ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES ACROSS THE AFRICAN

CONTINENT PA R T I

June 2019

INTRODUCTION

“The United Nations has learned that the rule of law is not a

luxury and that justice is not a side issue. We have seen people

lose faith in a peace process when they do not feel safe from

crime” ~ Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations

The access to legal services across African countries is a key

issue GRM Intelligence is exploring. Most research is produced

outside of Africa from a human rights violations point of view.

We decided to research this further and produce an objective

report attempting to include as many countries as possible.

2

ABOUT THE REPORT

When GRM Intelligence first embarked on this project we anticipated that it may be difficult to

access all the data we needed to create a comprehensive and reliable overview of access to legal

services. Consequently, we have decided to publish the report as a working series, continually

building upon our findings and expanding on our findings.

Part I of this working series explores the number of practicing legal practitioners versus population as

well as whether there is a Law Society or Bar Association and how easy it is to contact these

institutions.

Part II of the working series will aim to provide an update on part one as we continue to try and fill

data gaps as well as to explore access to legal services from an affordability perspective seeking to

understand the ability of civil and commercial society to make use of legal services.

Part III of this working series will again provide an update on Part I and II as well as provide an

overview of access to legal services from the perspective of the dispersion of courts and legal

practitioners and the ease of accessing these across each country.

3

ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES

The concept of access to legal services is both a sensitive and complex one. We see countries with

huge advancements being made towards access to justice and legal services however many still have

advancements in the protection of human rights, the advancement of social justice, independent and

legitimate courts and legal frameworks, and the quality of legal education.

The lack of reliable and updated data across Africa is well documented. GRMi has attempted to

gather data on every African country, Including the islands off the coast of Africa. Some of the

countries without a website below do have a Bar Association or Law Society however we cannot find

a webpage. We called numerous Bar Associations during their working hours and very few answered

the phone or returned our emails. Many African countries do not have a Law Society or Bar

Association website with publicly available information of the legal sector.

Many countries do have a website, but these websites are either outdated or do not have all the

information GRMi needed in order to complete this project. GRMi also saw several instances of

websites that were ‘under construction’, ‘coming soon’, or ‘this IP address could not be reached’. One

legal practitioner we spoke to in Equatorial Guinea for instance said that “to find this information

online is impossible”.

4

ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES

Understanding what access to legal services means

is complex, legal service can include legal assistance,

but also legal advice, mediation, and legal

awareness.

Access to paralegals, legal secretaries, non-

practicing legal practitioners, law students, etc. can

also be argued to contribute to the access of legal

services however for the purpose of this report we

have focused on qualified legal practitioners who are

registered with a Bar Association.

5

6

FINDINGS

Country Number of lawyers on practicing

role

Population population per lawyer Websites for the law society/Bar Association

Egypt 165,000 101,084,612.00 612.63 https://www.egylawyers.com/Sections/Home.aspx

Tunisia 8,556 11,777,490.00 1376.52 https://avocat.org.tn/

Seychelles 48 95,685.00 1993.44 https://sites.google.com/site/barassociationsc/

South Africa 27,527 58,033,834.00 2108.25 https://www.lssa.org.za/

Equatorial Guinea 538 1,357,962.00 2524.09 No site

Botswana 800 2,372,732.00 2965.92 https://www.lawsociety.org.bw/

Namibia 863 2,639,463.00 3058.47 http://www.lawsocietynamibia.org/

Kenya 15,000 52,155,954.00 3477.06 http://lsk.or.ke/membership/

Congo, Democratic Republic of the 14,500 86,601,059.00 5972.49 http://onardc.org

Zimbabwe 2,500 17,279,815.00 6911.93 http://lawsociety.org.zw

Tanzania 8,083 60,828,863.00 7525.53 https://tls.or.tz/

Ghana 3,800 30,067,475.00 7912.49 https://ghanabar.org/

Morocco 3,871 36,614,484.00 9458.66http://www.barreaucasa.ma/avocat/index and https://barreaucameroun.org/site/home/

