How will we treat questions like "Can you look over my contract?"

Question

Proposal: Law

I imagine it wouldn't be uncommon for someone to draft up a contract, or to be given one, and then come to Law.SE and ask "Does my contract look good?" or "What does this contract mean?"

How will we handle this? Will it be welcomed? Discouraged? It doesn't seem like a matter of opinion and it certainly falls in the domain of the law. That said, it also feels off-topic in the same reason source code review was for StackOverflow, which prompted the creation of CodeReview.SE. I can't imagine a LawReview.SE would be something reasonable unless this SE becomes wildly popular for some reason.

Answer 1

Treat it the same as 'why is my code not working' on SO.

Close with custom close reason as they not include enough research. This should be the site for the people who know at least the basics and know how to search for information, but have doubts how to interpret some statement, is there any casus for given situation, or some detailed norms applying to give circumstances etc.

No way life advices where the OP even doesn't know where to start.

Answer 2

I think this shares some issues with How will we discourage people asking for, or giving, legal advice in Law?

The contract review question is problematic not just because it's a specific document, but because someone answering it, at least in the United States and I believe in many other common law jurisdictions, will be engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.

I think there's a difference between:

I got in an accident, and the other guy's insurance company sent me this settlement agreement to sign. What does that mean?

and a question like:

I noticed on the back of my cruise ticket that I wasn't allowed to bring "tools of trade" on the cruise without a "bill of lading." What does this mean, and why is it there?

Both are technically asking to interpret a contract. The differences are (1) the first question is too broad, and (2) the first person is asking for legal advice; the second person, while they are a party to the contract, seems to be asking out of curiosity.

Whatever policies are in place, I think they should bar the first question, but they should still allow something like the second question.