Institutional Charter

The governing document that defines EchoLegal's mission, editorial independence, and institutional structure.

Effective: January 2024

Article I — Mission

"Legal knowledge should belong to everyone."

EchoLegal is a legal encyclopedia and contract library. Its purpose is to make accurate, professionally reviewed legal information freely accessible to individuals and businesses worldwide.

EchoLegal does not provide legal advice, represent clients, or substitute for the judgment of a qualified attorney. It is an educational reference built to the standards of a legal publishing institution.

Article II — Editorial Independence

All editorial decisions at EchoLegal are made on the basis of legal accuracy, completeness, and reader utility. No commercial interest, sponsorship, or external pressure may override editorial standards.

Contributors maintain full intellectual independence. EchoLegal does not accept paid placements, sponsored content, or editorial consideration in exchange for compensation from third parties.

Article III — Governance Structure

Section 1. Editorial Authority

Editorial authority is held by a licensed attorney designated as Editorial Director. The Editorial Director has final authority over all publication decisions, contributor appointments, and editorial policy. This authority exists to ensure that legal accuracy is never compromised by operational considerations.

Section 2. Editorial Succession

Editorial authority is an institutional role, not a personal appointment. Editorial standards survive any individual appointment. In the event the current Editorial Director is unable to serve, authority transfers to the most senior member of the Editorial Board who holds active bar admission. If no such member exists, publication is suspended until a qualified successor is designated.

Section 3. Editorial Board

The Editorial Board consists of verified contributors holding the role of Reviewer or above. Board members participate in editorial policy discussions, advise on jurisdictional accuracy, and review content within their areas of competence. Board membership is determined by the Editorial Director based on demonstrated expertise and contribution history.

Section 4. Contributor Tiers

EchoLegal recognizes the following contributor tiers, each with defined permissions and responsibilities:

  1. Author — Licensed attorneys who may draft and submit content for review.
  2. Reviewer — Attorneys who may peer-review submissions within their jurisdictional competence.
  3. Jurisdiction Editor — Attorneys responsible for all content within a specific jurisdiction.
  4. Senior Editor — Attorneys who may review and publish content across multiple jurisdictions.
  5. Editorial Director — The final editorial authority as defined in Section 1 of this article.

Article IV — Content Standards

All published content on EchoLegal must satisfy the following requirements:

i.

Factual claims must be traceable to primary legal sources: statutes, regulations, government publications, or reported judicial decisions.

ii.

Content must maintain a neutral, encyclopedic tone. Marketing language, urgency tactics, and speculative claims are prohibited.

iii.

All legal content must be reviewed by a licensed attorney with jurisdiction-appropriate credentials before publication.

iv.

Appropriate disclaimers must accompany all content. No content may be presented in a manner that could reasonably be interpreted as individualized legal advice.

v.

All content must display publication date, last modification date, and jurisdictional scope. Content must be reviewed on a defined schedule and updated when the underlying law changes.

Article V — Normative Hierarchy and Authority Modeling

EchoLegal treats legal authority as a layered system. All primary source analysis and source disclosure across the platform adheres to the following normative ordering:

i.

Constitutional and statutory authority. Enacted law — constitutional provisions and statutes — constitutes the highest tier of binding authority. Primary analysis begins here.

ii.

Implementing regulations. Agency regulations promulgated under statutory delegation carry the force of law within their authorized scope, but may not exceed the statute.

iii.

Administrative instruments. Forms, instructions, and procedural directives operationalize statutory and regulatory requirements. They are interpretive, not independently binding.

iv.

Agency guidance and publications. Rulings, notices, and publications represent an agency's interpretive position. They provide context but lack the binding force of higher-tier authority.

Lower-tier instruments cannot override higher-tier authority. The order in which sources are presented across the platform reflects this normative weight, not editorial discretion. Authority classification and canonical identifiers enforce this hierarchy structurally.

Section V.5 — Structural Authority Enforcement

The following rules are binding and non-discretionary. They apply to every entry that includes a primary source disclosure.

i.

All primary sources must be assigned an AuthorityLevel classification corresponding to their position in the normative hierarchy.

ii.

All primary sources must include a canonical identifier conforming to the Citation Canon specification.

iii.

Disclosure ordering must reflect normative authority weight. Sources are presented in descending order of legal precedence.

iv.

Editorial discretion may not override tier precedence. The ordering of sources by authority weight is structurally enforced and not subject to editorial adjustment.

v.

Entries lacking authority classification are incomplete and non-compliant. An entry may not be published until every primary source carries both an AuthorityLevel and a canonical identifier.

vi.

Lower-tier instruments cannot supersede higher-tier authority. Where a conflict exists between sources at different tiers, the higher-tier source controls.

Article VI — Jurisdictional Expansion

EchoLegal is designed to serve multiple jurisdictions and languages. Expansion to a new jurisdiction requires:

  1. At least one verified contributor admitted to practice in that jurisdiction.
  2. A designated Jurisdiction Editor responsible for accuracy within that jurisdiction.
  3. A minimum body of foundational content — at least five encyclopedia entries and three contract templates — reviewed by a second attorney in that jurisdiction.
  4. Jurisdiction-specific disclaimers and legal notices drafted and approved by the Editorial Director.

No jurisdiction may be represented as active on EchoLegal until these requirements are satisfied.

Article VII — Open Access Commitment

All encyclopedic content on EchoLegal — articles, guides, legal updates, and checklists — is freely accessible without registration, paywall, or usage restriction. This commitment is permanent and may not be revoked under Article IX.

Contract templates and document kits may be offered on a paid or voluntary-payment basis to sustain operations, but informational content is never gated.

Article VIII — Conflict of Interest

Contributors must disclose any financial interest, professional relationship, or other potential conflict that could affect the objectivity of their contributions. The Editorial Director evaluates disclosures and may require recusal or additional review.

EchoLegal does not accept compensation from service providers, law firms, or government agencies in exchange for favorable content treatment.

Article IX — Amendments

This charter may be amended by the Editorial Director with the advisory input of the Editorial Board. All amendments are documented with effective dates and made publicly available. The core mission statement (Article I) and open access commitment (Article VII) may not be revoked.