FAQ - LA Legal Hackers

FAQsFrequently Asked Questions

Who are Legal Hackers?
 
Legal Hackers is a global grassroots movement of designers, entrepreneurs, lawyers, policy advocates, researchers, students, teachers, and technologists who explore and develop creative solutions to issues at the intersection of law and technology. We are a volunteer-run, chapter-based community that is free to join and open to all.
 
VERY IMPORTANT: Legal Hackers is not a commercial enterprise, trade association, or advocacy group. Legal Hackers is not a computer security group and does not support, condone, or engage in “black hat” or “white hat” hacking or illegal activities.
 
The mission of Legal Hackers is to foster creative problem-solving at the intersection of law and technology, or what we call “legal hacking.” Our mission is inspired by the ethos of the original MIT hackers of the 1950s and 1960s, later defined as the “Hacker Ethic” by journalist and author Steven Levy. Through its events and activities, Legal Hackers seek to create a casual environment, open to everyone and all ideas, that is passionate, creative, and fun. Legal Hackers achieve our mission by building multidisciplinary communities in local chapters (“Legal Hackers Chapters”) around the world through events focused on education, prototyping, and discussion. The output of legal hacking activities--a “legal hack”--could be a tech-based solution (e.g., legal tech, reg tech, or civic tech), an improvement in legal services delivery, or a new way of addressing a public policy issue such as data protection, intellectual property, or the sharing economy.

What do Legal Hackers do?
 
Legal Hackers is a global movement of lawyers, policymakers, designers, technologists, and academics who explore and develop creative solutions to some of the most pressing issues at the intersection of law and technology. Through local meetups, hackathons, and workshops, Legal Hackers spot issues and opportunities where technology can improve and inform the practice of law and where law, legal practice, and policy can adapt to rapidly changing technology. Legal Hackers are not hacking into security systems to get illicit information. We are problem-solving; we are bringing people of diverse backgrounds but shared interests together to create change. In addition, people tend to expect that we can make money or start businesses through Legal Hackers - as if it were more an incubator for start-up technology. This is also not true. First and foremost, Legal Hackers sets out to engage in problem-solving as a volunteer-driven, open source benefit to the community. Other projects may spin off from those efforts, and may even be financially sustainable, but that is not the mission of Legal Hackers. We are open source all the way, all the time.

How can I join LA Legal Hackers?
 Joining is easy. You can subscribe to our newsletter, sign up on our Meetup page, or simply attend one of our events.

How Often does LA Legal Hackers Meet?
 
We have meetings several times a year to grow our community and keep connected. These may just be brief dinner events, or they may showcase speakers or topics relevant to our interests. We also host a podcast, spotlighting members of our legal hackers community who are working on interesting things. 

How Can I Contribute to LA Legal Hackers?
 
We want our members to work together to use their energy, interests and talents to pioneer new solutions. That means we want to know from our members what they want to solve, what they want to learn about, and how we might be able to help. Simply contact us if you want to contribute funding, blog posts, feedback, or be a guest on our podcast. We look forward to hearing from you!