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I asked my state board of counseling professionals for an advisory ruling. Here is the statute that says I can ask for an advisory ruling from them:

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/5/title5sec9001.html "Upon written request of any interested person, an agency (the board in this case) may make an advisory ruling with respect to the applicability of any statute or rule administered by that agency to him or his property or actual state of facts."

They denied my request for advisory ruling on the basis that "I requested private legal advice. The board does not provide private legal advice."

When is an advisory ruling ever NOT able to be construed as "private legal advice"?

Mr. A
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  • Question that they didn't want to answer? The statute says that they may make a ruling, but it doesn't mean that they have to. – Zizouz212 Jul 07 '16 at 01:04
  • @Zizouz212 - I understand they don't have to answer. But they did answer. And their answer was that they don't give "private legal advice." I merely wish to know when an advisory ruling ever doesn't count as "private legal advice", so I can know in my heart whether they're being disingenuous. – Mr. A Jul 07 '16 at 15:12
  • But how do you know that the answer is the right answer to begin with – Zizouz212 Jul 07 '16 at 16:06
  • @Zizouz212 You mean the answer of "we can't give private legal advice"? I don't know if that is a correct answer. What I want to know is when do advisory rulings ever not amount to "private legal advice"? That would be a helpful nugget of legal truth for me to chew on as I contemplate their answer. – Mr. A Jul 07 '16 at 17:26

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You can appeal any admin ruling (if timely addressed, of course)- however, you can (just a thought if there are no cases giving guidance, or attorney general opinions, etc., out there for you) do a writ of cert - if you have a property interest or some standing to ask the question - you need that 1st but if you have that and it appears you exhausted your admin remedies - you can file a writ of certiorari which is just a thought of a remedy - given the limited data presented - note, the ruling of you are asking legal advice - I'd need to see the wording in your question but you can appeal that as contrary to the mandate that you can ask such a question -and ideally get it remanded back to them forcing them to answer the question - and usually the back and forth judges will given you insight or remand with instructions that gives insight as to what the ruling should address - that's how they usually deal with these things -you'll get the legal view one way or the other - just takes time and energy to walk through the procedural steps -correctly and they will dismiss in a second if you failed to follow procedural steps -

Rusty
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