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AfricanLII

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uuid002dgyw

Namestring
AfricanLII
Legal namestring
AfricanLII
Websiteurl
africanlii.org
Company typeenum
Private
Founded yearint
2010
Descriptiontext

AfricanLII is a non-profit, open-access legal research platform that digitises and publishes the law and policy of the African Union, regional economic communities (EAC, ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA), and African regional courts (AfCHPR, ECOWAS Court, EACJ, COMESA Court). The platform is a programme of the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit at the University of Cape Town's Department of Public Law and is jointly operated with Laws.Africa, which provides the underlying Open Law Technology stack for digitisation, archival, and publication. AfricanLII federates search across 16 national African Legal Information Institutes coordinated through the Open Law Africa community, and its corpus includes 16,314+ AU documents, 6,012 judgments, 4,077 soft law documents, 2,221 reports and guides, and 142 legal instruments, accessible via web in English, French, Portuguese, and Kiswahili, and via native iOS and Android apps.

The platform serves five user segments — civil society organisations working on democracy, governance, and human rights; judges, lawyers, and legal professionals; academia; diplomats and government officials; and journalists. There is no commercial pricing model: AfricanLII is free to use and is funded entirely by institutional grants from the European Union (co-sponsor of AU material publication via the Data for Governance Alliance project), Indigo Trust, and Sigrid Rausing Trust, with initial phase funding covering 2021 to 2024. Additional offerings include the UCT-certified 'Policy-Making in the African Union' MOOC, curated African Law Compendiums, a 'My AfricanLII' account feature, and case indexes across administrative, commercial, environmental, human rights, and refugee law.

Short descriptiontext

AfricanLII is a non-profit, open-access legal research platform that digitises African Union law and federates search across 16 national African Legal Information Institutes, serving lawyers, judges, academics, civil society, and government officials across Africa.

Operating statusenum
Operating
Ownership categoryenum
Headcount rangeband
1–10
akta.pro rankint
HeadquartersCape Town, South Africa
HQ citystring
Cape Town
HQ countrystring
South Africa
HQ regionstring
Africa
Markets served

Serves global market

Keyword5 values
legal information platform, open access law, legal research database, African Union law, case law digitization
Industry2 codes
1Government, Public Policy & Regulatory Reference (Public Administration, Regulatory Guidance)
CodeEDAGAGAKPrimaryYes
2Human Rights, Democracy & Rule of Law IGOs
CodeBPADAAAGPrimaryNo
NAICS code3 codes
  • Libraries and Archives519210
  • Educational Support Services611710
  • International Affairs92812
SIC code2 codes
  • Services-Educational Services8200
  • Services-Legal Services8111
Product category
Legal Information Services
Marketing channels4 records

Each record includes

Title, Type, Stage, Description, Source

Distribution channels1 record

Each record includes

Title, Type, Scope, Target buyer, Description, Source

Cost components5 values
Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others
GTM typeB2B
B2B
Offering typeDigital Commerce or Conte…
Digital Commerce or Content
Core offering1 text field

AfricanLII is an open-access research platform that digitises and publishes African regional and national law, including the law and policy of the African Union, regional court judgments, soft law, gazettes, and curated legal compendiums. It federates search across 16 African national Legal Information Institutes (LIIs) and supports multi-language access in English, French, Portuguese, and Kiswahili. The platform is jointly operated by the University of Cape Town's Democratic Governance and Rights Unit and Laws.Africa.

Differentiator
Functional benefit
Problem solved
Product overview1 text field

AfricanLII is a single unified open-access legal research platform for African law, jointly operated by the AfricanLII programme of the University of Cape Town and Laws.Africa. The platform federates search across African legal information, providing access to Legal Instruments (142 documents), Judgments (6,012 judgments), Soft Law (4,077 documents), Gazettes, Reports & Guides (2,221 documents), and curated African Law Compendiums. Additional offerings include a subscription feature (My AfricanLII) for saving documents and accessing summaries, and a free MOOC course on 'Policy-Making in the African Union' with University of Cape Town certification.

Product and service2 records
1AfricanLII Platform
CategoryCore Platform
Description

Open-access legal research platform providing digitised African regional and national law, including the law and policy of the African Union, searchable across 16,314 AU documents and legal information from 16 African countries.

2Legal Instruments Database
Scale indicator6 records

Each record includes

Type, Value, Description, Source

Partnership5 partners
1University of Cape Town (Democratic Governance and Rights Unit)
Strategic tierCoreTypeStrategic or Co-development Partner
Description

AfricanLII is a programme of the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit at the Department of Public Law, University of Cape Town. UCT provides institutional hosting and academic oversight for the AfricanLII platform.

