Resources for EAs Interested in Law

[McGill EA x Law]

Intentions

This post is an introduction to resources at the intersection of EA and the practice or study of Law for anyone interested.

Disclaimers

This list was last updated on December 15th, 2022.

This list is compiled to the best of my knowledge but is by no means exhaustive. Please comment with any you know!

I exclude resources about policy work since most of that work can be done without a law degree.

I exclude resources where Law is not their primary focus, even if Law is instrumental to that cause’s realization (e.g., Open Phil requiring In-House counsel, the Nuclear Disarmament Movement, the Democracy Defense Fund).

I place resources where Governance is their primary focus in a separate topic. I limited the number of organizations working in governance since lawyers’ added value is highly organization-dependent and cause-dependent. I did not want to break down that analysis here.

Study and Practice of Law

EA Forum Topics (with at least two posts)

• Antitrust Law

• California effect

• Legal Priorities Project

• Law

• Standards and Regulation

• Windfall Clause

EA-Aligned Organizations

• Legal Priorities Project

• Legal Impact for Chickens

Study and Practice of Governance

EA Forum Topics (with at least two posts)

• AI Governance

• Compute Governance

• Corporate Governance

• Nonprofit Governance

• Space Governance

EA-Aligned Organizations

• Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI)

• Center for Security and Emerging Technology

• Center for Space Governance

• Charter Cities Institute

• Global Challenges Foundation

• Simon Institute for Longterm Governance

Student and Student Group Resources

On Law School and Careers in Law

• Law School: Why and When? – Considerations for Members of the EA Community

• Admissions and Financial Advice for U.S. Law School Applicants

• Cullen O’Keefe: Doing the most good with a law degree

Law Schools with an EA Program

• Columbia Effective Altruism

• Harvard Law School Effective Altruism

• McGill Effective Altruism x Law

• Stanford Law School Effective Altruism

• University of Chicago Law Effective Altruism

• Yale Effective Altruism

In-Person and Virtual Programs

• Harvard Law School Effective Altruism has run an in-depth Law x EA Fellowship.

• McGill Effective Altruism x Law has run an intro Law x EA Fellowship.

• The Hague Effective Altruism invites students and professionals in The Hague to get involved.

Other Communities

Many groups listed above have listservs, and some have public Slack or Discord channels. Please feel free to dig into those that interest you more!

• EA & Law Facebook Group

• EA NYC Law Sub-Group

Where EA x Law is Heading

This list is only an introduction—please add your favourites in the comments section!

Animal Welfare

• Political and legal activism for all sentient beings

Artificial Intelligence

• Antitrust-Compliant AI Industry Self-Regulation

• AI Certification: Advancing Ethical Practice by Reducing Information Asymmetries

• Defining the Scope of AI Regulations

• How Will National Security Considerations Affect Antitrust Decisions in AI? An Examination of Historical Precedents

• Law-Following AI

• Legal Protection of Sentient Artificial Intelligence

• Protecting Sentient AI: A Survey of Lay Intuitions on Standing, Personhood, and General

• The Challenges of Artificial Judicial Decision-Making for Liberal Democracy

Biosecurity

• Using Export Controls to Reduce Biorisk

Longtermism

• Empowering Future People by Empowering the Young

• Experimental Longtermist Jurisprudence

• Longtermist Institutional Reform

• Protecting Future Generations: A Global Survey of Legal Academics

• Survey: Legal needs in EA and longtermism

• The Rise of the Constitutional Protection of Future Generations

Other resources

• How can we do more good as lawyers?