Cameroon 2,538 25,283,430.00 9961.95 https://barreaucameroun.org/site/home/

Gambia 200 2,225,083.00 11125.42 http://gba.gm/

6

7

FINDINGS

Country Number of lawyers on practicing

role

Population population per lawyer Websites for the law society/Bar Association

Burundi 1007 11,559,525.00 11479.17 No site

Rwanda 992 12,780,846.00 12883.92 www.barreaudurwanda.org.rw/

Angola 2,455 31,740,136.00 12928.77 https://www.oaang.org/

Uganda 3,106 45,644,707.00 14695.66 http://www.uls.or.ug/

Mauritania 300 4,655,488.00 15518.29 http://www.justice.gov.mr/spip.php?article8

Zambia 1,080 18,112,736.00 16771.05 http://www.laz.org.zm/

Sierra Leone 399 7,875,541.00 19738.20 http://www.barassociation.sl/

Central African Republic (CAR) 140 4,821,852.00 34441.80 No site

Madagascar 699 26,936,798.00 38536.19http://www.barreau-madagascar.org/page/contacts.html

Liberia 126 4,971,974.00 39460.11 http://lnba.org.lr/

Guinea 300 13,382,353.00 44607.84 http://www.pnglawsociety.org.pg/

Cote d'Ivoire 557 25,501,911.00 45784.40 http://www.ordredesavocats.ci/

Senegal 358 16,722,881.00 46711.96https://ordredesavocats.sn/fonctionnement-lordre-avocats-du-senegal/

Malawi 418 19,692,988.00 47112.41 No site

Togo 160 8,177,255.00 51107.84 http://www.barreaudutogo.org/

7

8

FINDINGS

Country Number of lawyers on practicing

role

Population population per lawyer Websites for the law society/Bar Association

Mali 375 19,662,229.00 52432.61 No site

Benin 206 11,786,924.00 57218.08 http://www.barreaudubenin.fr/

Chad 136 15,792,755.00 116123.20 No site

Somaliland 20 4,000,000.00 200000.00http://www.somalilandlaw.com/somaliland_lawyers_association.html

Mozambique 143 31,367,853.00 219355.62 www.oamoz.org/pt/web/

Algeria ? 42,647,687.00 http://www.barreau-alger.dz/

Burkina Faso ? 20,295,006.00 http://www.barreau-bf.org/

Cape Verde ? 560,026.00 www.oacv.cv

Comoros ? 850,043.00 No site

Congo, Republic of the ? 5,535,618.00 No site

Djibouti ? 985,027.00 No site

Eritrea ? 5,304,151.00 http://erilaw.org/about-us/

Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) ? 1,414,292.00 http://lawsocietyofswaziland.co.sz/

Ethiopia ? 110,014,782.00 http://www.ethiopian-bar.org/index.php/home

Gabon ? 2,107,042.00 No site

8

9

FINDINGS

Country Number of lawyers on practicing

role

Population population per lawyer Websites for the law society/Bar Association

Guinea-Bissau ? 1,951,564.00 No site

Lesotho ? 2,291,305.00 No site

Libya ? 6,565,988.00 No site

Mauritius ? 1,271,232.00 https://www.mauritiusbarassociation.com/

Niger ? 23,136,265.00 www.barreau-niger.com

Nigeria ? 200,725,165.00 https://www.nigerianbar.org.ng/

Sao Tome and Principe ? 213,175.00 http://www.oastp.st/

Somalia ? 14,615,057.00 No site

South Sudan ? 13,247,000.00 http://www.ssbalaw.org/find-a-lawyer/

Sudan ? 42,467,480.00 No site

9

10

FINDINGS

10

Only 49.1% of Bar Associations were

found to have a live website.

With more than half of the Bar

Associations in Africa not having a live

website the ability to contact these

institutions is difficult, sometimes

impossible, without an inside contact.

23.6% have websites under

construction or that are currently down.

27.3% have no website at all nor do

they appear to have ever had a website.

11

FINDINGS

11

To date we have not been able to

gather data for the number of

registered legal practitioners for 38.2%

of the countries in Africa.

18.2% of countries we could only get

an estimate for provided by the Bar

Associations.

36.4% we were able to find the 2019

statistics.

7.3% of countries we were only able to

ascertain out of date numbers of

practicing lawyers.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS REPORT1. Africa has a large population and would ideally require a large legal fraternity to

cater for these people. This however is not always the case. While education and

human legal frameworks are improving there ideally needs to be a greater number

of lawyers who are affordable, trusted and have the structures to enforce a sound

rule of law.

