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<span class="v-text">Volume I</span>
<span class="v-meta">Edition 2026 · Terms of Service · Effective 2026-05-03</span>
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<h1>The <em>terms.</em><br>Plain language.</h1>
<p class="lede">By using the site you agree to what's below. Most of this is the boring legal stuff every site has to publish — we've kept it in <strong>plain English</strong> wherever the law lets us. Last updated 2026-05-03.</p>
<div class="callout">
<b>Read this part</b>
Counsel & Bar is a directory and software platform. <strong>We are not a law firm.</strong> We do not provide legal advice. We do not refer your case to attorneys for a fee. Nothing on this site creates an attorney-client relationship between you and Counsel & Bar, and visiting the site does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and any attorney listed here. If you need legal advice for your situation, hire a California-licensed attorney.
</div>
<h2>1. What this site is, and what it isn't</h2>
<h3>What it is</h3>
<ul>
<li>A searchable directory of attorneys licensed by the State Bar of California, sourced from the State Bar's public licensing records and supplemented with publicly indexed firm contact details</li>
<li>A platform where attorneys can claim their listing, edit their public profile, and (with a paid subscription) access additional features</li>
<li>A tool you can use to view firms by city, practice area, and ZIP and to contact them directly through the channels each firm publishes</li>
</ul>
<h3>What it is <em>not</em></h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Not a law firm.</strong> No content on this site is legal advice. We have no licensed attorneys on staff, and the operator is not licensed to practice law.</li>
<li><strong>Not a lawyer referral service</strong> as defined under California Business & Professions Code § 6155. We do not match you to attorneys, do not solicit consumers on behalf of attorneys, do not accept fees from attorneys for routing your case to them, and do not operate the kind of intake-and-route service that requires State Bar certification under § 6155.</li>
<li><strong>Not a guarantee of outcome.</strong> No statement on this site, including any review, rating, audit score, mockup design, or marketing-suggestion text, predicts or implies any specific legal outcome for any specific client.</li>
</ul>
<h2>2. Accuracy of information</h2>
<h3>About attorney listings</h3>
<p>We refresh attorney data periodically against the State Bar's public records. Even so, the public roll changes daily, and our copy may be out of date. <strong>Always verify license status, contact information, and practice areas directly with the attorney or the State Bar of California (calbar.ca.gov) before retaining anyone for your case.</strong> If you find an inaccuracy, email us at <a href="mailto:steve@designerwallcoverings.com?subject=Listing%20Correction">steve@designerwallcoverings.com</a> and we'll correct or remove the listing.</p>
<h3>About marketing mockups</h3>
<p>If you encounter a "mockup" or "concept design" of an attorney's website on this site, that mockup is a non-final design proposal generated by us, not by the firm. Stats, ratings, dollar amounts, and copy in the mockup are placeholders. The firm has not approved or verified that content. Mockups exist solely to demonstrate what a redesigned site could look like, and are pitched to the firm directly — not published as the firm's official content.</p>
<h2>3. If you are an attorney or a firm</h2>
<h3>Listings</h3>
<p>Your listing is built from public-record information you have placed in the public domain by virtue of being licensed in California (your name, bar number, license status, primary firm of record). You can claim your listing, edit your contact details, add a profile photo, and (with the Lawyer Pro subscription) respond to public reviews and access additional engagement tools. You can also request removal at any time.</p>
<h3>What you can't do on the platform</h3>
<ul>
<li>You can't pay us to suppress a competitor's listing or to inflate your own search ranking beyond the publicly disclosed factors</li>
<li>You can't post content that misrepresents your license status, practice areas, or results in a way that would violate <strong>California Rules of Professional Conduct 7.1, 7.2, or 7.5</strong> (false or misleading communications, advertising restrictions, firm-name rules)</li>
<li>You can't use the platform to solicit clients in ways that violate Rule 7.3 (solicitation rules)</li>
<li>You agree that you alone are responsible for the lawyer-advertising compliance of any content you publish on your profile</li>
</ul>
<h3>Subscriptions and payments</h3>
<p>The "Lawyer Pro" subscription is $29 per month, billed by Stripe, cancellable at any time from the Stripe customer portal you can access from your dashboard. The "EZ Upgrade" is a one-time $499 charge. Refund policy: Lawyer Pro subscriptions are pro-rated on cancellation; EZ Upgrade refunds are available within 14 days of payment if no work has begun.</p>
