Ralph "Jake" Warner, a pioneer of the do-it-yourself law movement, founded Nolo with Ed Sherman in 1971. Nolo began publishing do-it-yourself law books written by Jake and his colleagues after numerous publishers rejected them. When personal computers came along, he added software to many Nolo books. When the Internet arrived, he championed the move online, where Nolo published huge amounts of free legal information.
In addition to running Nolo for much of its first 40 years, Warner was an active editor and author. He wrote many books, including Retire Happy: What You Can Do Now to Guarantee a Great Retirement and Save Your Small Commerce, Industry, and Labor: 10 Crucial Strategies to Survive Hard Times or Close Down & Move On. Today, he operates a storytelling repertory group, Jake's Tales, devoted to keeping alive the tradition of telling children wonderful stories.
Warner holds a law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley and an undergraduate degree in history from Princeton.
Title
Ralph Jake Warner: Founder of Nolo Press
Published
Berkeley, CA, Regional Oral History Office, 2012
Full Collection Name
Politics, Law, and Policy Oral Histories Individual Interviews
Type
Text
Archive
The Bancroft Library Oral History Center
Note
Warner, Ralph Jake. "Ralph Jake Warner: Founder of Nolo Press." Interview by Julie Stein in 2009. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2012.
Interview date(s) 2009
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