# www.legalline.ie



## ajapale (10 Oct 2008)

[broken link removed]

What do AAMers think of this phone service?


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## z105 (10 Oct 2008)

In my view it's expensive on the basis of €29.00 euro per 10 minute block (or €2.90 per minute), you would have to speak very fast, I cannot imagine most legal questions can be answered in under 10 minutes.


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## nuac (10 Oct 2008)

It may be a good idea in principle.    However many people take more than a few minutes to state all the relevant facts about their problem.   It can take much more than 10 minutes to talk through the options.

Apart from that, if documents have to be looked at, are they faxed or emailed through to the lawyer?   Or does the lawyer advice on extracts read out from the documents.

Are the calls recorded? - if wrong or incomplete advice given, would not the lawyer giving the advice be liable?    E.g if the time limit for issuing proceedings is not mentioned the adviser could be held to be negligent.

Legal problems are not usually capable of being resolved by a type of Frasier Crane service - there are no easy one-line answers to many of these.


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## Madangan (11 Oct 2008)

nuac said:


> many people take more than a few minutes to state all the relevant facts about their problem. It can take much more than 10 minutes to talk through the options.
> 
> Apart from that, if documents have to be looked at, are they faxed or emailed through to the lawyer? Or does the lawyer advice on extracts read out from the documents.
> 
> ...


 
I agree with the above. I think this is a gimmick but an expensive one for most customers. As a solicitor I personally would love to be able to get €2.90 for a minutes advice!!! The reality is the vast vast majority of legal queries take far far longer than 10 minutes to reply to properly and fully. Those that can be resolved/replied to in 10 minutes or less are usually not charged for in reality.


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## Vanilla (11 Oct 2008)

I doubt if you will receive any substantive advice on this kind of forum but it has a place and undoubtedly there are people for whom this may well work. Perhaps the kind of advice that for example solicitors posting on AAM give for free. I was approached to be one of the panel ( possibly along with every other solicitor in the country) but would not be interested in doing this. There are clients that I have had for years, some since I first qualified, who I know very well and sometimes this kind of client will ring me and need advice over the phone. And sometimes I will give advice on the phone to this kind of person. Because I know enough about them to put the advice in context. It's important to add that it is  not always about money though I know there are people who will sometimes ring and try to get advice over the phone reasoning that if they made an appointment they might get charged but over the phone... Interestingly I see that they do not have a category for advice in relation to conveyancing. I wonder whether this is an insurance issue or other?


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## Rosie08 (31 Oct 2008)

I recently used the Legal Line service and I thought I would write up my experience since I am not a solicitor and I have used the service myself...

I though initially that it sounded a bit expensive at €29 per ten minutes but I was in work, I couldn't take time off and I did not know a solicitor off hand to contact. 

When I called it turns out that the charge has come down and it is now €2.40 per minute which is being charged to my phone bill and not my credit card. My phone bill has not arrived but I expect my charge to be somewhere around €20/22 - if it turns out to be much more than that I will let you know!

The reason for my call was to do with maternity and redundancy benefit - I was put through to a solicitor in Wicklow who was very helpful. I got an answer to my question and have decided to take it further. I have made an appointment with the solicitor in her practice directly to continue with my legal matter. 

I think that the service serves a purpose, I take what you are saying that you cannot deal with all legal matters over the phone but it has put me in the right direction and I am dealing with the solicitor directly so it seems a good referral system for solicitors too!!


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## cleverclogs7 (31 Oct 2008)

lol.did you see what it says under HOW MUCH DOES IT COST ?

All the Solicitors on the LegalLine panel are based nationwide. LegalLine itself is neither a Solicitor nor a firm of Solicitors. LegalLine itself does not provide legal information.

What the heck


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## ubiquitous (1 Nov 2008)

Rosie08 said:


> The reason for my call was to do with maternity and redundancy benefit - I was put through to a solicitor in Wicklow who was very helpful.



If you had phoned the Employment Rights section of the Dept of Enterprise & Employment they would have given you the same information for the price of a local call.


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## bond-007 (1 Nov 2008)

I doubt it somehow. They are not allowed to give legal advice.


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## ajapale (2 Nov 2008)

bond-007 said:


> They are not allowed to give legal advice.



True, but the poster wanted _*information*_ on "maternity and redundancy benefit". This information is available from Entemp. 

Trade unions, citizens advise, your local political representatives, Books, Libraries, Social Welfare Offices, HR departments and indeed  AAM and other boards are other sources of information concerning "maternity and redundancy benefit".

Does legal line give _*legal advice*_?


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