The Public Policy Legal Institute (PPLI) is a tax-exempt charitable organization dedicated to the education of the public and government officials on the rights of Americans, individually or in association with others, to advocate for or against governmental public policies. In other words, PPLI monitors, analyzes, educates about, and defends, citizens’ rights to speak, associate and petition the government.

PPLI monitors, analyzes and comments on specific areas of the law that affect how, when and what Americans can advocate. These areas of law include:

• tax-exempt organization law
• campaign finance and election law
• ballot initiative and referenda law
• First Amendment law
• privacy law
• lobbying law
• government ethics law
• initiatives and referenda law
• “pay-to-play” law
• voting rights
• voter fraud
• regulation of communications, broadcasts and Internet
• separation of powers and constitutional structure of government
• access to justice
• and many other related areas of law.

PPLI offers a blog, called Vox PPLI (the voice of the people), where staff and others can present information and opinion on important issues. PPLI also provides longer analyses of particular questions, and may file briefs in important legal cases.

PPLI was founded by Barnaby Zall, a public policy lawyer with decades of experience in advocacy law. Zall has been involved in more than 300 ballot initiatives across the country, was a registered lobbyist for more than 25 years, and has represented and assisted hundreds of nonprofit organizations, large and small. Zall has participated in dozens of cases at the Supreme Court of the United States; the photo above shows a few of the briefs he has filed there (Note: goose quill pens are given for oral arguments at the Supreme Court). Zall was a co-founder of the First Tuesday Lunch Group, a bipartisan monthly luncheon meeting of some of the top tax-exempt organization and campaign finance/election lawyers.