FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2016
CONTACTS
The OpenGov Foundation – Nicko Margolies: nicko@opengovfoundation.org
Press Release
Two Top Legal Data Scholars Join the Free Law Founders
Professors from Brooklyn Law School and University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law are the latest members of the Nationwide Coalition to Transform U.S. Lawmaking and Legal Data for the Internet Age.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 8, 2016) — The Free Law Founders (FLF) coalition today announced that Professor Jonathan Askin and Professor Anthony Luppino are the latest members to collaborate on the effort to bring America’s legal information into the 21st century.
“Lawyers, politicians and academics are too often the last to embrace technology as progressive tools,” said Brooklyn Law School Professor Jonathan Askin. “The Free Law Founders are the folks dragging the rest of us academics and lawyers into the digital age, to ensure that technology can be a vehicle for civic participation, government transparency and social justice. A lot of us spend a lot of time talking and bemoaning the lack of civic tech solutions to societal ills. The Free Law Founders are pioneering meaningful implementations. I’m privileged and honored to work with them.”
Professor Askin teaches about technology, telecommunications and entrepreneurial law and policy. He is the Founder of the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy Clinic, which represents Internet, new media, communications and other tech entrepreneurs, startups, innovators and organizations on business development, policy advocacy and law reform. He is also the Faculty Chair and Innovation Catalyst for the Brooklyn Law Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship and a Visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab this Spring.
“President John F. Kennedy eloquently explained that ‘law is the adhesive force in the cement of society,’” said University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law Professor Anthony Luppino. “The Free Law Founders recognize the central role law plays in the well-being and advancement of society, and the importance of widespread access to law and efficient legal and regulatory processes. Its work in embracing innovation and technology to promote such access and efficiencies is exemplary and I am grateful for the opportunity to join this initiative.”
Professor Luppino is a Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law and the Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Law and a Senior Fellow with the cross-campus Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UMKC. He teaches or co-teachers a variety of business planning, entrepreneurship and tax classes, including projects-based interdisciplinary courses on Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation, and on Law, Technology & Public Policy.
“I’m honored that Professor Askin and Professor Luppino are lending their knowledge, experience and passion to transform the law and legislative process in America for the digital age,” said Ben Kallos, New York City Council Member and a member of the Free Law Founders. “Their participation and support means the Free Law Founders is better equipped than ever to achieve our goals.”
“These brilliant academics are leading the charge for improvements to our country’s most important data and I’m excited to collaborate to achieve our shared goals,” said Seamus Kraft, Executive Director of The OpenGov Foundation and a founding member of the Free Law Founders.
The Free Law Founders is a nationwide effort of people seeking to improve how we access, produce and maintain the most important public information in America — our laws, legislation and legal codes. With over 20 members in cities across the country, the Free Law Founders is one of the leading open legislative data advocacy groups in the United States.
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