Law and Legal Resources-Self Help and Specialized Legal Resources


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NOTE: The sites below contain extensive and helpful legal information, but none of the sites listed below can be used as substitutes for the personal advice that you may need from a lawyer.

Most have disclaimers stating that laws are constantly changing and that only a lawyer can provide specific advice on which you can depend.

Extensive legal information is found in the sites, and much of it is geared to the lay person, but personal advice from a lawyer may be necessary for any one doing legal research.

901 Legal Connect
The 901 Legal Connect Intake and Referral System connects low-income residents in Fayette, Lauderdale, Shelby, and Tipton counties to free or reduced-cost legal help. You will be asked a series of questions about your income, household size, citizenship status, and legal problem. If you are eligible for assistance, you will be connected to the appropriate legal service provider, who will contact you to follow up. If you are not eligible for assistance from them, the website will offer alternate resources.

TN Free Legal Answers
Tennessee Free Legal Answers is a web portal where Tennesseans can ask advice from a licensed Tennessee attorney. Visit the website to email a lawyer to ask a question about your civil legal issue. This is a free service.

1-844-HELP4TN
There is no income requirement for this one. It is a HELPLINE which is answered by an attorney. The attorney will not give advice, but will give information referal to steer the client in the right direction.

Justice For All: A Tennessee Supreme Court Initiative
Information on this website is for people who cannot afford a lawyer and need legal help in civil cases (cases that do not have to do with a crime), like job loss, home foreclosure, or loss of health insurance. Website includes helpful videos and links.

HELP4TN
The focus here is low income and rural populations. It is written at the 5th grade reading level. It covers only civil issues. This site is searchable by county.

HELP4TN can be accessed from a computer or a smart phone. It uses responsive technology, so no app is required on a smart phone. The look will differ, but the content will be the same. Key word searches work best using single words, not multiples. It is possible to search 2 key words linked with AND or OR (all caps), but a single word search is more successful.

The Article Pages contain VERY HELPFUL information on how to represent yourself in General Sessions Courtand the links to forms are good.

For Divorce Forms, go to TNCOURTS.GOV
Site includes legal forms, like divorce forms, publications, a self-help center, and links to bar associations in the state, and other legal resources.

Famous Trials 
Information from the UMKC School of Law on some of the most famous trials in history, including the Sacco-Vanzetti trial, the Loeb-Leopold trial, the Scottsboro Boys trial, and more.

Guide to Law Online
Prepared by the U.S. Law Library of Congress Public Services Division, this is an annotated compendium of Internet links to sources of information on the law. Most of the sites provide full-texts of laws, court decisions, and regulations, as well as commentaries from legal experts.

Internet Legal Resource Guide
A categorized index of more than 4000 select legal web sites. Links to law codes and court decisions, to sites containing information about law schools, to ones providing information about lawyers and law firms, to a legal forms archive, and to much more are found here.

A Guide to the US Federal Legal System 
This website is for those internet users who require reliable legal sources through publicly accessible web-based databases. Many of the materials here are recent and not comprehensive in scope and date coverage. The guide is not intended to supplant traditional sources of legal research.

FindLaw Lawyer Directory
This site features detailed profiles of U.S. attorneys.  It allows searching by either legal issue or location.  There is also a helpful article on how to choose and work with an attorney.

All Law – Forms – Key Sites
Links to sites containing all kinds of legal forms.

Findlaw for the Public
Many articles on a wide variety of legal topics, including finding and hiring lawyers, and resolving a dispute with a lawyer. Also, legal news, and links to many consumer resources.

FreeAdvice.Com
FreeAdvice.com is intended to offer the most useful, comprehensive, balanced legal information for the public. Over 100 areas of law are covered, including insurance law, business law, immigration law, employment law, and more areas. Its advisory board includes distinguished attorneys, law school deans and professors, consumer advocates, and former senior Government officials. 

Introduction to Basic Legal Citation 
A part of the Cornell School of Law’s legal Information Institute, this site offers information about legal citation, provides examples of legal citations, explains how to cite, offers list of abbreviations, and more.

ILRG Legal Forms Archive
This site offers a wide variety of legal forms, including buying and selling agreements, transfers and assignments, leases and tenancies, many different kinds of personal forms, and more. Many useful forms included, but please be sure to read the disclaimer done by the publishers of this page.

Legal Assistance for Older Americans 
This site, from the U.S. Administration on Aging, provides legal information for older Americans, directories, a Protecting the Rights of Older Americans fact sheet, and links to other legal assistance and elder law web sites.

Military Legal Resources 
The William Winthrop Memorial Library at the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center & School   in Charlottesville, VA, holds extensive collections of primary source materials and publications in the field of military law. Selections from these collections are now being made accessible in full text PDF versions via the Library of Congress Federal Research Division (FRD) Web site. As more materials are converted to digital formats, they will be added to this page

Nolo’s Free Dictionary of Law Terms and Legal Definitions
“Find plain-English definitions for legal terms by browsing Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.”

Nolo’s Legal Encyclopedia
Much information is found here, in lay language, on different areas of the law, including Debt and Credit, Consumer Law, Tax Problems, Wills and Estate Planning, Spouses and Partners, and more.

WomensLaw.org
Provides information related to all genders about legal concerns regarding domestic violence, sexual violence, and domestic abuse. State-specific information is available as well as an email hotline for those with questions. Click here for Tennessee law regarding parental kidnapping, restraining orders, gun laws, and more. There are also state resources for finding help.

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