Sabinet sponsors 40 Attorneys Development Fund beneficiaries

Issued by Sabinet
Centurion, Pretoria, 13 Feb 2019

As part of its ongoing commitment to developing the knowledge economy within South Africa, Sabinet, a local leader in facilitating access to credible information sources, has sponsored 40 of the Attorney Development Fund's beneficiaries.

The Attorneys Development Fund (ADF) was established in 2011 as an independent, non-profit organisation that focuses on the development of attorneys. The main focus of the ADF is to provide selected office resources to law firms (mainly sole practitioners) by purchasing these resources on their behalf. The selected firms then repay the ADF for these resources over a prescribed period, on an interest free basis. The monies repaid will be used for future beneficiaries.

The ADF will soon be launching Law Hubs that will enable attorneys to have access to full office space and functionality which will enable them to start and grow new practices without the burden of overhead costs. A key element of this service is also to provide strategic mentorship and business guidance.

Through Sabinet's contribution of over R1 million, beneficiaries in the form of sole practitioners, specialised law practices and rural law firms will receive relevant, accurate and up-to-date online legal resources anywhere, any time. These include Sabinet National Legislation, Sabinet South African Gazettes and Sabinet Labour. Sabinet's National Legislation Mobile App will also be available to these beneficiaries which will allow them access to legislation on the move, offline and outside the office.

In this digital age, it is imperative that attorneys have access to legislation on the move, when attending court, visiting clients or working from home. It is equally important to have access to these valuable pieces of legislation where there is little or no Internet connectivity. With Sabinet's online legal resources and mobile app, ADF beneficiaries can now also access the required documentation wherever they are without having to carry around files of printed documentation.

Sabinet will provide continuous product support to assist ADF beneficiaries in growing their firms into a sustainable practice. Training programmes will assist them in understanding the Sabinet products and offerings, as well as key fundamentals of legislative research for the purposes of their law practices.

Sabinet is passionate about the legal sector and about ensuring that legal professionals have access to the information required to build a sustainable practice. The company recognises that to ensure the continued development of the sector, particularly in those communities with a shortage of attorneys, it is necessary to provide strategic and business mentorship, as well as technical support and access to free legal information.

For this reason, Sabinet is a firm supporter of the Attorney Development Fund, its mandate, and its beneficiaries.

Sabinet has a longstanding history of providing services to the legal community, including an intuitive online search functionality of local legal resources comprising:

* South African Government and Provincial Gazettes.
* All South African Principal Acts, Rules and Regulations since 1910.
* All Bills tabled before parliament, draft Bills, and policy documents and submissions.
* Retrospective gazettes archive, dating back to 1910.
* Provincial legislation with regulations in terms of Acts of Ordinance applicable today, and as they have appeared since 1910.
* Complete full text access to all municipal by-laws in force and applicable to municipalities in all provinces, from 1995 to date.
* Reliable reports on government policies and legislative developments for various industries.
* Up to date reported and unreported labour law judgements in full text, as they become available.

Sabinet

With a sound performance history of over 35 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.

ADF

The Attorneys Development Fund (ADF) was established in 2011 as an independent, non-profit organisation that focuses on the development of attorneys. It is governed by a board of directors who are senior attorneys from various provinces.

The main focus of the ADF is to provide selected office resources to law firms (mainly sole practitioners) by purchasing these resources on behalf of the law firms. The selected firms then repay the ADF for these resources over a prescribed period on an interest free basis and the moneys repaid will be used for future beneficiaries.

A key element in the ADF programme is that any attorney who receives support also receives strategic support, including social media and Web set up, business mentorship and technical support to ensure their firm will grow into a sustainable practice.

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