The value of open access

"It's a common question we get asked: "Why is open publishing important for the legal community?"

Part of the answer is that the status quo isn't working. Information about the law should be available to everyone regardless of who they are. Legal information must not be restricted to those who have the most resources.

Another part of the answer is that members of the legal community often give their time for free to create content, or in some cases get paid very little to do that work. Then institutions have to pay to purchase or subscribe to content written by their employees. This is similar to universities who pay salaries to researchers who write articles as part of their work, which they then publish in journals after they’ve been edited by volunteers. The journals are then made available to the universities at a cost they can barely afford.

Open publishing is a model that helps the community get what it needs in a less extractive way...."