Frequently Asked Questions from Volunteer Attorneys

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How does “Connecticut Free Legal Answers” work?

Connecticut Free Legal Answers is based on the walk-in clinic model where clients request brief advice and counsel about a specific civil legal issue from a volunteer attorney. Attorneys provide information and basic legal advice without an expectation of long-term representation.

Users who meet eligibility (see Eligibility below) sign the use agreement, create a username and password, post a request for legal advice information, and provide the facts about their case to help the volunteer attorney answer the question. Users will be asked to select a category (e.g. “housing” or “debt”) that best describes their question. The users’ name and county – but no other identifying information—will be shared with the volunteer attorney. Users are informed there is no guarantee their question will be answered. If a question is not answered within 30 days, the user will receive an email from the website administrator providing the user with a list of additional legal resources.

Who is eligible to use Connecticut Free Legal Answers?

Eligibility for use of Connecticut Free Legal Answers is limited to the following:

• The use must have household income less than 250% of the federal poverty.
• The use may not have liquid assets exceeding $10,000 in value (this includes checking and savings account balances, as well as the value of any stocks or bonds).
• The user may not be incarcerated.
• The user may not request assistance with criminal law matters.

What type of relationship exists between the client and the attorney?

When a user submits a question and receives an answer from the volunteer attorney, there will be a lawyer/client relationship formed between that client and the lawyer who responds. That relationship, however, will be limited in scope and duration as described in the use agreements for both users and attorneys.

The representation will be limited to providing an answer to the legal question and will not involve any continuing representation of the client beyond the act of providing such an answer.

The attorney will provide short-term, limited legal services to a client (the eligible user of the site) without expectation by either the lawyer or the client (the eligible user of this site) that the lawyer will provide continuing representation in the matter. Both the eligible users and lawyers must consent to the limited nature of this relationship both as to scope and duration as indicated when they accept the terms of the use agreement. Eligible users and lawyers who do not accept the terms of the use agreement will not be allowed access to the site.

What kinds of attorneys can participate?

All Connecticut licensed attorneys are welcome! While there are certain types of legal questions that regularly come up at legal clinics, we need attorneys with different areas of expertise and practice. We hope the website will appeal to attorneys who want to provide pro bono legal help – but have been unable to participate in traditional pro bono work due to family obligations, scheduling, or geographic location. We also hope to engage attorneys who already provide pro bono legal assistance and are willing to give more of their time to Connecticut’s low-income men, women, and families.

How can interested volunteer attorneys participate?

Attorneys who would like to participate must register. Attorneys can log in to our website to create a username and password, provide contact information and their Bar Number, sign the attorney use agreement and request approval from the website administrator. Before the attorney’s account is activated, the website administrator will ensure the attorney is licensed in Connecticut and is in good standing with the Connecticut Board of Professional Responsibility. Once an attorney has been approved by our website administrator, the attorney receives an email notification and can begin answering user questions.

Registered volunteer attorney may log in at any time to review a list of eligible user questions to select the question(s) he/she want to answer. Attorneys will use the categories provided by the user (e.g. “debt” or “housing”) to help determine which questions they would like to answer. An attorney will have the opportunity to read the full question before decided to select it from the list and answer it.

Once a volunteer attorney selects the question from the list, the attorney has 3 days to answer it. Attorneys will be allowed to ask follow up questions if they need additional information in order to answer the user’s question. If an attorney takes a question and does not respond within 3 days, the question will automatically be returned to the open question queue for another volunteer to answer.

The volunteer attorney’s identity is not revealed to the user unless the attorney decides to do so. Once an attorney answers a question, the user will be emailed a notification to log in and read the answer.

Will the attorney’s pro bono hours be recorded?

Volunteer attorneys can self-report their pro bono time (in tenths of an hour) using the website. The information may be used to recognize pro bono attorneys for state and national Pro Bono Recognition Awards. Volunteer attorneys can view their pro bono hours by clicking on “Log My hours” from the menu.

What about professional liability insurance coverage?

Volunteer attorneys who provide brief advice and counsel via the Connecticut Free Legal Answers website will be covered by the professional liability insurance maintained by the Connecticut Bar Association.

There is a confidentiality issue with client information/lawyer advice being housed on the internet?

This site is designed to insure client privacy. Since the web program is administered via email through a platform that limits access based on a screening, confidentiality will be maintained since only the website administrator has access to content between a client and a lawyer. Information available to the website administrator and the lawyer responding to a client request shall remain confidential, subject to the limitations of the Privacy/Confidentiality Policy. However, client requests for information and the response of the lawyers participating in Connecticut Free Legal Answers may be maintained in a database for review in order to measure the effectiveness of the project. Steps will be taken to maintain the security of this database and it will only be utilized by the administrator; but an absolute guarantee of security is not possible when using the internet and internet based systems.

For each visitor to the webpage, the web server automatically recognizes only the consumer domain name. This is the information that is collected for statistical purposes.

Aggregate information is collected on the pages consumers’ access or visit on this website.

The information collected is used to improve the content of the webpage and is not shared with other organizations for commercial purposes. Information may be disclosed when legally required at the request of government authorities conducting an investigation, to verify or enforce compliance with the policies governing out website and applicable laws or to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our website.

Do you have an online instructional video to teach me how to use the program?

The Connecticut Bar Association appreciates the volunteer time you are committing to Connecticut Free Legal Answers. If you need a quick “refresher” to explain the features of the website, please visit our online instructional video for attorneys or contact the Site Administrator at ctfreelegalanswers@ctbar.org.

How do I contact the administrator with a question?

If you have a question or run into a technical problem with the site, please do not hesitate to contact the site administrator at ctfreelegalanswers@ctbar.org.