Good legal advice is an invaluable tool. Unfortunately, good legal advice is too expensive for the freelance designer. Have no fear though, there are a number of sites and businesses online that can help you with your legal woes and offer some advice. Many of the sites listed below have are either free or extremely cheap alternatives to full price legal service.

PrePaid Legal

Despite the crappy looking website, PrePaid Legal actually offers some really good deals at an extremely affordable rate. The rates very depending on what state you live in, but for my home state of Georgia, a home business plan is around $50 a month. Thats not a bad price when you consider everything they offer. You can have them review your contracts to make sure they are bullet proof, have them handle un-paying clients, and answer random legal related questions.

Here are some of the services included in the home based business package:

• Phone Consultations on Unlimited Matters
  As a member, you have unlimited toll free telephone consultation with your provider lawyer for issues regarding your home based business.
• Legal Correspondence Services
  How many times could a letter from an attorney have helped your business? You can have up to three letters written each month on your behalf.
• Contract Review
  You can have up to three contracts, up to 15 pages each, reviewed by your Provider Lawyer each month!
• Debt Collection
  Your business may have up to three separate initial collection letters per month at no additional charge.

Law Guru

Do you have a simple legal question that you need advice on, but don’t want to pay a lawyer hundreds of dollars to answer it? Try posting it on Law Guru. The website allows you to post questions relating to legal matters and have certified lawyers and law firms answer your questions. If is free to post questions and receive answers. Don’t expect a full blown response, but you will probably get enough advice to get you pointed in the right direction.

The site is especially helpful for getting legal advice of copyright laws, intellectual property, and business related questions. I have used this site a few times and it has always worked out well for me.

Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a non-profit organization that handles technology related legal cases. They handle things like file sharing issues, free speech, and other technological issue. the best part about the guys and Electronic Frontier Foundation is that they work pro bono. If you find your self being wronged in an issue that the EFF cover, they will help you out in court free of charge.

Free Advice

FreeAdvice.com is kind of like eLance. You can post your legal matter on the website for free and have lawyers review the case and give you their advice. You will get responses from up to 5 different lawyers, but with no obligation to work with them on your case. This a great site for when you need more than what LawGuru can offer.