to Volume68 Dedicated DavidLust& TerryWestergaard

I have known for a few years that the South Dakota Bar has a “free legal answers” service online, but unfortunately, I never really took the time to find out more about what it is and how it works. With some encouragement from Denise Langley with Access to Justice, I decided to learn more about the South Dakota Free Legal Answers (SDFLA) website.

Freelegalanswers.org is an online virtual legal advice clinic and website hosted by the American Bar Association. Each separate jurisdiction can sign up to participate and have its own site. South Dakota's site is sd.freelegalanswers.org. When I first heard about the service, I wondered how it would work from an ethical point of view. If I sign up, what are my ethical obligations for conflict checks in order to participate? What is the scope of representation? Am I tech savvy enough to provide “virtual” legal advice?

On the “Attorney Registration” tab (https:// sd.freelegalanswers.org/Attorneys/Account/ Agreement), the website itself provides some background information on how to participate and the ethical rules that may apply in your jurisdiction. It also explains how malpractice coverage works for participating attorneys and how the limited scope representation through the site works. This was a helpful start, but after reviewing the information and doing a little research myself, I still had questions.