[Harmony-Drafting] Harmony user's list and professional responsibility
Lawrence Rosen
lrosen at rosenlaw.com
Sat Jul 2 15:10:50 UTC 2011
Allison Randal wrote:
> Certainly lawyers have to be careful, but most FLOSS lawyers I know
> are. It would be unfortunate if the lawyers in the drafting group
> entirely avoided participating with the Harmony adopters.
I agree with Allison and I intend, as time permits, to offer careful and
perhaps public assistance to FLOSS participants seeking to understand the
Harmony agreement. Most of us lawyers understand both the limitations on
giving specific legal advice in a public forum and the duty of lawyers to
help people understand the law.
If you go to a party and ask a doctor friend to explain the different risks
of an ingrown toenail and toe cancer, you should expect a candid response.
That doesn't mean your friend is diagnosing your malady or prescribing a
course of treatment particular to you. So too your lawyer friend is merely
helping to guide you to a rational analysis of your question without
actually telling you what you need to do to stay out of jail.
I don't know why Eben is hanging his ethical cloak on this particular hook.
Those of us who have written books and articles for lay people understand
the appropriate distinctions between saying what we believe and giving
particularized legal advice.
/Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: harmony-drafting-bounces at lists.harmonyagreements.org
> [mailto:harmony-drafting-bounces at lists.harmonyagreements.org] On Behalf
> Of Allison Randal
> Sent: Friday, July 01, 2011 3:49 PM
> To: harmony-drafting at lists.harmonyagreements.org
> Subject: Re: [Harmony-Drafting] Harmony user's list and professional
> responsibility
>
> They weren't looking for legal advice, more along the lines of the kind
> of practical advice you'd want in working with a new programming
> language or tool, a place to congregate with others adopting the
> agreements, and form a community around usage.
>
> Certainly lawyers have to be careful, but most FLOSS lawyers I know
> are.
> It would be unfortunate if the lawyers in the drafting group entirely
> avoided participating with the Harmony adopters.
>
> Allison
>
> On 07/01/2011 02:59 PM, Eben Moglen wrote:
> > Sensible lawyers will not give what is necessarily unprivileged
> advice
> > on such a list. Pertinent questions we are professionally
> responsible
> > for asking projects in order to assist them in devising their project
> > contribution arrangements also cannot responsibly be asked, or
> > answered, in a public context.
> >
> > Each message must remind the reader that the information contained
> > there, even if accurate concerning legal positions expressed by the
> > writer, may be incorrect or even harmful to act upon in the reader's
> > jurisdiction. Every lawyer writing to such a list would have to add
> > additional material indicating the appropriate geographic reach of
> her
> > or his advice, which is one more reason why no sensible counsel will
> > publish anything there.
> >
> > For these reasons, Gresham's law will function in such a setting, and
> > bad advice--or at least unlicensed and in a formal sense
> irresponsible
> > advice--will drive out good advice. Reference to the infinitesimal
> > signal to noise ratio on certain well-known legal affairs mailing
> > lists in our community bolsters the prediction.
> >
> > This proposal will present the operator of such a list with some
> > liability issues, too. Disclaimers should be automatically appended
> > to each message that could inappropriately be construed as legal
> > advice, or could represent a legal position taken by the organization
> > sponsoring the list, or the one whose agent or employee is the source
> > of any particular message. Such disclaimers should instruct people
> > considering relying on the advice contained in any message to consult
> > their own counsel. Anyone moderating or editing in such a context
> > should have malpractice coverage.
> >
> > Practicing public-facing law for free software authors is a complex
> > activity. This proposal I would not characterize as prudent.
> >
> > Eben
> > _______________________________________________
> > Harmony-Drafting mailing list
> > Harmony-Drafting at lists.harmonyagreements.org
> > http://lists.harmonyagreements.org/mailman/listinfo/harmony-drafting
> >
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