About Open Law Guide

Why we built this

Most people meet the law at a stressful moment — a job ends, a relationship breaks down, a landlord won't return a deposit, a police officer asks a question. And most legal information online is either written for lawyers, hidden behind a consultation fee, or so vague it doesn't help. We started Open Law Guide to fix that: to explain how the law actually works in clear, everyday language, so you can understand your situation before you spend money on it.

We cover the areas that come up most often in ordinary life — criminal, family, business, property and employment law — and we write each guide to answer the questions real people are actually asking.

How we work

• Researched, not guessed. Every guide is built from statutes, official government guidance, court decisions and reputable legal sources — not opinion.
• Plain English first. We translate legal jargon into language a non-lawyer can follow, and define the terms you genuinely need to know.
• Honest about limits. The law varies by country, state and region, and it changes. Where something depends on your jurisdiction or your specific facts, we say so plainly.
• Kept current. We revisit guides as the law develops and note when a topic is unsettled or in dispute.

What we are — and what we are not

Our editorial standards

We aim for accuracy over speed. Guides are checked against primary sources, and we cite those sources within each piece so you can read further and verify what we say. If you spot an error or something that has gone out of date, we want to know — corrections make the whole library better.

Get in touch

Have a topic you'd like us to cover, or a correction to suggest? Reach us through our contact page. We read every message, even if we can't reply to them all.