Harvard Law School Hosts workshop on Law.gov (June 17th & 18th)

Two event announcements about this US initiative to promote access to primary legal materials, ie legal materials in their 'raw', legalistic form. Law.Gov is an effort to create a report documenting exactly what it would take to create a distributed registry and repository of all primary legal materials in the United States (read more at Law.gov). Does the concept even makes sense? There are currently a lot of interesting debates taking place.


Law.gov: Massachusetts
Thursday, June 17th, 2010, 10:00am-3:00pm
Harvard Law School
Do we have access to all primary legal materials in Massachusetts? What are the best practices for making information accessible?  What obstacles face institutions trying to make it available?  Our hope is to create a document outlining the most salient issues in accessibility to Massachusetts legal information with suggestions of things that could be done to effect the most accessible system possible in Massachusetts


Law.gov: Putting it Together
Friday, June 18th, 2010, 10:00am-3:00pm
Harvard Law School
The Harvard Law School Law.Gov workshop on June 18 is the last in a 6-month series of such workshops that have taken place throughout the country.  In this final workshop, participants will discuss the implications of some core principles about access to primary legal materials. Are these principles workable? What will it take to make them real? What are the implications of these principles? Our hope is that upon completion of this workshop, a crisp set of basic principles can be presented and discussed, perhaps leading to the enactment of some of these principles into policy through mechanisms such as judicial rules, executive orders, or legislation. This is the second day of a two-day workshop focused on Law.gov. 


Registration and agenda details for these two events are as follows: 


Law.gov: Massachusetts
Thursday, June 17th, 2010
10:00am-3:00pm
Harvard Law School, Pound Hall Room 107 (Map)
Organized and co-hosted by the Harvard Law School Library
Do we have access to all primary legal materials in Massachusetts? What are the best practices for making information accessible?  What obstacles face institutions trying to make it available?  Our hope is to create a document outlining the most salient issues in accessibility to Massachusetts legal information with suggestions of things that could be done to effect the most accessible system possible in Massachusetts. Registration is required; visit http://tinyurl.com/2v7d4dq to sign up. Please note that video will be captured for the workshop and posted on the Internet. This is the first day of a two-day workshop focused on Law.gov. To register for Law.gov: Putting It All Together, taking place on Friday 6/18, please visit this page. You are welcome to attend one or both days of the event.

10-10:30 AM - Welcome and Overview of Law.Gov


      John Palfrey, Harvard Law Library
      Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School
      Carl Malamud, Public.Resource.Org


10:30-11 - Who Owns the Law?


      Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School


11-12 - Massachusetts Inventory of Legal Materials


      Michelle Pearse, Harvard Law Library
      Joan Shear, Boston College Law Library


12-1 - Lunch


1-1:45 - Equal Access to Justice in Massachusetts


      Honorable Dina E. Fein
      First Justice, Housing Court Department, Western Division and Special Advisor to the Trial Court for Access to Justice Initiatives
      Marnie Warner, Law Library Coordinator, Administrative Office of the Trial Court


1:45 - 2:30 - The Technical Challenges of Distributing Legal Information

       Linda Hamel, General Counsel, Commonwealth of Massachusetst Information Technology Division
       Meg Hayden, Electronic Resources Librarian, Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries

2:30-3:00 - The State of Massachusetts

Law.gov: Putting it Together
Friday, June 18th, 2010
10:00am-3:00pm
Harvard Law School, Pound Hall Room 107 (Map)
The Harvard Law School Law.Gov workshop on June 18 is the last in a 6-month series of such workshops that have taken place throughout the country.  In this final workshop, participants will discuss the implications of some core principles about access to primary legal materials. Are these principles workable? What will it take to make them real? What are the implications of these principles? Our hope is that upon completion of this workshop, a crisp set of basic principles can be presented and discussed, perhaps leading to the enactment of some of these principles into policy through mechanisms such as judicial rules, executive orders, or legislation. Registration is required; visit http://tinyurl.com/28v3h4v to sign up. Please note that video will be captured for the workshop and posted on the Internet. This is the second day of a two-day workshop focused on Law.gov. To register for Law.gov: Massachusetts, taking place on Thursday 6/17, please visit this page. You are welcome to attend one or both days of the event.

10-10:45 AM - Welcome to Day 2, Overview of Previous Workshops


      John Palfrey, Harvard Law Library
      Carl Malamud, Public.Resource.Org


10:45-11:30 AM - Is There a "Right" to Access the Law?


      John Palfrey, Harvard Law Library   


11:30 - 12:00 - Is there copyright in the law?


      Phil Malone, Berkman Center


12-1pm - Lunch

1-1:45PM - Technical Principles


      Tom Bruce, Cornell Legal Information Institute


1:45-2:30PM - Non-Technical Principles


      Carl Malamud, Public.Resource.Org


2:30-3:00PM - Next Steps for Law.Gov