Free access to SA legislation for small law firms.
CENTURION Pretoria, South Africa, 21 November 2016 - Via their South African National Legislation service
(NetLaw), Sabinet provides users with instant online access to SA Legislation. This service is free to small law firms
with three or less practising attorneys, enabling them to stay up-to-date with the national legislation currently in force.
“For smaller firms with limited resources, one of the biggest financial commitments they face is for information,
moreover keeping up to date with frequent changes to legislation” , says Rosalind Hattingh, managing director at
Sabinet.
These small law firms face the challenges of managing cash flow, retaining and growing a client base, navigating the
economic climate and staying up to date with their profession. In addition, they have to spend more on technology and
access to information to enable them to stay abreast of ever-changing legislation in order to continue being able to
competently represent their clients.
Challenges felt particularly by small law firms include being under increasing pressure to do more for less and facing
greater fee negotiation from clients than ever before. Furthermore, their service offering is being eroded as non-legal
practitioners are able to provide certain legal services, such as drafting wills.
While staying on top of technology, two-thirds of small law firms already carry out their legal research online. Free and
easy access to all the information they need is a piece of good fortune in the current economic situation.
Sabinet provides free access to over 300 small law firms nationally, via their Free NetLaw offering - an online system
that covers updated and consolidated South African principal Acts from 1910 to date and delivers timely and accurate
updates on new legislation or amendments to existing Acts.
Easy to navigate, quick to access and containing all the legal information any lawyer could need, NetLaw levels the
playing field for many legal practitioners.
“We believe that we can make a difference with this free offering to the legal profession and assist small law firms to
meet the demands of the legal landscape – allowing them to spend less time collecting information and more time
providing insight and analysis,” concludes Sanet Vos, manager, Information Services.
About Sabinet
With a sound performance history of over 30 years, Sabinet has firmly established itself as a leader in facilitating
access to a wide spectrum of high-quality and credible information sources. Over the course of the last three decades,
Sabinet has built a strong local and international reputation for providing Africa's information to the world and the
world's information to Africa.
Sabinet's mission to support libraries' technical processes, promote resource sharing and enable access to information
sources is underpinned by its commitment, partnerships, understanding and support.
Sabinet's roots are in library support services, where it is recognised for providing central platforms for collaboration
and resource sharing among libraries.
For more information contact:
Jeanine Liebenberg
Communications Officer
[email protected]
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