Editing IANAL (section)

== Origin and usage ==
The term IANAL is reported to have been common on Usenet by the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111453451191317300?mod=googlewsj
|title=Readers Parse Text-Message Slang
|author=Tim Hanrahan and Jason Fry
|work=Real Time Exchange
|date=April 27, 2005
|publisher=[[Wall Street Journal]]
|access-date=2008-01-01}}</ref>

The [[case law]] standard for determining what comments cross the line is generally "the application of law to facts specific to an individual seeking legal advice". Attorneys may use a disclaimer to reduce confusion, and "I am not your lawyer" is part of a typical disclaimer.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://californialawyermagazine.com/cleStory.cfm?eid=435466&evid=1&qVersionID=160&qTypeID=7
|title=Attorney Internet Ethics
|author=John Steele
|date=April 2002
|publisher=California Lawyer
|quote=An attorney who wants to respond to a chat room question should not give legal advice until the attorney and would-be client have explicitly discussed or created an attorney-client relationship.... Otherwise, the attorney needs to use a written disclaimer in the chat room, stating something like, "This information is given for legal education only. It may not work for your specific situation. It is not legal advice, and I am not your lawyer. You have to find your own local lawyer to get legal advice and help with your problem."
|access-date=2008-01-08
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181201133736/http://californialawyermagazine.com/cleStory.cfm?eid=435466&evid=1&qVersionID=160&qTypeID=7
|archive-date=2018-12-01
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> There are "weighty obligations" that go along with the creation of a lawyer–client relationship, particularly if an "online exchange includes legal advice relating to the client's specific facts". Courts have held that (in the case of [[900 number]]s) [[Standard form contract|boilerplate]] disclaimers without clear actions to indicate assent may not avoid the creation of a lawyer–client relationship.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.nhbar.org/publications/archives/display-journal-issue.asp?id=152
|title=The Ethics of Practicing Law in Cyberspace
|author=Jennifer P. Hopkins
|date=June 1, 2002
|publisher=New Hampshire Bar Association
|access-date=2008-01-08}}</ref>

Variations of IANAL can be applied to different fields, such as '''IANAMD''' for "I am not a [[medical doctor]]" or '''IANAP''' for "I am not a [[physicist]]"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=963459&cid=24998529 |title=Tying knots with light |publisher=science.slashdot.org}}</ref> These expansions serve the same general purpose as IANAL{{snd}}to discourage the use of the information as professional advice.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}