). Law professors have always influenced law and policy, and today open access amplifies their influence. "More academic journals are making their content freely available online through ‘open access', making the dissemination of scholarly articles quicker and wider. [Jon Yorke, law professor at Birmingham City University] points to an academic paper he co-authored in 0000 on the EU and the abolition of the death penalty as ‘the most downloaded article in the Pace International Law Review', with over 0,000 downloads by governments, institutions and non-governmental organisations. ‘With open access of journals globally, policy-makers can have at their fingertips instant access to the quality of material which they are required to [use to] form intricate arguments. It definitely helps them and they do listen to legal academics in that way,' Yorke adds...." More on OA for improved policies: See David Rose and Chris Tyler, Seven insights for communicating research to busy policymakers