Innovation Award: Barefoot Law - African Legal Awards 2015
Volunteer-run social enterprise Barefoot Law took this award for its free legal advice programme in East and Central Africa
November 25, 2015 at 05:26 AM
2 minute read
Finalists
Afriwise
Aspen Pharmacare
Barefoot Law
Bowman Gilfillan Africa Group
Hogan Lovells
LIPCO Law for All
Radiant Law
Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie
Winner: Barefoot Law
Barefoot Law is a volunteer-run social enterprise that makes use of technology to improve access to justice and legal services in East Africa and Central Africa. It was founded in August 2012 by Gerald Abila, when he was an undergraduate law student. It now claims to be the most active regional online legal portal with a monthly online reach of over 150,000 individuals and 20,000 active followers.
It is based in Kampala, where it holds walk in clinics. But it reaches far more people through its use of Facebook, Twitter, Skype and WhatsApp to offer free legal advice. Volunteers make themselves available via video conferencing, Skype, email and – in recognition of the availability of mobile phones in remote regions – texts.
Meanwhile, the Barefoot Law app provides fee legal information downloads and the group also partners with traditional media – radio, television and newspapers – in order to raise awareness of its services.
Pictured from left to right: awards judge Professor Vinodh Jaichand, professor and head of the school of law, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and Gerald Abila, founder and managing director, Barefoot Law
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Trump and Latin America: Lawyers Brace for Hard-Line Approach to Region
BCLP Mulls Merger Prospects as Profitability Lags, Partnership Shrinks
Trending Stories
- 1Jones Day Client Seeks Indemnification for $7.2M Privacy Settlement, Plus Defense Costs
- 2Elections Have Consequences: Some Thoughts on Labor and Employment Law Topics in 2025 and Beyond
- 3Law Firm Associates, Staffers Continue to Put a Premium On Workplace Flexibility, Study Finds
- 42 Carter Arnett Litigators to Join Baker & Hostetler in Dallas
- 5People in the News—Nov. 27, 2024—Flaster Greenberg, Tucker Arensberg
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
