Legal Basics
How the legal system works, citations, claims, and your rights.
12 guides
- Complaints against a lawyer or professional
A complaint against a lawyer or other professional can involve discipline, repayment, compensation, or a police investigation, and these are usually separate processes. A regulator may decide whether professional rules were breached, while a court generally decides legal liability, money claims, or other remedies.
- Filing a police report
Filing a police report creates an official record that you told law enforcement about an incident. A report may lead to an investigation, referral to another agency, or criminal charges, but making a report does not itself mean that anyone will be arrested or prosecuted.
- Filming police and public officials
In many places, you may record police officers and other public officials performing their duties in a public area, especially when you are not interfering. That freedom is limited by rules about obstruction, trespass, privacy, audio recording, court security, and lawful police directions.
- Finding a public defender or free legal help
A public defender usually represents people accused of crimes who cannot afford a private lawyer, while free or reduced-cost legal help may be available for some civil matters. Police-stop advice, court representation, small-claims help, and record-clearing services follow different rules, and eligibility depends on th
- Free speech at work and online
Free speech protections at work and online depend heavily on who is speaking, who owns the workplace or platform, and whether the speech involves threats, harassment, confidential information, or unlawful conduct. Police, courts, employers, and online services may each apply different rules, and public-sector workers g
- Getting a criminal record expunged or sealed
Expungement and sealing are legal processes that limit or remove public access to criminal records, but they do not work the same way everywhere. Eligibility usually depends on the result of the case, the seriousness of the offense, later convictions, and how much time has passed.
- How courts evaluate a legal claim: elements, evidence, and deadlines
Every civil claim, whether for breach of contract, negligence, or discrimination, is built from legal elements that must each be proved. This guide explains how courts break a claim into elements, what burden of proof applies, and the procedural requirements, such as deadlines and standing, that can decide a case before its merits are reached.
- How to read legal citations and find primary sources
Legal citations are short addresses for statutes, regulations, and court decisions. This guide explains how to read the most common U.S. citation formats and where to find the official text of each kind of source.
- Voting rights and registration problems
Voting rights usually depend on citizenship, age, residence, registration status, and any disqualifying rule in the place where you vote. A police stop, arrest, civil lawsuit, or court case does not ordinarily cancel voting rights by itself, but a criminal conviction, imprisonment, immigration status, or address proble
- What happens after an arrest
An arrest starts a criminal-justice process, but it is not a finding of guilt. After arrest, police may investigate, release the person, or bring them before a court, where decisions about charges, bail, and the next hearing are usually made.
- Your rights if police want to search your home or car
If anyone is in immediate danger, contact emergency services first. Police generally need your consent, a warrant, or a recognized legal exception to search your home or car, but the exact rules depend on where you are and the circumstances.
- Your rights when police stop you
Police stops can involve questions, traffic enforcement, an investigative detention, a search, or an arrest. Your rights depend heavily on the country, state, province, or territory, and on whether the officer has a legal reason to stop, search, or detain you.