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FindLaw's New Consumer Section Helps People Find Answers to Legal Questions And Find Legal Counsel Online
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., August 6, 2002 – What are your rights if you're fired? What do you need to know before selling a house? FindLaw(R), the most popular legal Web site, today unveiled an expanded section of its Web site to help consumers with their legal questions. FindLaw For The Public (http://consumer.pub.findlaw.com) offers thousands of new pages of helpful legal information, such as user-friendly articles, guides, forms and FAQ pages, along with the Internet's largest searchable nationwide directory of attorneys.
FindLaw For The Public covers areas of the law that people commonly encounter, including Cars & Tickets, Consumer & Travel, Criminal Law, Education, Employment Law, Family Issues, Immigration Law, The Internet, Money Matters, Personal Injury, Real Estate, Retirement & Elder Care, and Wills & Estate Planning. A recent nationwide survey by FindLaw shows that a significant number of Americans have a need for the information and resources contained in FindLaw For The Public: fully 18 percent of American adults were involved in at least one legal issue within the last year, meaning an issue where they either used a lawyer or could have used a lawyer. The five most common legal issues encountered involved real estate, family law, estate planning, personal injury and traffic violations.
FindLaw For The Public's comprehensive and easy-to-understand information is drawn from sources including the U.S. government, the American Bar Association, Nolo Press and FindLaw's own extensive library of case law and legal information.
The "FindLaw 101" section has easy-to-follow guides that help users learn how to find their way through the legal process -- from researching their legal questions online, to finding an attorney, to going to court.
The "Find a Lawyer" feature gives users access to the Internet's largest directory of attorneys and legal professionals. More than one million lawyers and legal professionals can be searched by practice area, location or name.
"People face legal questions in many aspects of their lives, whether related to their jobs, family and estate matters, finances, housing or other issues," said Stacy Stern, FindLaw vice president. "FindLaw For The Public can help people find answers to common legal questions, learn how to research relevant legislation and case law, and find qualified legal counsel. Dealing with the legal system can be intimidating and overwhelming. Our goal is to help people by providing useful information and online tools that make it easier to navigate the legal system."
FindLaw is the most popular legal Web site, according to all major third- party Internet tracking services.
About FindLaw
FindLaw (http://www.findlaw.com ) is the leading provider of online legal information and solutions for the legal community, businesses and individuals. FindLaw's Internet portal is the highest-trafficked legal Web site, according to leading, independent Internet traffic monitoring services.
The site provides comprehensive, plain-English legal information to businesses and individuals. These resources include West Legal Directory(R), the Internet's largest directory of lawyers and legal professionals. FindLaw also offers comprehensive information, resources and services for law practice and legal career development, including free case law, an online career center, breaking legal news, newsletters, message boards, service directories, continuing legal education and legal search tools. In addition, FindLaw provides access to tools and services that help connect legal professionals with potential clients. FindLaw is a division of West, a Thomson business (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC), and the foremost provider of integrated information solutions to the U.S. legal market.
About The Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation (http://www.thomson.com), with 2001 revenues of $7.2 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. Thomson provides value-added information, software applications and tools to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges (NYSE: TOC; TSX: TOC).