Terms of Use

Understand the difference between browsing, drafting, and contacting

Reading guides and examples

Search, filters, topic choices, tabs, and selectable examples help you find information already on the site. A matching example does not evaluate your case. These controls do not upload documents, file a complaint, or request representation.

Using an interactive planner

Planners organize selections, notes, records, or entered figures on the page. Their diagrams, arithmetic, estimates, and demonstrations do not verify the information, determine legal rights, predict recovery, or calculate a legal deadline. Follow each tool’s instructions about missing information, matching periods, and fictional examples.

Preparing an optional outline

Where offered, a separate action adds an outline to the contact message for you to review and edit. Adding or copying it does not send it, select contact consent, or submit the form. Resetting the planner does not remove an outline already added to the message or copied elsewhere. Review that text separately before sending.

Making an inquiry

You share a brief account and contact details so the office can consider the concern and possible next steps. An online receipt confirms acceptance for processing, rather than inbox delivery, attorney review, an appointment, or acceptance of the matter. If the site offers an email draft instead, you must review and send it through your own email app.

Discussing an evaluation

If the inquiry proceeds, further information about the parties, location, timing, and records may be needed. The initial case evaluation has no evaluation fee. It does not promise case acceptance or a result; later work, fees, and expenses require separate agreement.

Confirming accepted representation

Confirm the agreed work, fees and expenses, communication, and responsibility for particular deadlines separately in writing before relying on the firm to handle them. Clarify which tasks are included and which remain yours. For an accepted matter, follow the instructions provided for that matter.

The Our Approach page explains how inquiry, evaluation, and accepted work differ. The Disclaimer explains general information, examples, and initial communications. These website terms do not replace an agreement for accepted legal services or confirm that work has begun on a particular matter.

Keep the first message focused

Provide a short summary, relevant dates, the parties and their roles, and your state. The form’s written overview accepts 20–1,800 characters and no attachments. Leave out Social Security numbers, passwords, full account numbers, and confidential documents. Describe the records you have and ask how to provide them if requested. Do not paste a fictional example as though its facts were yours.

Whether a communication is protected depends on its circumstances and applicable law. Some protections can apply to a prospective-client consultation even if representation does not follow; this page does not waive protections that apply. That does not mean every unsolicited message is automatically privileged. See the Privacy Notice for data-handling information, and ask about an appropriate way to discuss sensitive details.

Check the source, date, and purpose

• Location and timing: a California-specific resource may not apply elsewhere. A historical report can explain past concerns without establishing a current rule, benefit, or deadline. Keep the date of the event separate from the date of the guidance.
• Complete records: website summaries do not replace the actual agreement, court paper, notice, account record, or official instruction. Preserve full documents, qualifications, relevant dates, and delivery details instead of relying only on a selected sentence or screenshot.
• Illustrations and calculations: sample messages, scenarios, planning figures, and possible objectives explain concepts. They are not findings about you, completed client results, or outcome guarantees. A calculation based on entered numbers can organize a comparison without proving the amount owed or recoverable.

Get help if access or timing is a concern

Pages, links, and contact features may be unavailable or behave differently across devices and browsers. If a feature does not work, use the office’s phone or email details below and identify the affected page. The Accessibility page explains keyboard use, text enlargement, motion controls, and ways to report a barrier. You do not need a technical diagnosis to request help.

Reading a guide, organizing records, sending a message, or waiting for a reply does not extend a deadline or confirm that the firm has agreed to act. Identify an urgent notice and its date at the start of a call or message; say if its meaning is unclear. If assistance has not been confirmed in time, seek prompt help from an appropriately authorized attorney or a legal-aid or court self-help service. The form is not an emergency channel.

Website information and features may be revised. The date above identifies this Terms page version; it does not mean every legal resource was updated that day or that an individual matter has been reviewed. For a question about earlier wording, identify the page and date of the material you saw.

