What do lawyers think about LexPublica?

To our delight and surprise, most of the lawyers we've spoken with have been enthusiastic about LexPublica. They recognize that individuals and small businesses often struggle to afford legal services and they see the potential of LexPublica to help solve this problem. They also see the possibilities for community-developed legal materials. That said, some lawyers who aren't very active on the Web are skeptical about or confused by what we're doing and how we're doing it. And of course, some lawyers feel somewhat threatened by the opening-up of the law, either for their business or for their professional identity.

LexPublica values lawyers and the services they provide: there's no substitute for the wisdom, expertise and judgment of lawyers, and no information service can replace that. There is, however, a need to make high-quality information about the law more accessible, and that's the need we aim to fulfill. It's simply taking lawyers back to their roots as the first open-source business: the law, consisting of legislation and case law, has always been openly accessible to everyone free of charge (in fact, the law is required to be 'open source' to give effect to the principle of the rule of law and its implications). For centuries, lawyers have provided their services based on the law being an open resource. LexPublica is expanding that open resource to include broader legal knowledge, including the knowledge that goes into creating contract templates.