My perspectives on language and law have been influenced by my past work as a caselaw editor and occasional translator for LexisNexis, my service as a volunteer teacher of English as a second language, and my own efforts to speak, read, or write English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, etc. Those experiences are among the inspirations for my current project, Law Explorers®, the objectives of which include facilitating comprehension of the language and terminology of law.
I believe that a multilingual, multicultural approach to “legal literacy” is an effective way to advance toward that objective. Although my background in technology is limited, I believe that the technologies of the Semantic Web can make significant contributions to this approach, particularly with the current emphasis on Open Data and Open Government.