Janelle Orsi is a cartoonist, lawyer, and advocate focused on cooperatives, land trusts, housing justice, community-owned energy, and democratizing finance. She is Co-Founder of the cooperatively-structured nonprofit Sustainable Economies Law Center, which facilitates the growth of more sustainable and localized economies through education, research, and advocacy. Most of her time is spent learning and creating with inspiring groups who are advancing permanent community stewardship of land (check out the Radical Real Estate Law School) and channeling investments (especially retirement savings) away from Wall Street and into our local communities (check out The Next Egg). She likes to have fun conversations and make cartoons about abolishing private property, abolishing the legal profession, and abolishing private wealth accumulation.

Books: Janelle is the author of Practicing Law in the Sharing Economy: Helping People Build Cooperatives, Social Enterprise, and Local Sustainable Economies (ABA Books 2012), and co-author of The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simplify Your Life & Build Community (Nolo Press 2009), a practical and legal guide to cooperating and sharing resources of all kinds.

Cartoons: Janelle's cartoons include: A Scary Carrot Story, Awkward Conversations with Babies, The Next Sharing Economy, Economy Sandwich, Share Spray, The Beatles Economy, The Legal Roots of Resilience, Housing for an Economically Sustainable Future, Transactional Law Practice for a Sharing Economy, Governance is Life, and Citylicious.

Fun Fact and Blog: Janelle is an advocate for a more open, inclusive, and accessible legal profession, and you can see her 10-minute presentation on transforming the legal profession here. Janelle supervises two legal apprentices -- co-workers who are becoming lawyers without going to law school. 

Fellowship and Recognition: In 2014, Janelle was selected to be an Ashoka Fellow, joining a robust cohort of social entrepreneurs who are recognized to have innovative solutions to social problems and the potential to change patterns across society.  In 2010, Janelle was profiled by the American Bar Association as a Legal Rebel, an attorney who is “remaking the legal profession through the power of innovation.” In 2012, Janelle was one of 100 people listed on The (En)Rich List, which names individuals "whose contributions enrich paths to sustainable futures."