Web lawyer

[fashion]

Im in the planning stages of my website and I am considering hiring a lawyer/ solicitor to deal with all the the legal issue relating to the web. I.e privacy, term & conditions, IP and creating contracts. what would be an approximate cost of this?

[akula]

2-3k..unless baggage involved etc..

[Encrypted]

2-3k..unless baggage involved etc..

You serious? I've always assumed it might be like $400-500 at most.

I've been able to get away with creating my own so far. Unless any of my sites/businesses begin to sprout, I probably won't hire anyone.

[fashion]

thank you, is it legal to it on your own?

[LSnyder]

Hi fashion,

You can create your own privacy policies and terms and conditions for your website however, you need to be sure that you are covering yourself 100%. Have your done a business formation yet?
If you need help our office can assist you. We do charge a $50 consult fee however, you are not obligated to proceed and retain us. The consult is simply a question and answer forum with an attorney advising you on the best way to proceed.
Please call me at the office or email me if you are interested. The number is located in my signature below. Take a moment to check out our website as well.

Best wishes

[seosecretspro]

I have run very large sites and have never used a lawyer for anything other then domain name disputes. No offense to the lawyers as that's a pretty good deal. You can also use freeprivacypolicy.com to create privacy policy.

[rdc]

Akula's estimate is about right. You listed a pretty broad list, though. The primary stuff (web documents) is more of an up-front matter, done all at once (followed, ideally, by a "web audit"--a scan of all the content to ensure legal compliance). This part will be your main cost. The IP, sales contracts, warranty stuff, and creating contracts moving forward, is more of an ongoing sort of thing. I'd recommend talking to an attorney(s) and running through exactly what you need (or asking them what exactly you need) and then getting an estimate. Generally this shouldn't cost you anything.

Oh, and I would recommend against using a free privacy policy, etc... But if you do, be sure to think carefully about any and all information obtained about visitors, including IP logging, etc. Another thing is, an attorney can help you with this, but, if you do it yourself... Research legal implications of the site flow itself. For example, there are multiple ways that you can actually present a privacy policy, or a sales agreement. Requiring a user to scroll through an agreement and tick a checkbox, for example, tends to be stronger than merely making a link to an agreement available in the footer. There are a lot of areas like this where you can strengthen your legal footing.

[lawinc]

If you qualify for legal aid. If you can't afford an attorney, you may qualify for legal aid (often called legal services). Legal aid lawyers are usually government-funded lawyers who represent people with low incomes in a variety of legal situations, including eviction defense, denial of unemployment compensation or other benefits, and consumer credit problems.