Frequently Asked Questions
What is LawSpot?
LawSpot is a free online legal Q&A service. Our purpose is to make the law more accessible to
all New Zealanders. We do this by getting you, the user, to post up your question about New
Zealand law on our website. A lawyer volunteer will then answer your question, free of charge,
and LawSpot publishes the answer in a publicly accessible Q&A database.
For Users
Do I have to provide my name before I can ask a question?
No. When you register to ask a question, we only ask you for your email address and the region
you live in.
Why do I have to register to ask a question?
We require your email address so that we can notify you when your question has been answered.
We need to know which region you live in so that we can connect you to community legal services
convenient to you. Your details will never be published online or shared with our lawyer
volunteers - your identity will be protected at all times.
Who answers the questions?
Only qualified lawyers can answer questions on LawSpot. The answers are supervised by the
Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley ("CLWHV")and published online under the CLWHV's profile. The
lawyer's identity and your own identity will never be published or shared.
How long does it take to receive an answer?
We'll try to get answers to you in 1-2 working days, but some tricky ones may take longer.
Is my question confidential?
LawSpot’s Terms of Use make clear that when you submit a question you
agree to the question being published online and cannot claim confidentiality over its
contents. The LawSpot team will remove any identifying information that you may have
included in your question, so no one will be able to guess who submitted it. For more
information, please review our Privacy Policy.
What happens once I submit my question?
Once you submit your question, your question is screened by one of LawSpot’s administrators for
appropriateness. This just means that we will remove any offensive information, any information
that reveals identifying information about you and we will also categorise each question. Be
aware that your question may be modified slightly before it is put into a pool of questions
that our lawyer volunteers may choose to answer.
Only LawSpot administrators will be able to view the question directly as submitted by the user
online. This is to ensure user anonymity to protect against the risk that lawyer volunteers
could be conflicted out of answering some users' questions. At no point will a lawyer volunteer
have access to identifying details about a user such as their email address. Lawyer volunteers
will only be able to view a question once it has been vetted and anonymised by LawSpot
administrators and categorised into the applicable area of law.
Can I edit a question once it is submitted?
No. You will need to re-submit a new question if you want to change a question you have already
submitted.
Can I comment on answers provided?
Nope, sorry. LawSpot users can only post legal questions online - not general comments. If the
answer given didn't quite address what you were asking, try re-submitting your question using
different phrasing. Or if your question is too complex, we may recommend that you visit the
community law centre closest to you, or consult your own lawyer.
What if the lawyer gets it wrong?
The answers are supervised by Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley before they are published
online. Lawyers enjoy the protections offered by CLWHV supervision and are not personally liable
for the content of their answers. Also, an Important Notice
is included as part of every answer published on LawSpot (so that you don’t forget that there
are limitations to the answers provided). This notice makes clear that the use of LawSpot is
no substitute for personal legal advice specific to your particular circumstances, and that
no liability whatsoever is accepted by the authors or publishers of the answer, for loss,
damage or inconvenience arising in any way from the use of this site.
For Lawyers and Other Supporters