2Laws.Africa
Strategic tierCoreTypeStrategic or Co-development Partner
Description

AfricanLII is jointly operated by the AfricanLII programme of UCT and Laws.Africa. Laws.Africa provides Open Law Technology solutions for digitisation, archival, and publication of legal information. They collaborate in unlocking the value of African digital legal information.

3Open Law Africa
Strategic tierCoreTypeTechnology or Integration
Description

AfricanLII federates search across all open access African national law available through the Open Law Africa community. This is a collaborative group of governments, organizations, and individuals in Africa dedicated to free access to law on the continent. AfricanLII convenes this network of 16 African LIIs.

4Data for Governance Alliance
Strategic tierMajorTypeStrategic or Co-development Partner
Description

AfricanLII publication of AU material is part of the Data for Governance Alliance project, co-sponsored by the European Union. The project aims to build effective collaboration between African citizens and civil society on the AGA agenda for democracy, governance, and human rights.

africanlii.org
516 African National LIIs
Strategic tierCoreTypeTechnology or Integration
Description

AfricanLII maintains partnerships with 16 national African Legal Information Institutions including GhaLII, Kenya Law, LesothoLII, MalawiLII, MauritiusLII, NamibLII, RwandaLII, SierraLII, SeyLII, LawLibrary (South Africa), TanzLII, ULII (Uganda), ZambiaLII, ZanzibarLII, ZimLII, and EswatiniLII for federated search and content sharing.

africanlii.org
Recent move5 records

Each record includes

Date, Type, Title, Description, Source

Expansion highlight5 records

Each record includes

Type, Description

Market position
Competitive moat4 records

Each record includes

Type, Details

Key risks6 records

Each record includes

Headline, Details, Source

Key highlights6 records

Each record includes

Headline, Details, Source

Customer concentration

Classification, Details

Segment5 records

Each record includes

Title, Type, Primary, Description, Pain point addressed, Use case, Source

Ideal customer profile4 records

Each record includes

Profile, Firmographic size, Sales motion, Sales cycle length, Buying structure, Purchase trigger, Buyer persona, Geography, Industry vertical, Primary use case, Description, Pain points, Evidence proof points, Target buyer

Technology focused
Yes
API detail
Has APIbool
No

Docs URL, Description

AI maturity
App detail

Has app

Core technology
Revenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Number of profiles
No data
No data
Funding overview

Funding stage, Last funding date, Total funding USD

Funding rounds

Each record includes

Round, Amount USD, Date, Pre money valuation, Total investors, Investors, News

Investors

Each record includes

Name, Type, Date of entry, Rounds participated, Website

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Each record includes

Name, Acquisition type, Announced date, Completed date, Status, Website, News

Investment

Each record includes

Name, Round, Announced date, Lead investor, Website, News

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

AfricanLII

Legal Information Servicesafricanlii.org

AfricanLII is a non-profit, open-access legal research platform that digitises African Union law and federates search across 16 national African Legal Information Institutes, serving lawyers, judges, academics, civil society, and government officials across Africa.

What AfricanLII does

AfricanLII is a non-profit, open-access legal research platform that digitises and publishes the law and policy of the African Union, regional economic communities (EAC, ECOWAS, SADC, COMESA), and African regional courts (AfCHPR, ECOWAS Court, EACJ, COMESA Court). The platform is a programme of the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit at the University of Cape Town's Department of Public Law and is jointly operated with Laws.Africa, which provides the underlying Open Law Technology stack for digitisation, archival, and publication. AfricanLII federates search across 16 national African Legal Information Institutes coordinated through the Open Law Africa community, and its corpus includes 16,314+ AU documents, 6,012 judgments, 4,077 soft law documents, 2,221 reports and guides, and 142 legal instruments, accessible via web in English, French, Portuguese, and Kiswahili, and via native iOS and Android apps.

The platform serves five user segments — civil society organisations working on democracy, governance, and human rights; judges, lawyers, and legal professionals; academia; diplomats and government officials; and journalists. There is no commercial pricing model: AfricanLII is free to use and is funded entirely by institutional grants from the European Union (co-sponsor of AU material publication via the Data for Governance Alliance project), Indigo Trust, and Sigrid Rausing Trust, with initial phase funding covering 2021 to 2024. Additional offerings include the UCT-certified 'Policy-Making in the African Union' MOOC, curated African Law Compendiums, a 'My AfricanLII' account feature, and case indexes across administrative, commercial, environmental, human rights, and refugee law.

