Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative

In Africa, law schools and bar associations often have only a few old, tattered law books. A few have no books at all. Imagine the challenge of creating a civil society when students and lawyers have no access to the fundamental texts on which the rule of law is based.

Books For Africa launched the Law & Democracy Initiative to address this emerging continent’s appalling scarcity of law and human rights books, and by doing so to further the rule of law in Africa. This effort builds on our success as the world’s largest shipper of donated text and library books to Africa.

Thomson Reuters and numerous law firms and law schools have generously agreed to donate the needed texts. The Advocates for Human Rights provides key human rights material.

Since 2008, the Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative of Books For Africa has shipped 27 law and human rights libraries to 12 African countries. See where the books have been sent.

The Law & Democracy Initiative is named to honor the late Jack Mason, a federal magistrate judge and Books For Africa board member.

Your financial support will allow the Law & Democracy Initiative to send these books to African law schools, bar associations, and other legal entities. Please help us end the law book shortage in Africa!

Please type "Law & Democracy" in the Comments field of the donation form.

 What kinds of law books are we looking for? View our Law Book Donation Requirements.

For more information on how you can help end the law book shortage in Africa, please contact director Lane Ayres at (612) 616-5661 or lanebfa@gmail.com. 

Special thanks to Thomson Reuters, and to Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP, major sponsors of the Law & Democracy Initiative. Thanks also to the Manhattan firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, which provides periodic pro bono legal assistance to the Law & Democracy Initiative.

Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative Advisory Board

Co-Chairs:

Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary-General
Walter Mondale, former U.S. Vice President

Akin Akinbote, Secretary General, Pan African Lawyers Union
John Bessler, Professor, Georgetown University Law Center, D.C.
Michael Ciresi, Partner at Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi
Eric Cooperstein, Officer, Hennepin County Bar Association
Judge Michael Davis, Chief Judge, Federal District of Minnesota
James E. Dorsey, Co-founder of Advocates for Human Rights, Fredrikson firm
Chris Fomunyoh, Africa Director, National Democratic Institute DC
Barbara Frey, Director, University of Minnesota Human Rights Program
Sam Hanson, Briggs & Morgan, former Justice, MN Supreme Court
Stephen Hayes, CEO, Corporate Council on Africa, D.C.
Christof Heyns, Dean of Law School, U of Pretoria; Human Rights author
Michael Holden, Partner, Faegre & Benson
Christina Holder, Attorney, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, NYC
Herbert Igbanugo, Founding Partner, Igbanugo Partners International Law Firm
Mark Kalla, Advocates for Human Rights Liberia Project; partner at Dorsey firm
Amy Madigan, Attorney, King & Spalding, Atlanta
Vivian Mason, Member, Minnesota Board of Law Examiners
Tom Pfeifer, SVP, Corporate and Government, West-Thomson Reuters
Lauren Robel, Dean of Indiana University School of Law, Liberia Law School partner
Warren Spannaus, Former Minnesota Attorney General
Sylvia Tamale, Former Dean of Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Uganda
Arnold Tsunga, Africa Director, International Commission of Jurists, Geneva
Edna Udobong, Member, ABA Rule of Law Initiative Africa Board

Contact:

Jack Mason Law & Democracy Initiative
Lane Ayres, JD, Director
(612) 616-5661 • lanebfa@gmail.com
c/o Books For Africa
253 East 4th Street, Suite 200, St. Paul, MN 55101 USA