Mission and vision statement

Our mission and vision statementis centred on bridging the access to law gap.

Knowledge from academia ought to be widely and freely accessible to all who may be interested. Sharing of knowledge with people of develoing countries could benefit enormously from access to legal research, but for whom financial constraints made both established print publications and conferences inaccessible.

Lawi works “in the public interest”, which means, in our case, working to:

• provide open and free legal information
• advance the rights of the disadvantaged, vulnerable or marginalised;
• avert and respond to injustices; and
• address issues of public concern, including breaches of human, civil or social  rights.

Lawi believes in promoting the practice of public interest law. Lawi is working on create opportunities for students and legal practitioners through pro bono referral, secondment, volunteering and training; and maintains a rich network of committed and engaged supporters across the private, public and non-government sectors.

Background

Securing a widespread and, whenever possible, free, access to legal information has become important everywhere. Open access has higher stakes in developing countries where access to law is often difficult. In this particular context, free access to statutes and case law could significantly contribute to a better establishment of the rule of law and an overall consolidation of national legal institutions.

Ignorance of the law excuses no one. Consequently, access to law, namely to the texts in which it is contained, becomes an essential component to any modern legal system. The possibility of immediately knowing appliable laws simultaneously constitutes one of the basic tenets of a state governed by the rule of law and is an essential element of legal security. With regards to case law in particular, further reasons lie behind the motivation to its widespread distribution. More specifically, the accessibility of decisions greatly contributes to the transparency and the openness essential to the sound functioning of the judicial system. In fact, the possibility of identifying who has been judged, by whom, and according to which laws contributes to ensuring the integrity of any judicial institution.

Open access to law, however, has not yet been implemented in the vast majority of developing countries, where sometimes even accessing basic legislative texts is difficult. Greater obstacles are also frequently encountered when consulting judicial decisions. Such situations are not without consequence as they undoubtedly undermine the rule of law.

Ignorance of the law excuses no one, therefore citizens have the right to know of the laws governing their conduct. The State has an obligation to put forth legal knowledge by enabling access to the law using all available and reasonable mediums. To achieve minimal access, commercial publishing is insufficient. In fact, as demonstated by the experiences of many economically advanced countries, although commercial publishing can serve the needs of legal professionals, such services only indirectly benefit the general public

Free public access to law contributes to equality before the law. Everyone has the means to gain knowledge of the law, which in turn makes legal systems more fair. In some environments where legislation is difficult to access and where case law is even harder to find, discrepancies between available resources from one party to another are exacerbated. As a result, a citizen with little means, subject to a legal proceeding, could neither alone, nor with a lawyer, bring up appropriate legal arguments relevant to a case. A wealthier party, however, could have access to better information sources, whether such sources are commercial or personal. Obviously, such situations undermine an ideal of equality.

With the rule of law being one of the principal characteristics of democratic societies, it is of no surprise that democracy greatly benefits from better access to legal documents. When open access is put into place, statutes, the main end results of the democratic process, are accessible. Consequently, citizens can learn about and understand laws adopted by their representatives, thereby allowing for a better appreciation of the final results of legislative work. Moreover, this knowledge could contribute to increasing the political involvement of citizens, since better informed citizens can participate more actively in democratic life. In many developing countries, wealthy upper classes and lobby groups have much better access to legislative texts, which means many citizens do not have equal opportunity to partake in the democratic process. Open access to legislation, however, could level everyone’s access and contribute to upholding a more non–discriminatory democratic life. Ultimately, sustaining the rule of law and democracy also benefit from the reinforcement of judicial institutions.

Strengthening national judicial systems

Openness and transparency form the essential elements of a proper functioning of the judicial system. For Bentham, “publicity is the very soul of justice”:

“In the darkness of secrecy, sinister interest and evil in every shape have full swing. Only with publicity in place, can any of the checks applicable to judicial injustice operate. Where there is no publicity, there is no justice. Publicity is the very soul of justice. It is the keenest spur to exertion and the surest of all guards against improbity. It keeps the judge himself while trying under trial.”

