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New Research on Sites that Publish Legal Information for Free on the Web

Isabelle Moncion of the Chair in Legal Information of the University of Montreal, and Lexum, has posted Building Sustainable LIIs – or Free Access to Law as Seen Through the Eyes of a Newbie, on the VoxPopuLII Blog, published by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University Law School.

In this post, Ms. Moncion describes two IDRC-funded studies into the use and sustainability of legal information institutes — sites that offer free Internet access to the full text of primary legal information — in Asia, West Africa, and Southern Africa. The studies are being conducted by the Chair in Legal Information of the University of Montreal.

The first study addresses the use of, and potential demand for, legal information institutes in four West African countries: Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. The second study concerns the sustainability of legal information institutes, in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa.

Ms. Moncion’s post discusses the methodology and summarizes preliminary findings of the studies.

This post will be of interest to advocates of access to justice and to government information, and to the legal publishing community, as well as to those who study information and communications technology for development (ICT4D).

[Editor’s Note: The original version of this post contained an error. The original version of the post stated that the studies described in the post are being conducted by Lexum and the Chair in Legal Information of the University of Montreal. That information is incorrect. The studies described in the post are being conducted solely by the Chair in Legal Information of the University of Montreal. Lexum has no role in the studies. We regret the error. The post has been corrected as of 5 May 2011.]

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