How do you all deal with family members who ask you for legal advice? Specifics: My father in law is trying to negotiate a buyout of his interest in a company in California he owns 1/3 of and he keeps asking my husband (a patent attorney in IL) and me (a divorce attorney in IL) to help them draft or negotiate contracts. They don’t want to talk to another lawyer. We have told them ad nauseam we aren’t qualified. They keep hounding us for “advice” we don’t have. The company hired a lawyer today.

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Run. Stay away from family business/ legal troubles. A seasoned judge once told me to, "Never work for family, they won't listen to you, nor appreciate what you do, and blame you when it goes south." He didn't lie. I've helped a few family members and I have had to turn off the spigot. It's draining, and it will never end. Just don't do it. Refer them to someone else to salvage your relationship and your peace of mind. Tell them that their interests are better served with a lawyer who specializes in business transactions and buyouts.

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I always use some combination of (1) I don’t know it’s not my practice area; (2) I’m not licensed in that jurisdiction; (3) would have to run conflicts by my firm; (4) it’s not allowed under my contract with my firm; and (5) can’t under my firm’s malpractice insurance. I always offer to refer them to someone or ask around for a recommendation.

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Agree with A1 and I sometimes add (6) the ethical rules prohibit me from doing this in light of (1) and (2) above.

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Play dumb.
Time to start utilizing a lot of I don’t know and I’m not sure

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It’s up to you individually, but for me it would probably depend on the value of the interest. If it’s, say, less than $10k, I would probably just assist in the background. Read the contract, offer my best guesses. I realize this might be technically not in compliance with malpractice insurance, but it’s a low risk.

If it’s more money than that, shut it down. “We love you but we can’t help you because this is completely outside our expertise. You need to hire a transactional attorney to review and I can’t even be in the team.”

Last alternative - give him the option of actually hiring you, retainer agreement, fees and all, and explain you will try to do your best. Usually the root of these requests is a person being cheap.

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