2. Access to legal professionals is impeded by a lack of websites and an inability to

contact Bar Associations.

3. Several African countries restrict the advertising of lawyers. Where these same

countries do not have a Bar Association website it would be difficult to find and

contact legal practitioners.

4. While the access to publicly available data may have been an impediment to the

speedy completion of this report, we find that the legal fraternity within many

African countries are willing to assist in providing insights, contacts and guidance.

This openness and receptiveness to collaborate, share, and work together is

arguably one of GRM Intelligence’s most important and profound findings.

12

13

CONCLUSIONS FROM A CORPORATE PERSPECTIVE

On the one hand, low density of lawyers relative to a country’s population

may present an opportunity to open an office in terms of low competition.

On the other hand there needs to be enough legal spend, sound legal and

justice structures, an ease of doing business, and a quality of life if the

opportunity to outweigh the risk.

Another key consideration in entering a low lawyer density country is a

potential lack of legal personnel to join a new office which may require

relocating talent to the new office.

Looking at the ease of doing business, some countries restrict foreign law

firms from opening offices and/or foreign law firms from practicing. Some

countries also regulate fees, law firm marketing, and the ability to transfer

money out of the country. A comprehensive feasibility study, including an

ease of doing business analysis is highly recommended for both local and

foreign firms before opening new offices.

CONCLUSIONS FROM A CIVIL PERSPECTIVE

The low density of legal practitioners may drive up the cost of legal

services in countries without fee regulation. While some countries

have legal aid provisions for poor and marginalized civilians, most

lawyers tend to be concentrated in urban areas while the bulk of

populations in African countries reside in rural or semi-urban areas.

The difficulty a research team with high powered internet and the

ability to make countless national and international calls faced in

contacting Law Societies and Bar Associations highlights the

difficulty that many people across Africa face in identifying and

contacting legal professionals. This difficulty is compounded in

instances of low literacy.

14

15

CONCLUSIONS FROM A LEGAL PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Legal professionals must often relocate to urban areas or travel

extensively in order to find work, have access to courts, and secure

matters.

The difficulty in contacting the Bar Associations and Law Societies and

accessing their resources may necessitate having an inside contact.

The low density of legal professionals can lead to large deals within a

particular country being handled outside of that country. In order to

secure large deals lawyers and law firms need to be identifiable,

market themselves domestically and internationally, work within a

legal framework that meets international standards, and attract top

talent with business development skills and the ability to handle

complex and multijurisdictional matters.

In-house opportunities tend to be scarce in many African countries

but remain an attractive career path for many legal professionals due

to stability and not having to attract deal flow.

NOTESPopulation statistics were accessed through http://worldpopulationreview.com

In Equatorial Guinea, the government dissolved the association by decree in

May 2002 the government dissolved the association by decree. The Minister of

Justice and Worship created a High Council of Lawyers, chaired by himself, and

declared that all lawyers must apply to his ministry for recognition.

DRC has 11 Bar Associations, one by regions and two Bar Associations in

Kinshasa. The DRC now has 26 regions or provinces and DRC arguably need an

assessment to have 26 Bar Associations. These Bar Associations are governed by

the Ordre National des Avocats de la RD Congo. There is no computerized

database or website containing the information requested.

Somaliland despite declaring its independence in 1991 is mostly lumped with

Somalia. Consequently, a population estimate of 4 million was used and

subtracted this from Somalia. Though Somaliland is not internationally

recognized, Somaliland has a working political system, government institutions,

a police force, own currency and a separate legal framework.

16

CONTACT US

17

I f a n y o f o u r r e a d e r s w o u l d l i k e t o r e q u e s t o r s u g g e s t a n a d d i t i o n a l r e s e a r c h t o p i c o r a s s i s t

i n s o u r c i n g d a t a o r p r o v i d i n g t h e i r i n s i g h t , p l e a s e g e t i n t o u c h .

R a y n e H a n d l e y, H e a d o f R e s e a r c h & A n a l y t i c s r. h a n d l e y @ g r m s e a r c h . c o m

CONTACT US