<h2>4. If you are a consumer looking for an attorney</h2>
<h3>How the directory works</h3>
<p>Submit the lead form to see a list of California-licensed firms in your area that you can filter by practice area and ZIP. <strong>You</strong> decide who to contact. We don't auto-route your details to firms. We don't sell your case. We don't charge attorneys for placing you in front of them.</p>
<h3>Your responsibility</h3>
<ul>
<li>Verify license status with the State Bar before retaining anyone</li>
<li>Don't include time-sensitive case details in form submissions — call the attorney directly for anything urgent</li>
<li>Don't include privileged or sensitive information until you have established an attorney-client relationship with a specific lawyer; communications through this site are <strong>not</strong> privileged</li>
</ul>
<h2>5. Data marketplace</h2>
<p>The "Data" section of the site sells exports of California attorney directory data to business buyers. The data is sourced from State Bar public records and publicly indexed firm contacts. Buyers must comply with the State Bar's permitted-use rules and California consumer privacy law (CCPA/CPRA). The data <strong>cannot</strong> be used for unsolicited bulk SMS, robocalls, or any unlawful purpose. Buyers who violate this term will have their access terminated and any pending downloads invalidated. We may report violators to the State Bar.</p>
<h2>6. Acceptable use</h2>
<p>You agree not to: scrape the site at a rate or scale beyond ordinary browsing, attempt to access accounts that are not yours, attempt to bypass auth, post defamatory or false reviews, post content that violates anyone's IP rights, use the site to harass any individual or firm, or use the site to commit any state, federal, or international crime.</p>
<h2>7. Intellectual property</h2>
<p>The site's design, code, copy, and original content are owned by the operator. Attorney directory data (name, bar number, license status, public firm contact) is sourced from public records and not subject to our copyright. Reviews you post remain yours; you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to display them on the site and on the relevant attorney's listing. Mockups we generate are our work; the underlying firm name and city is public information, not licensed from us.</p>
<h2>8. Disclaimer of warranties</h2>
<p>The site is provided <strong>"as is"</strong> and <strong>"as available."</strong> We make no warranty that the directory is complete, current, accurate, or fit for any particular purpose. We do not warrant that any attorney listed here is competent, available, or appropriate for your matter. <strong>Hiring a lawyer is your decision; do your own diligence.</strong></p>
<h2>9. Limitation of liability</h2>
<p>To the maximum extent permitted by law, the operator's total liability for any claim arising out of your use of the site is limited to the greater of (a) the fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim, or (b) one hundred US dollars. We are not liable for indirect, consequential, or punitive damages, lost profits, or lost data. Some jurisdictions don't allow these limitations; in those jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the maximum extent the law permits.</p>
<h2>10. Indemnification</h2>
<p>If your use of the site (or your content posted to it) causes us to be sued, you agree to defend and indemnify the operator against the claim, including reasonable legal fees, except where we are at fault.</p>
<h2>11. Termination</h2>
<p>You can stop using the site or delete your account at any time. We can suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms, that we reasonably believe to be fraudulent, or that the law requires us to suspend.</p>
<h2>12. Governing law and disputes</h2>
<p>These terms are governed by California law. Any dispute that the parties cannot resolve informally will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California. You and we waive any right to a jury trial. <strong>You agree to first contact us at the address below to resolve any complaint informally before filing suit.</strong></p>
<h2>13. Changes to these terms</h2>
<p>We may update these terms. We'll post the new effective date at the top of the page. For material changes, we'll notify registered users by email at least 14 days before the new terms take effect. Your continued use of the site after the effective date counts as acceptance.</p>
<h2>14. Contact</h2>
<p>Email <a href="mailto:steve@designerwallcoverings.com?subject=Terms%20%E2%80%94%20Counsel%20%26%20Bar">steve@designerwallcoverings.com</a></p>
<h2>15. Severability</h2>
<p>If any provision of these terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions stay in effect.</p>
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