What's the worst legal "advice" you've ever gotten?

Friday afternoon, let's have some fun. We've all gotten terrible "advice" from friends, family supposedly, or that guy at the coffee shop who's "basically a lawyer."

Mine: Early in my first startup, my uncle (a retired plumber) told me I didn't need to incorporate because "small businesses don't get sued."

Got sued 18 months later over a contract dispute. The LLC saved my house no cap.

A YC founder at a networking event:

"Don't worry about patents until you raise a Series A."

Turns out if you publicly disclose your invention (including launching), you start a 12-month clock in the US and lose patent rights immediately in most other countries.

We lost the ability to patent our core technology. Competitor filed on something similar a year later.

This thread is exactly what I needed on a Friday night.

Moral of all of these: Don't take legal advice from people who aren't lawyers. And even then, make sure they specialize in what you're asking about. Your real estate attorney probably shouldn't be advising on your SaaS terms of service.