is that legal.ca

How to Use this Website

About 1/3 of Isthatlegal.ca hits are 'in, out and gone'. Since this website is probably the most detailed and exhaustive one in existence for the topics that it covers (feel free to correct me), that is a shame. Many internet-users - jaded by the thousands of self-serving 'pamphlet'-websites that populate the web - seem focussed on finding quick, piecemeal answers - even at the expense of accuracy. In law that is a recipe for disaster and you may as well give up before you start.

So while you really need to understand the underlying structure of law (which you can if you read enough of the site) in order to understand the impact of any particular piece of it to your situation, I thought I could offer some useful suggestions on how to best use the site.

SUGGESTIONS

1. Use the Table of Contents
   
   Each of my several Legal Guides is written like a textbook, so use it like a textbook. Each chapter starts with an extensive 'Table of Contents', which has active links to the several sections within the chapter - use it. As well, if you first arrive at Isthatlegal.ca somewhere 'in the middle of the book' (where search engines often send you), click on the topic homepages (located in the header) until you get your bearings.
   
   
2. Use Keyword Searches
   
   Another way of getting to information quickly within a Chapter is a 'Cntrl F' keyword search. But be careful as some chapters can be up to four files long, necessitating that you load each file and perform separate searches on each of them (links to the next file - if any - are located at the bottom of the current file).
   
   
3. Use Google Site Search
   
   If you want to search only within www.isthatlegal.ca, go to Google and - in addition to your search terms - add the site restriction "site:isthatlegal.ca". For example:
   
   site:isthatlegal.ca tenant law ontario
   
4. Check the Cross-References
   
   If a cross-reference within a topic sounds relevant, check it out. Open Isthatlegal.ca in a new window and click-through until you find the reference, then read both explanations in conjunction with each other until you understand it.
   
   
5. Keep Looking, It Should be There
   
   If you can't find what you are looking for in one chapter, try another chapter that sounds likely. I try to make these Legal Guides exhaustive, and if you really can't find something that should be there, I will flag it for consideration on my next updating.
   
   
6. If You're Still Stuck, Ask for Navigation Help
   
   If you cannot, after honestly trying #1-4 above, find what you are after, you can ask me for navigation help at this email address: simonshields@isp.com

---> BUT! (big but here)
The 'Navigation Help' offered in #5 above is not a substitute for legal advice, and all you are likely to get is a bunch of URLs (links) from me. If during a 'Navigation Help' request you start to ask fact-specific questions (even if you call them 'hypotheticals') - or otherwise try to pump me for free legal advice, I will either ignore you or start to treat you as a prospective client and try to sell you legal services. And what's worse is that I won't give you any useful advice until you hire me (ie. give me money upfront) - I'm evil that way.

So if you actually have a real fact situation that is important to you, quit trying to piece the law together like Frankenstein's monster from all over the web. Hire me, I'm cheap and good (but read this link *carefully* first or I may get cranky).

Talk to the Lawyer
Simon Shields, LLB
Lawyer and Author of Isthatlegal.ca