Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

By using LawyerCheck, you represent that you are at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering into a binding contract. If you are using the Services on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have the authority to bind that organization to these Terms.

2. Description of Services

LawyerCheck is a platform that allows users ("Clients" or "Reviewers") to review and rate attorneys ("Lawyers") based on their experiences. Lawyers may claim their profiles, respond to reviews, and manage their public presence on the platform. The platform is designed to provide transparent, user-generated feedback about legal professionals.

3. User Accounts and Responsibilities

To post a review, claim a profile, or access certain features, you may be required to create an account. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information during registration and to update such information as necessary. You are solely responsible for safeguarding your account credentials. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account. We are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your account information.

4. User-Generated Content

4.1 Reviews and Ratings

LawyerCheck relies heavily on user-generated content. When posting a review, you agree that your review is based on your actual, first-hand experience with the Lawyer and represents your honest, factually accurate opinion. You must not post content that is defamatory, libelous, abusive, obscene, threatening, or otherwise unlawful. Furthermore, your content must not violate any third-party rights, including intellectual property or privacy rights, nor should it disclose confidential case details, unnecessarily name opposing parties, or violate any non-disclosure agreements.

4.2 Verified Clients

We offer a "Verified Client" badge for reviews where the Reviewer provides proof of representation, such as a retainer agreement or an invoice. These documents are reviewed privately by LawyerCheck and are never published. However, LawyerCheck does not guarantee the absolute authenticity of any review, whether it carries a verified badge or not.

4.3 License to Content

By posting content on LawyerCheck, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media format.

4.4 Section 230 Safe Harbor

LawyerCheck operates as an interactive computer service provider under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230). We are not the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. We do not endorse any user-generated content and cannot be held liable for any statements, representations, or reviews provided by our users.

5. Lawyer Profiles and Claims

Lawyers may claim their profiles by verifying their identity through an approved firm-domain email address or through our manual verification process. Once claimed, Lawyers have the right to post one public response per review. These responses must adhere to the same content guidelines as reviews and must not violate any attorney-client privilege or professional conduct rules. Lawyer profiles may be populated with publicly available information aggregated from state bar associations or other public records. LawyerCheck is not responsible for any inaccuracies found within these public records.

6. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to use the Services for any illegal or unauthorized purpose. You must not attempt to manipulate the rating system, which includes posting fake reviews, paying for reviews, or reviewing multiple lawyers from the same firm in a coordinated manner to artificially skew ratings. You agree not to harass, intimidate, or threaten other users or Lawyers on the platform. Furthermore, you are prohibited from scraping, crawling, or systematically extracting data from the Services without our express written permission, and you must not interfere with or disrupt the integrity or performance of the Services.

7. DMCA Copyright Policy

LawyerCheck respects the intellectual property rights of others. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), we will respond promptly to notices of alleged copyright infringement. If you believe your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide our designated DMCA Agent with a written notice. This notice must include a physical or electronic signature of the copyright owner or authorized representative, identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, and identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing along with its location on the Services. You must also provide your contact information, a statement that you have a good faith belief that the use is not authorized, and a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate.

DMCA Agent Contact: general@lawyercheck.dev

8. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Services are provided on an "as-is" and "as-available" basis. LawyerCheck disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. We do not guarantee that the Services will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free, or that any reviews or ratings are accurate or reliable. LawyerCheck does not provide legal advice, and no outcome guarantees are made based on reviews.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, LawyerCheck shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits or revenues, whether incurred directly or indirectly. We are not liable for any loss of data, use, goodwill, or other intangible losses resulting from your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Services. Furthermore, we are not liable for any conduct or content of any third party on the Services, including any defamatory, offensive, or illegal conduct of other users or third parties, nor for unauthorized access, use, or alteration of your transmissions or content.

10. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless LawyerCheck, its affiliates, and their respective officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including reasonable legal and accounting fees. This indemnification applies to claims arising out of or in any way connected with your access to or use of the Services, your violation of these Terms, or your user-generated content.

11. Dispute Resolution and Mandatory Arbitration

Please read this section carefully. It affects your legal rights.

Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms or the breach, termination, enforcement, interpretation, or validity thereof, including the determination of the scope or applicability of this agreement to arbitrate, shall be determined by arbitration in California, before one arbitrator. The arbitration shall be administered by JAMS pursuant to its Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures. Judgment on the Award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction. This clause shall not preclude parties from seeking provisional remedies in aid of arbitration from a court of appropriate jurisdiction. You and LawyerCheck agree that each may bring claims against the other only in your or its individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class or representative proceeding.

12. Anti-SLAPP and State-Specific Defenses

LawyerCheck expressly reserves the right to invoke any applicable anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) statutes, including but not limited to those in California, New York, Florida, and Texas. We will use these defenses to quickly dismiss meritless lawsuits intended to chill free speech on matters of public interest.

13. Modifications to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Terms on the Services and updating the "Last Updated" date at the top of this document. Your continued use of the Services after any such changes constitutes your full acceptance of the new Terms.

14. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of law principles.

15. Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns about these Terms, please contact us at: general@lawyercheck.dev