Kenya Law is a member of the Free Access to Law Movement (FALM)- an association of legal information institutes from across the globe that believes that public legal information is part of the common heritage of humanity and as such should be made accessible to all on a non-profit basis and free of charge.
Every year members of the free access to law movement congregate at one of the member countries to conference on various aspects of provision of free access to legal information and generally, to fellowship and share on the activities that the members are undertaking.
In the year 2014 the Law via the Internet (LVI) was slated to be held in Nairobi, Kenya but due to unforeseen circumstances, the conference venue was moved to Cape Town, South Africa. The 2014 LVI conference was therefore co-hosted by three institutions: Kenya Law; South African Legal Information Institute (SafLii) and African Legal Information Institute (AfricanLii). The conference was held from 30th September to 1st October 2014 and its theme was “The Impact of Open Access to Legal Information: Bridging the Gap between Accessibility and Usefulness.”
This conference, which by virtue of it being organized by two countries (Kenya and South Africa) and three institutions was dubbed “ the LVI Africa Conference”, was well attended and members of FALM were able to discuss and share on various wide ranging and topical issues including:
How to develop an e-books based on the legal information;
How the internet and social media can be used to deliver free legal education;
The impact of mobile communication on internet connectivity within the African region;
How collaborative efforts can be harnessed through blogs to further enhance dissemination of legal information.
Long’et Terer (Ag Editor/CEO) led the team from Kenya Law which included Martin Andago (I.C.T Team Leader), Njeri Githanga (Snr. Law Reporter), Martin Mbui (Systems Administrator) and Emma Kinya (Assistant Law Reporter). This team made the following presentations at the conference;
Accessibility of Legal Information- Could Mobile Devices be the Solution for Africa- Long’et Terer
The Technological Face of Kenyan Elections: A critical analysis of the 2013 Polls – Martin Andago
Transforming the Legal Process through Technology- Kenyan Case- Martin Mbui
Mobile Legal Information- Kenya Law– Martin Mbui
Making Legal Information Accessible and Useful- Njeri Githang’a
The Keynote speakers at the conference were, Kate O’Regan, a former Judge of the Constitutional Court in South Africa, who currently serves in different capacities on the boards of several non-governmental organizations in the field of human rights, constitutionalism and the rule of law; and Richard Calland, an Associate professor in Public Law and Director of the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit at the University of Cape Town.
In addition to this the FALM Secretariat was also able to meet on the sidelines of the conference and, amongst other things, to agree to the inclusion of Long’et Terer (Kenya Law) to the Secretariat as the Secretary for the next one year.
In summary, in the words of Graham Greenleaf from the Australian LII, “The academic programme was first class, highlit by two inspiring keynote speeches from former Justice Kate O'Regan and UCT's Richard Calland, and three streams of high quality papers…..The hospitality was just as good, in a series of beautiful venues, ranging from an ecological vineyard, a restored historical prison, an aquarium, and a ballroom ……..What more could one want from a conference?”
Above all it provided the African LIIs with the opportunity to reconnect and to start thinking about how to further enhance regional meetings to discuss issues that are pertinent to Africa.
More pictures from the conference will be uploaded soon!