BAILII is fundamental to free access to UK law. It’s future is in jeopardy.
A major funder has decided not to continue funding BAILII, and there is uncertainty about the continuing provision of funding by other major funders.
A quick analysis of the current sources of funding shows that the vast majority of funding comes from a handful of large donors.
As at 31 July 2010 there were 150,128 solicitors on the Roll and in December 2009 the number of barristers in England and Wales that held practising certificates was 15,270. If BAILII was funded at just £1 per lawyer, its future would be secure. If BAILII can tap into the generosity of only 10%, then £10 per lawyer is needed.
Why not, as an individual lawyer, give £10 or more now? Or persuade your firm/organisation to stump up £10 per lawyer. Simples.
While I don’t have any argument at all with the sterling work that Balii has done in the past to open up access to judgments online, the real scandal is that we still need it. In these days of open government and open data, all judgments (from at least the senior courts) should be published by the Ministry of Justice itself as a matter of routine, under a standard Open Government licence so that anyone who wants or needs the data has it freely available at no charge.
The truly excellent online statute law resource at legislation.gov.uk shows how it can be done; there is no reason why the distribution of case law should be left to what is effectively a gentlemen’s agreement between the courts and a small charity. And, although Baili’s role in pioneering access to judgments is indisputable, it has to be said that the Bailii website (and Bailii’s redistribution policy) is looking increasingly out of date when compared to more recent efforts from the online voluntary sector. Maybe the way forward for Bailii is a link up with an organisation such as MySociety, currently the pace-setters in this field. There’s a lot of scope there to not only reduce costs but also to significantly improve the quality and usability of Bailii’s output.
I agree with the above.
Baili.org is good but certainly missing the volume and depth of the paid alternatives. I long for the uni days with free access to westlaw.