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# The law matters less than the legal team
- URL: https://cje.io/2026/09/28/the-law-matters-less-than-the-legal-team/
- Published: 2026-09-28T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-28T15:59:59.000Z
- Author: Casey Ellis
- Tags: Hot Takes

I'm not a lawyer, and if I was, I'm not your lawyer.

With anti-hacking laws there's a criminal end and a civil end. On the civil end, if the company that you're hacking on gets sufficiently pissed off about what you're doing, and has a sufficient resource base and a legal team available to mount a case against you, they'll probably do that. That's usually what determines whether a civil suit happens or not. The law itself matters, but it's not as predictive as it is on the criminal side.

That's why [safe harbor](https://disclose.io/?ref=cje.io) is so important to reinforce for individual security researchers. We don't necessarily have deep pockets or legal teams.

*From my conversation with Fede Kirschbaum on XBOW's [Offense Taken](https://youtu.be/MYLvQpXE1nc?t=1489&ref=cje.io).*