AfricanLII firmographics

Firmographics
Name
AfricanLII
Legal name
AfricanLII
Website
https://africanlii.org
Company type
Private
Founded year
2010
Operating status
Operating
Headcount range
1–10 employees
Short description
AfricanLII is a non-profit, open-access legal research platform that digitises African Union law and federates search across 16 national African Legal Information Institutes, serving lawyers, judges, academics, civil society, and government officials across Africa.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

AfricanLII industry classification

Industry
Product category
Legal Information Services
NAICS
Libraries and Archives (519210), Educational Support Services (611710), International Affairs (92812)
SIC
Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Legal Services (8111)
akta.pro primary industry
Government, Public Policy & Regulatory Reference (Public Administration, Regulatory Guidance) (EDAGAGAK)
akta.pro secondary industry
Human Rights, Democracy & Rule of Law IGOs (BPADAAAG)

Keywords

  • Legal information platform
  • Open access law
  • Legal research database
  • African Union law
  • Case law digitization

Where AfricanLII is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city
Cape Town
HQ country
South Africa
HQ region
Africa

Markets served

AfricanLII business model

Business model
GTM type
B2B
Offering type
Digital Commerce or Content
Cost components
Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

AfricanLII product offering

Product offering

Core offering

AfricanLII is an open-access research platform that digitises and publishes African regional and national law, including the law and policy of the African Union, regional court judgments, soft law, gazettes, and curated legal compendiums. It federates search across 16 African national Legal Information Institutes (LIIs) and supports multi-language access in English, French, Portuguese, and Kiswahili. The platform is jointly operated by the University of Cape Town's Democratic Governance and Rights Unit and Laws.Africa.

Product overview

AfricanLII is a single unified open-access legal research platform for African law, jointly operated by the AfricanLII programme of the University of Cape Town and Laws.Africa. The platform federates search across African legal information, providing access to Legal Instruments (142 documents), Judgments (6,012 judgments), Soft Law (4,077 documents), Gazettes, Reports & Guides (2,221 documents), and curated African Law Compendiums. Additional offerings include a subscription feature (My AfricanLII) for saving documents and accessing summaries, and a free MOOC course on 'Policy-Making in the African Union' with University of Cape Town certification.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

  • AfricanLII Platform Open-access legal research platform providing digitised African regional and national law, including the law and policy of the African Union, searchable across 16,314 AU documents and legal information from 16 African countries.
  • Legal Instruments Database

Companies that use AfricanLII

Customer profile

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

AfricanLII technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API
No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AfricanLII partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

  • University of Cape Town (Democratic Governance and Rights Unit)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAfricanLII is a programme of the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit at the Department of Public Law, University of Cape Town. UCT provides institutional hosting and academic oversight for the AfricanLII platform.
  • Laws.AfricacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAfricanLII is jointly operated by the AfricanLII programme of UCT and Laws.Africa. Laws.Africa provides Open Law Technology solutions for digitisation, archival, and publication of legal information. They collaborate in unlocking the value of African digital legal information.
  • Open Law AfricacoreTechnology or IntegrationAfricanLII federates search across all open access African national law available through the Open Law Africa community. This is a collaborative group of governments, organizations, and individuals in Africa dedicated to free access to law on the continent. AfricanLII convenes this network of 16 African LIIs.
  • Data for Governance AlliancemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAfricanLII publication of AU material is part of the Data for Governance Alliance project, co-sponsored by the European Union. The project aims to build effective collaboration between African citizens and civil society on the AGA agenda for democracy, governance, and human rights.
  • 16 African National LIIscoreTechnology or IntegrationAfricanLII maintains partnerships with 16 national African Legal Information Institutions including GhaLII, Kenya Law, LesothoLII, MalawiLII, MauritiusLII, NamibLII, RwandaLII, SierraLII, SeyLII, LawLibrary (South Africa), TanzLII, ULII (Uganda), ZambiaLII, ZanzibarLII, ZimLII, and EswatiniLII for federated search and content sharing.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

AfricanLII competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Market position

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

AfricanLII social profiles

Digital presence

AfricanLII financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

AfricanLII leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

AfricanLII funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

AfricanLII M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about AfricanLII

What does AfricanLII do?

AfricanLII is an open-access research platform that digitises and publishes African regional and national law, including the law and policy of the African Union, regional court judgments, soft law, gazettes, and curated legal compendiums. It federates search across 16 African national Legal Information Institutes (LIIs) and supports multi-language access in English, French, Portuguese, and Kiswahili. The platform is jointly operated by the University of Cape Town's Democratic Governance and Rights Unit and Laws.Africa.

Is AfricanLII a public or private company?

AfricanLII is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.

When was AfricanLII founded?

AfricanLII was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.

Where is AfricanLII based?

AfricanLII is headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, in the Africa region.

Does AfricanLII have an API?

No public API is recorded for AfricanLII.

What industry is AfricanLII in?

AfricanLII's product category is Legal Information Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAGAGAK, Government, Public Policy & Regulatory Reference (Public Administration, Regulatory Guidance), with a secondary code of BPADAAAG, Human Rights, Democracy & Rule of Law IGOs. Its NAICS code is 519210 and its SIC code is 8200.

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