Philosophy & Disclosures
I am a techie, an activist, and a lawyer. The values of these worlds do not always correspond. When there are conflicts I resolve these conflicts through deliberation with my clients and through reflecting on my deep commitment to open access and free speech.
Advocate of the Cause
I am a legal activist for Access to Knowledge and Access to Justice. I will do everything in my legal career to further Access to Knowledge and Access to Justice. If a particular clients interests come into conflict with Access to Knowledge and Access to Justice I will inform them of the conflict and if need be help them find alternative counsel.
Rules of Professional Conduct
Lawyers have rules of professional responsibility. The rules are theoretically designed to keep lawyers acting ethically and to protect clients. The rules create a set of norms that lawyers must follow to keep their license. These rules do not take into account individuals that are using the law to further a cause and fight for all stake holders instead of just one stake holder. When my obligations under these rules come in conflict with my mission or the mission of an organization I am working for I will inform the client ASAP and work with the client to solve the problem. If a client wants to pursue an option that is not with in the interest of the mission of the organization I am working for for or compatible with my ethics and promotions of Access to Knowledge and Access to Justice, I will help them find other counsel.
Confidentiality
Almost everything I do is open and public. I blog all conferences and events I attend. Much of my personal life is also online. I share ideas from casual conversation with the world at large. I believe that ideas are best used and realized if shared. This makes confidentiality a difficult issue for an advocate of Access to Knowledge.
I will respect my clients rights to have information kept confidential and the duty not to disclose. With this said, I will not keep things said outside of the attorney-client relationship private unless there is an explicit agreement to do so. I also will not sign non-disclosure agreements unless absolutely necessary in my nonlegal consulting work.
Open Access
I have singed on to these ethical statements and will work to support their goals:
Open Access Education: Cape Town Open Education Declaration
Budapest Open Access Initiative
Disclosures
No one pays me to write this blog or to say particular things in it. That includes all forms of compensation. I don’t run ads, no one pays me under the table, and I don’t sell t-shirts or coffee mugs. I don’t invest in companies discussed in this blog or any other places I write.
How I make money
I make a living through legal and technical consulting, as well as activism. I also teach part-time at most recently at University of Washington’s iSchool.
Tech
I am a paying customer of Dreamhost. I use Open Office, and Goggle docs primarily for creating content. In some rare cases I will use Microsoft Office if it is the only way to meet a client’s needs. I have access to several computers and run Linux, OSX and Windows on different machines.
Business attachments
Clients
Please see my Curriculum Vitae for an up-to-date list of my work. Some of my clients prefer to remain anonymous. I will disclose them (and have disclosed them in the past) if I talk about them on my blog.
Community involvement:
I am very active in the community. Here is a currently list of engagements:
Legal:
| Access to Justice Technology Board, Washington State Bar Association | Committee Member |
| Access to Justice Technology Principles | Committee Member, Active Volunteer |
| Future of the Law Institute |
Mock Trial Writer 2008 – 09 and Volunteer |
| Public Interest Law Foundation Seattle University | Online and Blog consultant |
| Students for Free Culture – Seattle University Chapter | Founder, Active National Member |
| Human Rights Network Seattle University School of Law | Board Member |
| Electronic Frontier Foundation | Paid Member and Volunteer Activist |
| Creative Commons | Activist |
| Copynight Seattle | Member and former Coordinator |
| Intellectual Property Law Society Seattle University School of Law | Member |
Non Legal:
| Amnesty International | Paid Member |
| Student for Free Culture | Chapter Leader / Helped Draft National by-laws |
| Defective by Design | Member and Protester |
| Free Software Foundation |
Member # 6925 |
| Creative Commons |
Network Member |
| Rebuilding Together | Volunteer 2006, 2007 |
| Wikipedia | Contributor – Username: Sarterus |
I will keep an updated list on my CV
Conferences
I go to more conferences than I should. I rarely pay the conference fee because either I’m speaking, I wheedle a media pass or I find someone to sponsor my attendance. I have been known to ghost a bit as well. I sometimes pay my own travel and hotel expenses.
Political
I am a liberal democratic socialist, but I vote on issues not party lines.
Personal
My wife, Sarah Davies, is technology consultant and an employee of the American Civil Liberties Union.
My promise
I promise I will be honest with you and never write something I don’t believe in.
If you don’t like this or disagree or have ideas on how to improve this, let me know.
- Brian Rowe
Most recent update: June 14th, 2010
First posted: April 29th, 2009
Previous versions: will be posted here if this statement changes (still working out how to implement this July 15th, 2009)
Evolution
This page was started as project for my third year law school class professional responsibility. Version (1.0) was posted April 29th 2009. This version combined the philosophy and disclosures pages and is version 1.1 updated July 14th 2009. Philosophy, as with all of life is a learning experience, as I face new challenges this philosophy will evolve. I will revise this page as needed. I will leave old versions up on my site and link to them from the most current version.