Using this material in workshops and consulting.

6.1   Information, not advice.

Legal information — statutes, procedures, general principles — is available to anyone and may be taught by anyone. Legal advice — the application of the law to a specific party's specific facts with a recommendation — is the practice of law, and in Georgia it is reserved to licensed attorneys.

The distinction is not always crisp at the margin, but the practical rule is clear. Teaching a room of forty landlords about the demand requirement under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50 is information. Telling a particular landlord what to write in her particular demand letter to her particular tenant is advice.

Workshops, booklets, courses, and group consultations can stay on the information side of the line if they are organized around the statute and procedure rather than around specific cases. One-on-one consultations are harder to keep on the information side; the moment a specific fact pattern enters the room, the pull toward advice is strong.

6.2   Structuring a workshop.

A workshop that uses this publication can move safely through its material on three principles:

1. Teach the statute, not the case. The content is the procedure; the examples are illustrative, not diagnostic.
2. Do not answer specific questions about pending matters. When a participant raises a live case, the right answer is: "Here is the procedural framework; you should discuss the facts of your case with counsel."
3. Disclose the educational scope in writing. The registration page, the slide deck, and the workshop materials should state that the content is educational and not legal advice.

6.3   One-on-one consulting.

A one-on-one consultation with a landlord or tenant about their specific situation is the hardest setting to keep on the information side of the line. A non-attorney can discuss general procedure and direct the party to resources, but should not draft case-specific documents, interpret specific leases, or recommend specific litigation choices.

A practical structure for non-attorney advisors is to offer two distinct service categories:

• Educational consultation. The advisor walks the party through the statutory procedure, explains what generally happens at each stage, and points to counsel for case-specific questions.
• Operational consulting. The advisor helps the party prepare for business decisions (reserves, screening, lease selection) that are not themselves practice of law.

A clear engagement letter that defines the scope and disclaims legal advice is a meaningful protection. It also protects the client, because it makes explicit what the client should seek counsel for.

6.4   For attorneys running educational programs.

Attorneys using this publication in educational programs face a different problem: audience members may assume an attorney-client relationship from context. Disclosure at the start of every program, in writing and orally, is the standard protection. So is the discipline of routing specific questions to paid consultations or referrals.

Mixed engagements — where an attorney speaks at a workshop and then accepts clients from the audience — can be structured lawfully, but the transition between the two modes should be explicit and documented.

6.5   When to stop teaching and make a referral.

There are specific situations in which any educator — attorney or not — should step back from the teaching posture and make a direct referral to counsel:

• An active dispossessory with a deadline inside the current week.
• A possible fair-housing, retaliation, or disability-accommodation issue.
• A Section 8, VAWA, or other federally-regulated tenancy.
• A case with a material money claim or counterclaim.
• Any situation involving children, disability, or vulnerability where the stakes of an error are disproportionate.

6.6   A model disclosure.

The following language, adapted, is appropriate for workshop materials, booklet pages, and consultation engagement letters:

This material is educational. It describes Georgia dispossessory procedure at a general level. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and should not be relied on as a substitute for advice from Georgia counsel on specific facts. Laws and procedures change; anyone with a live matter should consult qualified counsel before acting.

A disclosure does not immunize bad practice. But it clarifies what the relationship is and what it is not, and it gives participants the information they need to decide when to engage counsel.

6.7   Review