Terms of Service

By accessing or using LawScout, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the platform.

LawScout is a directory, information and connection platform. It is not a law firm, court, regulator, recruitment agency or emergency service. Platform content does not constitute legal advice, and a listing or interaction does not by itself create a practitioner-client relationship.

You must provide accurate account information, protect your credentials and notify LawScout if you believe an account has been accessed without permission. You are responsible for activity carried out through your account unless applicable law provides otherwise.

Professional and employer accounts must be created or managed only by a person authorised to represent the profile, firm or organisation. We may request reasonable evidence of identity, professional details or authority before approving a claim or change.

A listing may be submitted by its owner or compiled from public professional and business sources. Public-source information can be incomplete, inaccurate or out of date. Presence in the directory is not an endorsement.

A verification badge relates only to the checks recorded for that profile at that time. It does not guarantee current professional standing, service quality, availability, fees or results. Users remain responsible for independent checks before an appointment.

Correction and removal requests can be sent to legal@lawscout.co.za with the profile URL and supporting information. We may retain information where reasonably necessary to handle a dispute, security issue or legal obligation.

You retain rights in content you submit but grant LawScout a non-exclusive, worldwide licence to host, reproduce, format and display it as needed to operate and promote the relevant platform feature. This licence ends when content is deleted, subject to backups, prior distribution and legal retention needs.

Do not submit unlawful, misleading, defamatory, abusive, discriminatory, infringing, malicious or privacy-invasive content. Do not post confidential case material, impersonate another person, manipulate ratings, scrape the platform at harmful scale, bypass access controls or use LawScout to send spam.

We may moderate, restrict or remove content and suspend accounts where reasonably necessary to enforce these terms, protect users or maintain the service. Moderation does not make LawScout the author of user content or guarantee its accuracy.

Public questions, answers and reviews are user-generated content. They may not reflect all relevant facts or current law. Users should not treat a public answer as advice for their matter or assume that it creates a professional relationship.

When you choose to contact a practitioner, firm or employer, information you submit may be sent to that recipient. The recipient is responsible for their response, intake, conflict checks, professional obligations and any separate terms agreed with you.

Employers are responsible for the accuracy, legality and availability of their job listings and for their recruitment decisions. Applicants are responsible for verifying the employer, role, terms and application channel.

LawScout does not guarantee that a listing will produce applications, that an applicant will be contacted or that a vacancy remains available. Suspected fraudulent or expired listings should be reported to hello@lawscout.co.za.

Some features may be paid, including premium visibility, advertising or job-posting options. Price, billing period, included features and cancellation terms presented at purchase form part of these terms. Do not complete a purchase unless those terms are clear to you.

Paid or featured placement can affect visibility but does not create professional verification, editorial endorsement or a guaranteed result. Third-party advertisements are the advertiser's responsibility.

LawScout's original design, software, branding and editorial content are protected by applicable intellectual-property law. You may use public pages for ordinary personal or business evaluation, but may not reproduce substantial parts, remove attribution, create a competing dataset through automated extraction or misuse LawScout branding without permission.

External source material and user content remain subject to their respective rights and terms. A link to an external site does not transfer ownership or imply endorsement.

The platform is provided on an as-available basis. We do not warrant uninterrupted access or that every profile, answer, review, job, article, link or search result is complete, current or error-free.

To the extent permitted by law, LawScout is not responsible for professional services, employment decisions, user conduct, external websites or decisions made solely from directory or educational content. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that applicable law does not allow to be excluded.

We may change features or these terms as the platform develops. Material revisions will be reflected by an updated publication date. Continued use after revised terms take effect means the revised terms apply to later use.

You may stop using LawScout at any time. We may restrict access for material breach, unlawful conduct, security risk or repeated abuse. These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, subject to any mandatory consumer or jurisdiction rights that apply.