NaNoNovel Read-Through, Re-Cap, and Worry-Over

I promised you this a long time ago, and so here it finally is! You can also have a virtual bag of virtual popcorn if you can find one.

You may remember that I spent most of July writing, writing, writing. To you weirdos, partially, but mainly I was writing a novel based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. It still doesn't have its own title, but I've read it all the way through, and I thought I'd tell you what I thought of it.
 Short answer is that it's absolutely rubbish. Thankfully, the fact that it's absolutely rubbish will make editing it a good lot easier, which is always good. But first, I need to do lots and lots of research. Which is where the 'worry-over' part of this post's title comes from.
 You see, I have a bad habit of shoving things into my writing (which is a problem of its own that I don't have the energy to go into or even think about with this novel). When I'm writing speculative fiction, I tend to cram as many supernatural creatures into a world as is humanly possible. And in contemp., it seems, I shove themes and problems into novels like I've got four folders and a laptop to fit into a handbag. This particular novel has everything from terminal illness to mental illness, from suicide to cowardice to cold-blooded murder.
They say 'write what you know' but I only have experience in one of those things  (and it's murder, of course). The rest of them are all things that you need a careful, well-informed hand to handle, and while I try to be careful, I'm not very well-informed.
 What should you do when you're uninformed? You should get yourself informed! But with topics like suicide... it's a bit more difficult. Especially when you're socially awkward (but that's another issue I don't have the energy to go into). It's difficult to find people who can inform you, it's hard to talk to them sensitively -- possibly as difficult as writing about it is -- and if something they said would make a huge difference to the novel, what would I do? Would I ignore them so that I could keep it on track and not have to re-write the whole thing, or would I leave it and offend them and possibly others?
 A friend of mine (hi, by the way, if you're reading -- harass me at some point; we haven't talked in yonks) pointed out that you can't keep everyone happy. But as true as that is, I'd like to avoid it as much as possible. I want what I write to be as true to life and human nature as possible. I want what I write to help people, if it can. I want people to like reading my writing, not hate it. Which is why reading through this novel was so difficult to do -- I could see the image it painted of the mentally ill and of people in general and it was so negative, so awful... but I've not got a clue how to fix it.

Also, I haven't got a satisfactory ending yet. But at the moment, that's almost the least of my problems.

Writer-who-actually-seems-kind-of-depressed-but-promises-she-isn't out!

Research

So, I sat down to write the next part of a part of a short story at the weekend. And then I went, wait a second.

Digression: it is snowing right now and I'm off school! Happy Face! :) (in case you didn't know what one was)

I digress. Anyway, I thought: wait a blimming flip of a second [I may be embellishing a little]! I don't know anything about lawyers [the next bit involves lawyers -- spoilers, sweeties], apart from what I've seen on Drop Dead Diva and Ally McBeal [I got series one for Christmas from my mum, who thinks it fits my weirdness level]. How can I write about them talking to my main character when I don't know if they'd even be allowed to talk to my main character, or if they'd want to, or how long the process would take, or ANYTHING?

SO my question to you, lovely people of the world, is how far can you or do you go with 'creative license'?
 Do I just go with what I was going to write, whether that's how the legal system works? Or do I spend hours combing the internet for knowledge when I don't even know what to ask it?

My other question -- request, rather -- is that, if you happen to be an expert in the field, or if you know whether lawyers are allowed to talk to witnesses of car accidents, and when they can talk to them, and what they can talk to them about, and which side of the court hearing or whatever the ones who'd want to talk would be on, then please comment! Please!

Writer out!