The possibility for citizens to know who judged what case, what facts were taken into consideration, and what conclusion was reached obliges all participants to ensure not only that justice has been applied, but also that its application has taken place in an obvious and convincing manner. Transparency favors impartiality. In turn, impartiality contributes to gaining litigants’ confidence in their judicial institutions, but this is not the only advantage to making judgements accessible.

Alongside issues of equity and justice, open access to case law contributes to the efficacy of legal processes. The possibility of knowing how similar cases have been resolved could open the way for litigants to more actively seek a compromise, whereas uncertainty associated to poor access tends to increase litigation brought before courts and tribunals. It is therefore possible to assert that legal insecurity resulting from the lack of case law accessibility favours extraneous court actions. Such uncertainty also increases the difficulty of rendering judgements in a timely manner, since judges themselves might find it difficult to locate relevant case law that could assist in their own decision–making process.

An ultimate benefit to efficacy results from the active use of the product of judicial activity by litigants and their representatives. In default of case law access, a lawyer must prepare a case without the benefit of relying on prior work done by other judges and lawyers. Consequently, legal research and analysis must constantly be started anew. An improved dissemination of law can increase efficiency, reduce costs and expand access to law, while also enriching the quality of justice obtained.

Legal security to foster investments

The impact of the open access to law is not limited to legal and political benefits gained by the citizens of the nation, since modes of access to law can either deter or stimulate economic development. At present, it is very difficult to access legislation and case law in many developing countries. Companies seeking future investment possibilities could view such inaccessibility as a significant source of legal insecurity. The difficulty or impossibility of identifying applicable laws in some countries hinders foreign investments, which in turn affects to the overall proper functioning of international commerce.

Lawi legal resources in Latin America

To date, English–speaking countries have been more proactive with regards to the dissemination of their law. In comparison, French speakers, Spanish speakers, and jurists from other linguistic groups have remained rather passive in this regard. Radically amending this situation is of the utmost importance to offer the non–English speaking world better access to law.

The prevalence of the law of English–speaking countries on the Web also means that Anglo–Saxon common law tradition has been made much more accessible. Should this dominance prevail, the manner in which statutes are drafted, the construction of legal arguments, and the overall spirit of the common law will become the only model available for purposes of consultation for those who want to compare and improve their own legal systems.

Hence, to avoid a unilingual, single–tradition legal context, a better dissemination of the law from countries with civil law traditions should be promoted. Better access to law from Spanish–speaking countries could create a shared network where these similar legal systems can mutually influence each other.

Please find below the mission and vision statements of the Project, and also our vision strategies.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Encyclopedia of Law is to increase the knowledge and understanding of the law and legal practice, and provide a transformative experience for students so that they will become accomplished and ethical lawyers and leaders. In fulfilling this mission, we rely on the strengths of Lawi and the achievements and support of our authors, users and collaborators.

This mission includes providing broad access to those who seek the opportunity to study law to everyone.

Vision Statement

Our survey of legal professions and public at large told us there was a strong demand among our users for case summaries and informed commentary on new developments in the law.

The Encyclopedia Project’s goal is to make law accessible for free. But the site not only provides access to court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations. The main aim is to offer background information about those legal sources. The Project´s vision includes to be a leader in the innovative and flexible delivery of legal education.

Vision Strategies

To fulfill the mission and vision statements, the Project will address a number of vision strategies.

Help to preparing students for practice – Commentary from some U.S. benchs and bars identifies declining preparation for practice among law school graduates as a serious problem (source: Cooley Law School). Contrary to this trend, the Encyclopedia tries to help improving preparation for practice throgh free and open information about legal practice, encouraging law students and graduates to embrace professional responsibility and helping the learning of practice skills. Continued improvements in this area, we believe, will serve the legal profession and protect the future clients of law graduates.