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Home > Documents > OASIS

Letter to LegalXML Membership from Don Bergeron, chair of LegalXML Board of Directors

February 20, 2002

Dear LegalXML Membership,

The Board of Directors has an important update about an invitation to form a LegalXML Member Section of OASIS.  We sent an earlier informational message giving you an overview of a great opportunity for LegalXML to affiliate with OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards. A Committee of the LegalXML Board (Bergeron, Greenwood, Greacen, Roberts, O'Brien and Keane), and subsequently our full Board, as well as the Management and Board of OASIS, have spent considerable time creating a proposal which will position LegalXML solidly in the center of XML standards development, while providing much needed organizational support.

By unanimous vote of the members of the Board of Directors of LegalXML Inc., present and qualified to vote, on January 24, 2002 adopted the following resolution:

"The board enthusiastically recommends the adoption of the proposed resolution for LegalXML to become a 'Member Section' of OASIS. OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, is a non-profit, international consortium that creates interoperable industry specifications based on public standards such as XML and SGML, as well as others that are related to structured information processing. Source: http://www.oasis-open.org/who/   

We regret the delay posting this to you. However, Specific language changed by the OASIS Board, subsequent to vote of the LegalXML Board, suggested to some LegalXML Board Members the need for further clarification from OASIS.  Members of the negotiating team have worked out language that will appear within the Charters of LegalXML Technical Committees to allow LegalXML Technical Committees to keep proprietary content out of our standards.

The Invitation

OASIS proposes that LegalXML formally affiliate with OASIS as a Member Section to further the development of XML standards in the legal arena. We request that all participants and observers read these documents carefully and thoughtfully. Attached is the Letter of Invitation from Patrick Gannon, dated 2/6/2002, OASIS's CEO expressing OASIS's excitement with this opportunity. OasisInviteLetter.doc WE have also attached a detailed Memorandum that outlines the invitation in more detail and provides additional context for the Rules of Procedure, dated 2/1/2002. OasisInviteDetail.doc. We have  further attached the Invitation and the Rules of Procedure, dated 1/29/2002 (OasisROP.doc), and the Resolution approved by the OASIS Board (OasisBoardResolution.doc).

Request for Input

We ask you to share your thoughts and comments on the Legal (legal@legalxml.org) list. Individual Board members will make their individual comments known on the list during the comment period. The Board will monitor the list closely to respond to questions and listen to your feedback. The Board will post this notice for member review and comment over a two-week period beginning today, February 20, 2002, with final decision no later than March 6, 2002. This list will be set to a non-broadcast list so that ongoing work is not inhibited by a flood of emails but allows for full participation and review. To receive the postings immediately please change your options on the Legal list from NOMail to Mail.

We will keep the membership apprised of all developments with respect to this proposal by posting a summary of key discussion points on the general broadcast list. When and if a final agreement is reached between LegalXML and OASIS - following this comment period -- We will advise the membership and explain the details of a transition - how and when to join OASIS, when specific OASIS member section Technical Committees are formed to replace our current working groups, when LegalXML lists will no longer be supported, and other similar matters.

Implications of this proposed affiliation with OASIS

We recognize that many people have been involved over the past few years in building LegalXML as a standards organization formed from a community of interested, invested and dedicated practitioners and technicians. We don't want to lose this sense of community or our organizational identity.  Nevertheless, we strongly believe that we need to establish a firm organizational foundation and a supportive infrastructure to ensure the long-term existence of LegalXML and ongoing support for our standards initiatives. We believe that this affiliation with OASIS will provide the necessary support, while enabling us to retain our organizational identity.  We are certainly aware that this affiliation will have significant implications for the membership.

First and foremost, LegalXML Work Groups will become OASIS Technical Committees. This means that the LegalXML Working Group will operate under the time-tested OASIS Technical Committee process. This process is an OPEN one in both principle and practice. OASIS Management has clarified that additional items may be added by Technical Committees' standing rules as needed, so that they support the core values of the LegalXML standards practice and culture.  Core business practices of LegalXML, such as our policy of decision making by consensus and having the list be the place where decisions of technical committees become final and binding, can and will remain manifest in our affiliation with OASIS.

Additionally, the OASIS Technical Committee process supports each Technical  Committee having a set of standing rules. LegalXML Technical Committees will start with a set of standing rules that reflect the Legal Community and our standards development culture.

