IANAL
From Wikinfo
IANAL is Usenet and chat abbreviation (acronym) for "I am not a lawyer." A similar abbreviation, TINLA stands for "This is not legal advice."
One or both of these abbreviations usually precede opinions about law warning people not to take their opinion as professional legal advice. Many jurisdictions have legal restrictions on actually, or even appearing to, giving legal advice, or otherwise practicing as a lawyer without legal qualifications and official registration. See the unauthorized practice of law (UPL).
This expression became more and more common on online web forums starting from the year 2000, when debate about file sharing and peer-to-peer applications started to focus on copyright, privacy and fair use issues. Frequently, people start their comments with IANAL to say that they are not a legal professional before stating their opinion. Sometimes, in a somewhat humorous way, one of the chat participants is actually a lawyer, and will start his message with IAAL (I am a lawyer). On Slashdot, it is popular to start postings with "IANAL, but..."
A related acronym is IANAMD for "I am not a Medical Doctor."
People who are lawyers have both broad and specialized legal knowledge but are acutely aware that laws and their application change frequently and that only legal advice tailored to the specific facts of a situation can be relied on. Unless you have entered into an agreement with a lawyer providing that they represent or advise you it is inadvisible to rely on their assertions regarding the law except in a general way.
See also
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "IANAL" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IANAL, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
