Consumer Law

Public Interest Freedom of Information Clinic Launched

By Brian Wolfman

Public Citizen's Litigation Group has recently launched a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Clinic that will provide expanded assistance to public interest organizations seeking government-held information. Non-profit organizations need statistics, reports, and other information collected or created by government agencies to advocate for under-served communities, and they rely on FOIA as a method of obtaining those crucial documents. The Clinic is designed to provide FOIA assistance to organizations without the resources or experience to litigate FOIA request denials. By providing litigation assistance, the Clinic will support the work of organizations fighting for a wide variety of causes, and leverage Public Citizen's FOIA expertise to aid the broader public interest community. The Clinic also hosts a database, which will help Public Citizen recognize and address the barriers public interest advocates encounter when making FOIA requests by inviting groups who have filed FOIA requests to share problems.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on December 16, 2008 (boomark / email).