. I reckon I've had more shitty real life expert advice than i've ever had on here, especially doctors and legal professionals.

Real life professionals very rarely admit when they are wrong or dont know something. Even when the evidence smacks them in the face.

Thing Ive learnt is tgat any advice gives you an idea of what the variety of options and possibilities are available. After that its up to you the forge your own route.

Same in real life or online

On the other hand, some people don't want to pay for legal advice so will post their complicated entanglements over and over again, pumping for advice. 'Any lawyers can help me'? There's a reason why they charge, chancer!

And don't get me started on 'marriage is just a piece of paper'.

There was a thread on legal a few days ago about the op,s university student son being questioned over a possible assault on his ex\girlfriend so many people piled n to stick in the boot and give their personal opinion very little in the way of actual advice

Thing Ive learnt is tgat any advice gives you an idea of what the variety of options and possibilities are available. After that its up to you the forge your own route.

I think this is a good point. The purpose of lawyers is - very broadly - to tell you what your options are, advise on the relative risks and benefits of different options, and then when YOU have decided what to do, to execute your wishes correctly. Any lawyer who purports to simply tell you what to do isn’t doing their job properly.

On the other hand i once paid £300 for solicitor's advice that turned out to be rubbish and not in my best interest at all...

Nope cant imagine why people would want to try and get information for free

I’m a lawyer and this annoys me too. I have no expertise in any area other than the one I practise. This is a very niche area that occasionally enables me to give posters an idea of the things to be aware of when thinking about what to do next, which means that I’m not giving legal advice per se. If I choose to mention these to a poster, I never post publicly.

I'm only bothered that I don't get paid for my bogus legal advice. :/

Green why should posters give up their time just because you don’t want to pay?

If you dont want to comment you dont have to. Thats the beauty of an internet forum, there is no should. Someone can ask, you dont have to give.

You might feel yourself obligated to correct bad advice or to use your brains and experience to do good. But that's on you.

My point was you can get bad advice whether you pay for it or not.

I'm a lawyer (in another jurisdiction so would not comment on English law), but I totally agree. My favourite ones are posts where the details are very specific, and someone claims that X is the answer, because they were told so by a proper solicitor.
Except for the little detail that their situation was totally different.

Travel is another fun area:
OP: I'm going to Florida with United Airlines. Can I take a handbag and additional cabin luggage?
Posters: Well, when I went to Mallorca with Easyjet 10 years ago...

My point was you can get bad advice whether you pay for it or not.

This is a fair point and I don’t really judge people who ask for advice. I can see why you might try and get a vague idea from a forum. But I do really judge the people who give legal advice when they have no justification for doing so! I think it’s deeply selfish and irresponsible.

I am ceaselessly amazed by the amount of absolute tripe people spout about the law on AIBU, from people who clearly do not know what they are talking about and have no justification for the ‘advice’ they give.

Same with business accountancy and tax matters. It was bad enough in the old days when "the bloke in the pub" gave duff tax advice, but now it's also all over the internet, on fora like these etc. I've seen an awful lot of very wrong and very dangerous "advice" on here and MSE in particular.