U.S. Adults More Likely to Turn to the Web for Legal Information, New Survey from Lawyers.com Reveals

Research Shows Decline in Relying on Friends and Family for Legal Advice

New York, N.Y. – September 6, 2006 – Forget online dating, blogging or even emails - it's divorce court and fender benders that are bringing Americans online today.

That's because almost three times as many U.S. adults today turn to the Internet to get advice and information about legal matters, aside from asking a lawyer, than they did six years ago (27% in 2006 versus 10% in 2000), according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive® [http://www.harrisinteractive.com] and commissioned by lawyers.com [http://www.lawyers.com], the most comprehensive and trustworthy online resource from LexisNexis [http://www.lexisnexis.com] for finding lawyers.

Mom and Dad Losing Ground to the Web as Top Source for Legal Advice
Other than family and friends (31%), and aside from asking a lawyer, the Internet is now the single biggest source for legal information, outpacing books and newspaper/magazine articles, which came in at just 12%. In fact, the percentage of consumers who rely on the Internet for legal counsel has nearly tripled in recent years (10% in 2000 vs. 27% in 2006), while the percentage that rely on friends and family has declined by about a third (49% in 2000 vs. 31% in 2006).

"Besides lawyers, traditional sources of legal advice, such as friends and family, are on the decline today as consumers increasingly turn to widely-available online resources to become better informed about their legal rights and responsibilities. The challenge is knowing what information is trustworthy," said attorney Alan Kopit, legal editor of lawyers.com. "Consumers need to look to reputable Web sites and investigate the source of legal information they find online before they rely on it."

"People have unprecedented access to legal information that had once been only the purview of legal professionals - everything from a checklist for preparing for a divorce to access to lawyers' credentials - in a way that was never possible before," said Kopit.

Two out of three U.S. adults today have used a lawyer at least once in their lives, about the same percent as in 2000 (65% in 2006 vs. 68% in 2000). As was the case six years ago, the single biggest reason lawyers are hired today is to handle estate planning, like creating wills. Forty-six percent of those U.S. adults who have hired a lawyer say that is what drove them there, a similar percent as in 2000 (51%).

About the 2006 Survey
Harris Interactive® conducted the telephone survey on behalf of lawyers.com from LexisNexis within the United States between June 22 and 25, 2006 among 1,018 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity and region were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. With a pure probability sample of 1,018 adults one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account. For further information about the 2000 survey, contact Laura Byrne of Kaplow Communications at 212.221.1713, ext. 3552.