<nettime> Openlaw Experiment

[Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>]

     [orig to dcsb@ai.mit.edu]

--- begin forwarded text


Date:         Thu, 15 Apr 1999 21:33:05 -0400
Reply-To: Law & Policy of Computer Communications
<CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
Sender: Law & Policy of Computer Communications
<CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
From: Diane Cabell <cabell@MAMA-TECH.COM>
Subject:      Openlaw Experiment
To: CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School has
begun a novel research project called Openlaw.

Openlaw is an innovative litigation strategy that uses the Internet as a
public commons for developing legal arguments.  Eldred v. Reno,
contesting the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, is the first
case to be litigated using an Openlaw approach.  Attorneys and law
students are cordially invited to register on the Openlaw site and to
participate in the brief-writing process.

Openlaw is an experiment in crafting legal argument in an open forum.
With your assistance, we will develop arguments, draft pleadings, and
edit briefs online. You are invited to join the process by adding
thoughts
to the "brainstorm" outline, drafting and commenting on drafts in
progress, and suggesting reference sources.  Building on the model of
open source software, we believe that an open development process best
harnesses the distributed resources of the Internet community. What we
lose in secrecy, we expect to regain in
depth of sources and breadth of argument.

We welcome all participants in our drafting process.  To join the team,
follow the register link on the sidebar and enter your email address and
a chosen username and password (other information is optional).
Registration will give you access to all portions of the openlaw site.
http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/

We'll start the process by brainstorming ideas for our legal arguments.
Use threads on the discussion boards to post your ideas and respond to
others. We will then pull ideas from the outline into drafts posted for
collaborative critique and editing.  In addition, please visit the
Copyright's Commons website at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/commons/
Please send any comments you have on the sites to Ashley Morgan
<amorgan@law.harvard.edu>

Ashley Morgan and Jenny Love

via
Diane Cabell
http://www.mama-tech.com
Fausett, Gaeta & Lund
Boston

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