OASIS Expands to Include LegalXML

Legal Community Moves Standards Development to International Consortium

Washington, DC, USA. March 28, 2002.

The standards group LegalXML joined the OASIS interoperability consortium today, in a move that aligns the development of specifications for legal data exchange with the global standards community at-large.

By migrating its work to OASIS, LegalXML secures its representation within the consortium known for setting adoptable worldwide standards for electronic business, Web services and security. The alliance brings new resources and international awareness to LegalXML's work on specifications for electronic court filing, court documents, legal citations, transcripts, criminal justice intelligence systems, and others.

"This is an important move for LegalXML," said James I. Keane, co-chair of the eLawyering Task Force of the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section. "Operating within OASIS, LegalXML gains close ties to the major global standards-setting bodies. Existing OASIS members, representing some of the largest and most innovative companies in the world, will now be able to actively contribute to the work of LegalXML."

"OASIS has the experience, the technology and the support environment that is essential for the successful development of XML standards," said Don Bergeron, chair of the LegalXML Steering Committee. "Being in the mainstream of OASIS, LegalXML participants take advantage of a tried-and-true technical process and track record of successful adoption. OASIS provides the infrastructure we need, so we can focus all our energies on developing standardized structures, vocabularies and data exchange tools for the legal community."

Under the new organizational structure, members of LegalXML will join OASIS and be eligible to contribute to all OASIS technical work. Existing OASIS members will have the option to participate in LegalXML without additional membership dues.

"In today's economy, it's not practical to expect companies to join a multitude of consortia in order to participate in all the relevant standards development being done. OASIS is one organization with many opportunities for involvement," explained Patrick Gannon, OASIS president and CEO. "LegalXML expands the breadth of our technical agenda in an exciting way. We welcome LegalXML participants to our community of developers and look forward to sharing new approaches, methods, and insights with one another."

Members of the LegalXML Steering Committee within OASIS include Donald Bergeron of Lexis-Nexis, Toby Brown of the Utah State Bar, Rolly Chambers of Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP, John Greacen, Esq. of Grecean Associates, Daniel Greenwood, Esq. of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jim Keane, Esq. of JKeane.Pro, Eddie O'Brien of Ringtail Solutions, and Dave Roberts of the SEARCH National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics.

OASIS will host open mail lists for public comment on LegalXML technical committees, and completed work will be freely available to the public without licensing or other fees. The LegalXML website (www.legalxml.org) will continue to be maintained by OASIS.

About LegalXML

LegalXML was founded in November 1998 as a non-profit organization to bring legal and technical experts together to create standards for the electronic exchange of legal data. The OASIS LegalXML Member Section will continue this work to serve as an open forum for the legal domain to share ideas and experiences associated with XML and related core standards. LegalXML participants include lawyers, developers, application vendors, government agencies and members of academia.

About OASIS

OASIS (www.oasis-open.org), a not-for-profit, global consortium, drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. OASIS is the home for XML conformance, Web services, security, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and other interoperability specifications development.

OASIS has more than 400 corporate and individual members in 100 countries around the world. OASIS and the United Nations jointly sponsor ebXML, a global framework for e-business data exchange. OASIS operates XML.org, a community clearinghouse for XML application schemas, vocabularies and related documents. OASIS hosts The XML Cover Pages, an online reference collection for interoperable markup language standards.

For more information:

Carol Geyer
Director of Communications
OASIS
Email: carol.geyer@oasis-open.org
Voice: +1.978.667.5115 x209

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See "Legal XML Working Group."

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By migrating its work to OASIS, LegalXML secures its representation within the consortium known for setting adoptable worldwide standards for electronic business, Web services and security. The alliance brings new resources and international awareness to LegalXML's work on specifications for electronic court filing, court documents, legal citations, transcripts, criminal justice intelligence systems, and others. "This is an important move for LegalXML," said James I. Keane, co-chair of the eLawyering Task Force of the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section. "Operating within OASIS, LegalXML gains close ties to the major global standards-setting bodies. Existing OASIS members, representing some of the largest and most innovative companies in the world, will now be able to actively contribute to the work of LegalXML." "OASIS has the experience, the technology and the support environment that is essential for the successful development of XML standards," said Don Bergeron, chair of the LegalXML Steering Committee. "Being in the mainstream of OASIS, LegalXML participants take advantage of a tried-and-true technical process and track record of successful adoption. OASIS provides the infrastructure we need, so we can focus all our energies on developing standardized structures, vocabularies and data exchange tools for the legal community." Under the new organizational structure, members of LegalXML will join OASIS and be eligible to contribute to all OASIS technical work. Existing OASIS members will have the option to participate in LegalXML without additional membership dues. "In today's economy, it's not practical to expect companies to join a multitude of consortia in order to participate in all the relevant standards development being done. OASIS is one organization with many opportunities for involvement," explained Patrick Gannon, OASIS president and CEO. "LegalXML expands the breadth of our technical agenda in an exciting way. We welcome LegalXML participants to our community of developers and look forward to sharing new approaches, methods, and insights with one another." Members of the LegalXML Steering Committee within OASIS include Donald Bergeron of Lexis-Nexis, Toby Brown of the Utah State Bar, Rolly Chambers of Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP, John Greacen, Esq. of Grecean Associates, Daniel Greenwood, Esq. of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jim Keane, Esq. of JKeane.Pro, Eddie O'Brien of Ringtail Solutions, and Dave Roberts of the SEARCH National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics. OASIS will host open mail lists for public comment on LegalXML technical committees, and completed work will be freely available to the public without licensing or other fees. The LegalXML website (www.legalxml.org) will continue to be maintained by OASIS. About LegalXML LegalXML was founded in November 1998 as a non-profit organization to bring legal and technical experts together to create standards for the electronic exchange of legal data. The OASIS LegalXML Member Section will continue this work to serve as an open forum for the legal domain to share ideas and experiences associated with XML and related core standards. LegalXML participants include lawyers, developers, application vendors, government agencies and members of academia. About OASIS OASIS (www.oasis-open.org), a not-for-profit, global consortium, drives the development, convergence and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. OASIS is the home for XML conformance, Web services, security, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and other interoperability specifications development. OASIS has more than 400 corporate and individual members in 100 countries around the world. OASIS and the United Nations jointly sponsor ebXML, a global framework for e-business data exchange. OASIS operates XML.org, a community clearinghouse for XML application schemas, vocabularies and related documents. OASIS hosts The XML Cover Pages, an online reference collection for interoperable markup language standards. For more information: Carol Geyer Director of Communications OASIS Email: carol.geyer@oasis-open.org Voice: +1.978.667.5115 x209 Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See "Legal XML Working Group."