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Free Access to Law Movement (FALM) Administrative Procedures

These Procedures were approved by the FALM annual in-person meeting at the Law via Internet Conference held in Jersey in 2013, which decided to propose these procedures to the entire FALM membership via the FALM list, in keeping with the first principle below. The Procedures were then posted to the FALM list and, in the absence of any objections, adopted by FALM.

FALM decision-making

  1. The Free Access to Law Movement (FALM) makes decisions by consensus, arrived at through discussion of issues by the FALM membership on the FALM mailing list.
  2. No entity or person speaks on behalf of FALM or its individual members. FALM’s positions are indicated by the documents it adopts and activities it undertakes.

Functions of the FALM Secretariat

  1. The FALM Secretariat has the functions of (a) providing information about FALM documents and activities; (b) receiving applications for membership of FALM, and to host the Law via Internet Conference (‘Conference’); (c) ensuring that FALM facilities (including the website and mailing list) are maintained; (d) making recommendations to the FALM membership concerning decisions to be made by the membership; (e) facilitating introductions to FALM members (including to representatives of other FALM members and to other parties such as organisations interested in membership); (f) manage the Annual Meeting of members; and (g) such other functions as the FALM membership decides (consistent with decision-making procedures 1 and 2).

FALM By-laws

  1. The Secretariat consists of both ex-officio and additional members, and will be nine members or less.
  2. The four ex-officio Secretariat members are the two past Conference hosts; the next Conference host; and one Editor (in rotation each two years) of the Journal of Open Access to Law (JOAL).
  3. The additional members of the Secretariat will be co-opted from time to time by the existing Secretariat, chosen to give a broadly representative cross section of members from different regions[1] , and from large and small members, to balance the composition of the Secretariat as a whole. Such co-option is be approved by the FALM membership as a whole. Additional members will serve for two year terms.
  4. Secretariat procedures will include:
    1. The Secretariat will function once it has at least 3 members;
    2. The Secretariat will decide on its chair (named ‘Secretary’, ‘Convenor’ or ‘Chair’ as it decides). Initially, the Chair of the immediate past conference will act in the role until the Secretariat functions.
    3. Additional members will have a two year term. Half the additional members will retire annually. If an additional member becomes an ex-officio member, that member’s place will be taken by another additional member to be co-opted by the Secretariat.
  5. The Secretariat will coordinate maintenance and updating of FALM facilities including the mailing list and the FALM website, and other new facilities such as conference software. The Secretariat can authorise particular FALM members, whether or not on the Secretariat, to implement these facilities.[2]
  6. The Secretariat will confirm the content of materials about FALM, provided on the FALM website or otherwise, including ‘About FALM’ documents, lists of members, Membership procedures and criteria, and Conference Host Nomination procedures and criteria, and publish these via the FALM website etc. The Secretariat will also produce and update a consolidation of these documents, as an introduction to FALM. The Secretariat may request assistance from any member to draft these documents. It may request approval of any of these documents by the FALM membership where it considers that is desirable.
  7. The Secretariat will develop a guide to membership criteria including a list of the types of organisations that have already been approved for membership (with reference to the Declaration where appropriate), as a guide to potential nominees for membership. The FALM membership, via the mailing list, can at any time decide to expand the criteria when a new type of nomination is received, and with the advice of the Secretariat.
  8. The Secretariat will receive membership nominations, forward them to the FALM list, and advise on the outcome. All members (particularly Secretariat members) will be requested to will assist with identifying / soliciting membership nominations, based on the announced criteria.
  9. FALM supports the development of the Journal of Open Access to Law (JOAL),[3] and supports the hosts of Law via Internet Conferences working with JOAL concerning publication of conference presentations in JOAL.
  10. Correspondence to FALM about membership or similar matters will be answered by the Secretariat chair, by provision of information, with advice to the FALM list where this is desirable.
  11. The Secretariat will normally operate by electronic means. It will have one annual in-person meeting on the morning before the FALM 'AGM' (meeting of all members). The Secretariat will be responsible for the agenda, conduct of the meeting and the minutes of the meeting. The Secretariat chair will report to the AGM on progress concerning FALM activities.

[1] The five regions from which most of the membership is drawn at present are Africa; Asia; Europe; North America; Oceania (Australasia/ Pacific). FALM has few members as yet from the rest of the world (including Central Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean).

[2] The FALM mailing list is maintained by LexUM. The FALM domain names (fatlm.org and falm.info) and the FALM website at those addresses are maintained by AustLII.

[3] JOAL website at < http://ojs.law.cornell.edu/index.php/joal>

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