Impact of open access to law in Africa

A study on the state of African Legal Information Institutes was carried out by MySociety in 2019, on the invitation of project funder Indigo Trust. The study asked ‘how free access to law online is shaping justice in sub-Saharan Africa’.

”The research identified clear, positive impacts resulting from the existence and use of the LIIs, most notably in South Africa, where the LII proved to be a key tool in increasing access to the legal profession for economically disadvantaged groups. Across the countries studied, the LIIs were also benefiting the development of high quality domestic case law, which had been underdeveloped prior to digitisation; and were considered to be useful tools for citizens in developing a more meaningful understanding of the law.”

In 2018 the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research (SAIPAR) published report titled: Ethnographic Research on the Impact of Legal Information Institutes in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The report was commissioned by the Open Society Foundations, following an evaluation that advised AfricanLII to provide more evidence of the impact of the LIIs on society, and thus to improve its fundraising capabilities.

This report provides clear evidence of the positive impact of the LIIs on the judiciary, lawyers, students and communities in South Africa and Zimbabwe, in urban as well as rural areas.