“Legal Information” vs. “Legal Advice”
Librarians may help patrons find legal information on a given topic but may not answer legal questions or provide legal advice.
- Librarians may help patrons find legal information.
- Librarians may not answer legal questions or provide legal advice.
Some examples of legal advice include (but are not limited to):
- Interpreting any part of the law or legal procedure
- Applying the information to a person’s situation
- Recommending what action a person should take
- Selecting or filling out forms
- Predicting the outcome of a case
(Sources: https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1220087/legalinformationvslegaladviceguidelines.pdf & https://hirealawyer.findlaw.com/do-you-need-a-lawyer/what-is-legal-advice.html )
Keep the Focus on What You Can Do
In legal reference, it’s better to keep a reference interview focused on the things librarians CAN do.
Librarians can:
- help patrons find resources and information.
- demonstrate how to use a resource.
- educate someone about what is in a resource.
- suggest visiting a court or law library.
- direct someone to legal professionals.
(Source: https://mdcourts.gov/lawlib/using-library/for-librarians/legal-reference-training/PLR-distinguishing-between-information-and-advice )
Paraphrasing the Question
Another useful tactic for librarians approached with a legal question is to paraphrase the question. When librarians fall back on, “I’m not a lawyer," it raises a barrier that can unnecessarily block the information patrons need.
The Thurgood Marshall State Law Library in Maryland recommends a four-part method for public librarians to rephrase questions in order to redirect the reference interview back toward legal information and away from legal advice:
- Step 1.) Listen to the question.
- Step 2.) Identify the nugget of the question. What information is the patron really trying to find?
- Step 3.) Change the perspective. You’re not trying to solve the person’s problem (aka providing legal advice). You’re directing them to information they can discuss with a lawyer or use to help themselves.
- Step 4.) Knowing all this, rephrase your response. The Marshall law library recommends preparing some scripts in advance. One potential script begins with, “Okay, I understand you need information about…”
(Source: https://mdcourts.gov/lawlib/using-library/for-librarians/legal-reference-training/PLR-rephrasing-the-question)
More About Legal Reference
Legal reference is a much larger topic than the scope of this tutorial. If you would like to learn more, the following links lead to some very good introductory information for non-law librarians:
And here are two webinars on the topic:
