Re: Which license am I looking for?
On Monday 19 January 2009 11:59:13 am Anthony W. Youngman wrote:
> In message <[🔎] 200901191101.08985.skellogg@gmail.com>, Sean Kellogg
> <skellogg@gmail.com> writes
> >Stated a tad more fairly to those who have asked Fancesco to add
> >disclaimers... Francesco has a tendency to state opinions a little too
> >"matter-of-factly" for some d-l participents, leading those who
> >disagree to accuse him of the cardinal sin of "giving legal advice,"
> >which is illegal in many jurisdictions (certainly the United States)
> >without proper certification. However, I agree with Ben that the
> >disclaimers are ludicrous... not because they are unecessary, but
> >because they are insufficient. You either are, or are not, giving legal
> >advice, and no amount of disclaimers changes that. One cannot say "you
> >should phrase your license X, Y, and Z... but this isn't legal advice".
> >It is, and if someone where to suffer economic harm by following said
> >advice, they would have grounds to bring suit against you for
> >malpractice and praciting without a license.
>
> Are you an American? (I think you are)
I am... is this a problem?
> Bearing in mind this mailing list is INTERNATIONAL, and Francesco is
> posting from a .it address (and I'm posting from a .uk address), me
> certainly and Francesco too I suspect find this attitude somewhat
> parochial (and ludicrous).
I'm not entirely certain why the fact that the list is international means anything? The individuals who participate live *somewhere* and the laws of those somewheres apply. Everyone who participates on this list subjects themselves, in part, to the laws of those they reply to. Yes, there are jurisdictional issues, but that's different from the law itself.
> No offence to you, but it really doesn't go down well when Americans try
> to enforce their standards (ludicrous, sensible or otherwise) on foreign
> nations and nationals.
I am somewhat at a loss... just as Francesco is in Italy, I am in the United States, and if he were to give me legal advice, he would be in violation of California statutes. Perhaps violating other country's laws doesn't bother him... perhaps he can simply declare my laws as "irrelevant"... but it would not be my advice, as I very much wonder what the controlling law would be when someone gives advice to another with knowledge that they are in a jurisdiction that requires a license even though they don't have one. Certainly if I were to give advice to someone in Utah, even though I live in California, I could be hauled into a Utah court... even though the legal practice law in a State law not a federal one. Even easier, the Utah fellow could sue me in a CA court under their own laws.
Not entirely certain what an Italian court would make of the claim of violating U.S. laws on the subject. He might get of free; I don't think it would be pretty. But, by all means, stick your head in the ground and complain about American parochialism, it's realy no skin off my knees.
Incedently, as far as I can tell, the UK doesn't have the same sort of blanked practice requirement as the United States does, but it does have some areas of law that require you to certified as one of four different types of legal professionals. I didn't bother to look it up, because I don't honestly care -- whatever it is, it's going to be less strict than the rules I must follow -- but perhaps you might want to look it up, since you are so certain my suggestion about legal advice does not apply to you.
-Sean
--
Sean Kellogg
e: skellogg@gmail.com
w: http://blog.probonogeek.org/
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.
We are the ones we've been waiting for.
We are the change that we seek.
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