EAL aN AT Peas Conteh as: UR LEGAL REBELS PROJECT—PROFILING 50 LAWYERS NATION- wide who are remaking the practice of law—has been one of the most rewarding projects this magazine has ever under- taken. And that’s largely because of the interaction we’ve had along the way with readers like you. You’ve suggested more than 250 innovators nationwide, drafted and signed the Legal Rebels Manifesto, ridden along with us as we visited a new Rebel every day for two weeks in September, and flocked to the events of our 24 Hours of Legal Rebels online meeting in October. ‘The project concludes with the following three profiles. All 50 profiles are now on LegalRebels.com, and a complete list of our Rebels begins on page 60. We hope they’ll continue to inspire you to innovate in your corner of the profession. BY JENMY B. DAVIS AND STEPHANIE FRANCIS WARD reality I'V all the rage, y only be a matter o! time before camera crews start following Carl Malamud. srminators, nannies and fishermen gee their own 0 wouldn't it make sense that America would {une into watch a guy who resembles Paul Simon— the musician, not the late senaror—driving an old Jeep Wrangler from library to library to check out how they're, storing documents? Malmud, 50, is a true 21st century activist. With little more than'a decp sense of justice and two poraable sean- ners in the back of chat Jeep, he’s spent years upending the way the government does business. ‘Malamucl’s crusade is simple: co make public-domain egal materials actually accessible to the public. Through his foundation, Public.Resource.org in Sebastopol, Calif., “he’s making progress. ‘The foundation is funded by do- ‘nations from individuals and private foundations, and ‘grants from people like eBay founder sand trial lawyer David Boies.“Though nota lawyer, Malamud has speathcaded some serious coups de testin the world of primary legal ‘materials. In che early 9s he put the federal Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR database online (over the ageney’s objec- tions), then got che commission to finish the job by offering the data- base online for free ‘Over the years he’s posted several hundred million pages of documents to the Web (90 million pages in the lase 18 months), including databases surrendered by agencies, records bought outright, and countless cases downloaded from PACER and do- nated to the cause by # network of like-minded volunteers. Malamusd’s latest campaign—and why he's adding o the 170,000 miles already on his odometer—is to liber- ate the Code of Federal Regulations, state administrative regulations and public safery codes (chink building Codes) incorporated by reference into state regulations. “The effort might seem trivia, but tell that to the plumbing ap- prentices and homeowners who have writcen to thank him for grant- ing them access to supposedly pub- lie information “This isn’ abou “Everything must be free.” We are noc a bunch of socialists," Malamud insists. He has nothing against forprofit information dealers like ‘Thomson Reuters (Westlaw) and Reed Else vier (LexisNexis), either. “Lam just against dese artificial barriers to ‘entry, and | am very agains infor~ sation that’s supposed to be public that’s only accessible-f you have a credit card.” For Malimud, aetion is impeni- sive. Without ithe says, he'd just bye “another angry guy in a coffee shop ranting atthe govemnment.” He actually wouldn’e mind being a federal employee, and he has launched a spirited campaign to become the head of the U.S, Gov- cemment Printing Office. His motto? Yes we scan.” But despite a glow- ing profile this past February in the New York Times, Malamud has yet to land the job. ‘But he doesn’e feel subbed. “1 am not your ideal eivil servant,” he admits. “But ie was a useful way (0 bring a lot of useful attention to the office—it's raised awareness of a lot of the issues, so I am happy about chat.” POSITIVE PRESSURE SIALAMUD-WATCHERS LIKELY WEREN'T SURPRISED BY THE CAMPAIGN, AND FS Added to Malamud’s reputation as a bic of a renegade, albeic the “right sot “of renegade.” clarifies Fred von Lohmann, a senior staf attorney with the Blectronie Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. This means Matar “does things that on ther face seem revolutionary and sort of rica” yer actualy follows the law and consults with lawyers, ineluding vohel-ohmann. “What so refreshing about Car, he has an impatience about public ae- cess that is wonderful to behold,” von Lohmann stys. “His MQ is go dem- Gnstate wo people what is actualy possible, and chereby shame them into doing the right ching.” But von Lohmann points out that Matamudl never takes himself or his quest too seriously. Case in poine: che Shepard Faiey-style poster of Malamud’s own face selling on his website for $150 and the photo-illustra- tions he created of a Lego-peoplc chorus declaring "Cade is law” toillus= trate the importance of accessible regulatory material ‘Next up, Malamud’s writing book (his ninth) he's calling Hacking Government, a how-to for people to change the way the government be= haves, And true o his core values, notes forthe book along with other musings ean be accessed on Twitter. a Ir’s a free, convenient way for hi keep things organized, he says. aia “can always go back through my ‘Twitter stream and say, “Phere it iat’ IBD. ‘There are specific tule for 5 upshocis this: The sooner specific goals are reached, the mote money a law firm stands to. earn; the more unplanned work is done, the higher the risk ehae che total bill could be reduced.