• Internal guides: pages such as Services and Resources explain topics and preparation. Following a link does not send an inquiry or open a client file. A suggested page is a place to read, not a finding that it covers your situation.
• External instructions: check the destination’s identity, date, location requirements, and current process. Review its privacy information before providing personal information or documents; its requirements may differ from this website’s form.
• Viewing and submitting: opening an agency, complaint, or court resource does not file anything, satisfy a notice requirement, or complete a required step. Follow that organization’s process and keep your actual submission and receipt. A report to an agency is not automatically an inquiry to this firm.
• Contact-card downloads: the firm’s vCard is a file for a compatible contacts app. You decide whether to import it. Downloading it does not share your address book with the firm, submit an inquiry, book a consultation, or create a reminder to contact you.

If a link is broken, leads somewhere unexpected, or appears outdated, identify its label and the page where you found it. If relevant, describe the message displayed. Avoid including unnecessary personal or case details in a website-problem report, and do not assume reporting the issue completes any separate legal or agency step.

• Identify facts and uncertainty: distinguish what you know from estimates, assumptions, and questions. If you are helping a relative, business, or another person, explain your role instead of presenting yourself as that person. Label missing information without inventing it.
• Share appropriately: keep initial messages brief and avoid unnecessary information about others. Do not send passwords or confidential records through the initial form or unsolicited email. Ask about an appropriate channel and any authority needed to provide someone else’s information.
• Respect website operation: do not send harmful code, deceptive links, or submissions intended to disrupt access, bypass protections, or interfere with other visitors’ use.
• Follow error instructions: if receipt is uncertain, use the displayed retry instructions or contact the office instead of repeatedly creating new inquiries. Keep any reference number and the error wording; an apparent timeout alone does not confirm whether processing occurred.

The form’s progress indicator and character count describe field completion, not legal sufficiency or submission. A planner outline, completed draft, or checked consent is not a sent message. Editing unsent text does not update an earlier inquiry. To correct information already submitted, contact the office and identify the earlier reference if available; explain the correction without repeating unnecessary sensitive material.

The form’s separate consent concerns contact about the inquiry and an email receipt. Review it yourself before submission; using a planner does not select it for you. The Privacy Notice explains requested information, processing, browser features, and information questions. Browser recovery, a copied note, or an email draft may exist separately from the page’s current display.

Materials may include firm branding, explanatory text, and illustrations, alongside links to independently published resources. Public access does not establish permission to use someone’s branding as your own or claim an affiliation. For a proposed use of firm material, identify the particular text or image and describe the intended use when contacting the office. This page does not grant broader rights in third-party material.

When referring someone to information here, share the page address so they can read the complete context and qualifications. Keep a personal planning outline distinguishable from an official firm statement when copying or editing it. General website text is not an attorney’s advice to you or approval of your position. Linking to a page does not establish representation.

Service images, architectural artwork, examples, and sample summaries are illustrative. They do not identify actual firm clients, personnel, offices, or completed outcomes. A realistic-looking scene or fictional first-person example should not be presented as an actual case account. The Disclaimer explains the purpose and limits of the site’s examples and imagery.

Identify the page and the help you need

• Website wording: name the page, section, and statement you want explained or believe needs attention. Describe what is unclear without including private records.
• A technical or access problem: explain what you tried, what happened, and any displayed message. Device and browser details may help, but a technical diagnosis is unnecessary. See Accessibility for other ways to request assistance.
• A privacy question: use the Privacy Notice to identify the information or practice you want reviewed. Include a relevant inquiry reference without repeating sensitive documents or full account details.
• A possible legal matter: provide a short account, your state, the parties, and important dates. Put an approaching deadline first. Use Contact to request a conversation; an inquiry is separate from accepted representation.

If a phone or email link does not open an app, dial the number directly or copy the address into your email service. Opening an email draft does not send it; review and send it yourself. Direct calls and emails do not trigger the website’s automatic receipt. If the firm already represents you, follow the communication and document-sharing instructions agreed for that matter.