Being in the mainstream of the OASIS process will support coordination with other standards groups to increase the interoperability between the LegalXML standards and other XML standards. By working as a member section, LegalXML will migrate to an experienced organization whose purpose is to support the creation and adoption of Open Standards. OASIS has the experience, the technology and the support environment that is truly needed to support the ongoing creation of standards. With this additional support, our user community should see an increase in responsiveness to posting to the Website, and expanded support of membership lists and their ability to post.

OASIS participation requires membership fees. Over the past two years there has been substantial discussion of individual member dues within LegalXML, but no final action has been taken. We acknowledge that introducing membership fees is not a particularly popular action, but we sincerely believe that it is needed to support the organization appropriately and to effectively develop and administer XML standards.

Individual OASIS membership fees are $250 per year, per person. OASIS is introducing a $1000 US organizational dues level for State and Local Government agencies, "not for profit organizations", educational organizations and government agencies of non-G10 countries. All other OASIS fee levels are in keeping with those of LegalXML with minor differences, which OASIS has historically found encourage joining.

If this proposal is adopted, we will strongly urge Companies, Government, "not for profit" and educational Organizations whose members have been active in Legal XML to join the OASIS LegalXML Member Section. We will ask individuals within these groups to encourage the organization they work for, or represent, to join at the organization level. Here is a link to the dues section of the OASIS website with a definition of the rights granted and the benefits at the different membership levels at https://www.oasis-open.org/join/organizations.shtml. General benefits of membership are discussed at https://www.oasis-open.org/join/benefits.shtml.  Each member of the LegalXML Member Section in OASIS is a member of OASIS.  This means that you may join any OASIS Technical Committee and be a voting member!  By participating in other efforts you will learn new approaches, methods and reusable components that can be applied to LegalXML efforts.  While doing so you will bring LegalXML concepts forward and make a practical difference in a broader range of OASIS standards.

Any company or organization that joins OASIS may have as many participants as they wish. This is the same as in the LegalXML rules.

When people join OASIS they will be asked to indicate their interest in LegalXML. They will also be asked at the time they renew their membership on an annual basis.  A portion (40%) of the membership dues for anyone who indicates intent to participate significantly in LegalXML Member Section activities will be placed in a specifically allocated LegalXML resource pool. If a member indicates intent to participate significantly in more than one member section, the pools will be allocated appropriately. The method for making this selection will be clearly communicated at that time. Our resource pool will be used to support the LegalXML Technical Committees in the creation and adoption of the standards. These resources will help fund Technical Committee face-to-face meetings, conference calls and other services that are over and above the fine set of services already provided by OASIS to all Technical Committees.

We hope and expect that a significant number of members of current LegalXML  Working Groups will elect to become formal, dues paying members of OASIS. We will, however, also have a public list where ALL current members of our Working Groups will be able to monitor work and continue to participate, and these discussions will certainly assist in the development of standards.

ALL archives for every Technical Committees are OPEN! All Technical Committees have 2 lists; a working list and a public comment list. To further ensure openness LegalXML each Technical Committee will have an ombudsman to ensure that LegalXML Member Section Technical Committees take the input from the public list seriously.

LegalXML may extend an "invited expert" individual non-voting membership to select employees of non-profit, government, or educational organizations that are an expert in a topic or domain and who would otherwise not be allowed to participate in technical work. Such invitations are subject to approval by OASIS management, but they offer a mechanism for full participation in OASIS work groups to persons who have been very active in Legal XML working groups but are not able to afford the cost of individual membership.  The LegalXML resource pool may also be used to provide "scholarships" to people who have a significant hardship in paying the dues.  This must be done judiciously as it takes away resources from other activities to move the standards forward.

We have worked with OASIS to develop a proposal consistent with the Legal XML culture and values.  OASIS has agreed to give us a period of time for response sufficient to obtain input from our members.  The Board has asked me to convey its commitment to listen to all input from LegalXML members and we commit to hear, provide feedback and act on the feedback.

Conclusion

In closing, we believe this is a great opportunity for LegalXML. It will allow the focus to move back to our purpose-the creation of XML based standards for the legal community! The OASIS environment will support moving faster while adding further discipline in our process. The Board and we ask for your thoughtful consideration and input.

Respectfully yours,

Don Bergeron

Chairman, Board of Directors - LegalXML

For the Board of Directors - LegalXML

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