{"id":188,"date":"2006-10-12T14:08:28","date_gmt":"2006-10-12T18:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/shlep\/2006\/10\/12\/disconcerting-disclaimers\/"},"modified":"2006-10-12T14:16:25","modified_gmt":"2006-10-12T18:16:25","slug":"disconcerting-disclaimers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/2006\/10\/12\/disconcerting-disclaimers\/","title":{"rendered":"disconcerting disclaimers"},"content":{"rendered":"
One day after Carolyn Elefant decried the overuse of disclaimers by lawyers (Inside Opinions<\/em>, “<\/font>Disclaimers: A Panacea or a Mindset We Ought to Avoid?<\/font><\/a>,” Oct. 10, 2006), agreeing with Ernie the Attorney<\/em><\/a> on the subject, <\/font>SelfHelpSupport<\/em>.org<\/font><\/a>\u00a0pointed to a Disclaimer<\/font> being used at the Self-Help Center of the Minnesota Judicial Branch.\u00a0 After being told on the Home Page<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0 [emphasis in the original]\u00a0“You are strongly encouraged<\/em><\/strong> to speak with an attorney licensed to practice law in Minnesota to get advice on your legal issue,” persons seeking assistance from\u00a0the Minnesota courts’ Self-Help Center are\u00a0referred to\u00a0the formal\u00a0Disclaimer<\/strong><\/font><\/a>, which says, among other things:\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/div>\n
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There is no attorney-client privilege of confidentiality of any information exchanged by a visitor and the Self-Help Center.\u00a0 <\/em><\/font>\u00a0<\/p>\n

SHC staff are not responsible for the outcome of your case.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

While court staff attempt to keep the information on this website up to date, the SHC makes no claim as to the accuracy of this information and is not responsible for any consequences that may result from its use.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

If you are unsure whether information on this site will be helpful to you, speak with an attorney who is licensed to practice law in Minnesota.<\/em> <\/font><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Not exactly encouraging for the self-helper.\u00a0 \u00a0If nothing else, I sure hope that any court offering a self-help center considers it a duty to keep the information up-to-date and accurate, and refrains from punishing a person who acts in reliance on the information.<\/font><\/div>\n
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Poking around their Self-Help Center website, I see that the Minnesota courts have a form called Rights and Duties of Self-Represented Parties<\/a>, that must be signed under oath by any one appearing without an attorney.\u00a0 The pro se<\/em> litigant must agree that “I have read and understand my rights and duties.\u00a0 I am filing this lawsuit in good faith and I believe I am justified by law in bringing this action.” <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n
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\"checkedBox\"\u00a0Our Disclaimer Disclaimer<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t buy the notion that all disclaimers are silly and make lawyers look “mealy-mouthed.”\u00a0\u00a0 If a disclaimer helps the public understand an important point that otherwise\u00a0would likely have been missed or misunderstood by a significant number of people, it is worthwhile and maybe even necessary.\u00a0 On the\u00a0other hand, if a disclaimer is used by a person or organization in an attempt to be excused for his-her-its sloppiness or unwillingness\u00a0to make a commitment or take responsibility, then Carolyn’s “mealy-mouthed” accusation is warranted. <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/div>\n

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One day after Carolyn Elefant decried the overuse of disclaimers by lawyers (Inside Opinions, “Disclaimers: A Panacea or a Mindset We Ought to Avoid?,” Oct. 10, 2006), agreeing with Ernie the Attorney on the subject, SelfHelpSupport.org\u00a0pointed to a Disclaimer being used at the Self-Help Center of the Minnesota Judicial Branch.\u00a0 After being told on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[896],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-consumer"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/shlep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}