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The article illustrates the problem in relying on unqualified people for legal advice. It does not suggest that all advice given by unqualified people is wrong, but does make the point (I think quite well) that on those occasions where wrong advice is given, there is no recourse against the person giving the incorrect advice. This can have very serious consequences indeed for the person relying on that advice.
The people giving that advice are often 'helping' the most vulnerable in society, who have no way of deciding whether the advice they are given is correct, or even whether they have engaged someone with decades of experience or someone who set themselves up only that afternoon.
A person practising as a solicitor MUST have adequate insurance and is obliged not to take on matters that are outside of their expertise. They are also required to have met the academic and training requirements, which include specific training on the ethical and moral standards to which a solicitor must be held. There are serious sanctions that apply to solicitors who break the rules. That does not mean that mistakes do not happen, but serious ones are few and far between. Solicitors who make regular or significant mistakes will be penalised through the 'market' through their insurance premiums and through the 'market' by the damage to goodwill that mistakes cause.
There are examples on this thread from people who seek to justify the continuation of unqualified 'help', who themselves have made comments that contain basic errors of law that could be dangerous were their ignorance to be tested in Court. My fear is that the people who will suffer from this ignorance are not those who profit from it, but those who rely on it.

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