LAWS OF THE GAMBIA; REVISED EDITION 2009

KAYJATTA

http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/rule-of-law-cannot-exist-without-transparent-legal-system

The Point newspaper has reported Lexis Nexis as the publisher of the Revised Edition of the Laws of the Gambia, 2009. According to Lexis Nexis’ David Desborough, the company has signed a six-year contract with the Gambia government. That is excellent news!

It is barely a year and a half ago that I was consulting with a good friend of mine about my interest in collecting, formatting and recording the laws of the Gambia in a digital format so as to help simplify legal research and make it more efficient. I had just started to sketch the outline of the business plan. I guess I better shelf that idea…

I am a great admirer of the services of Lexis Nexis, having enjoyed free access to it through my school; and I share David’s position that “the rule of law cannot exist without a transparent legal system…, a clear set of laws that are freely and easily accessible, strong enforcement structures and an independent judiciary”.

Computer Assisted Legal Research (CALR) particularly is a quicker and more efficient way of finding applicable legal opinions and thus good law as compared to the traditional legal research in the law library.

However, CALR could be expensive as it requires subscription and many law firms; especially the smaller ones try to limit its use. They try to balance CALR and traditional legal research to keep costs down. Furthermore, CALR technology does not necessarily bring legal knowledge to the doorstep of everyone. It is useful only to those with the specialized knowledge of the law and are skilled in the traditional legal research. CALR is not a substitute for traditional legal research in the law library. The American Bar Association (ABA) still insists on access to the law library (traditional legal research) for all law schools.

Therefore, unless Gambian law firms wisely utilize CALR that may be provided by Lexis ( Nexis) as part of this project, the result could be an escalation of legal costs and thus stifle access to legal counsel. David Desborough’s claim that the implementation of Lexis Nexis’ CALR technology could “alleviate poverty” in the Gambia may be a little more than what they call in sales “puffing”.

Overall, the initiative to compile and update laws of the Gambia in an orderly researchable way is a good venture and I applaud the Gambia government and all those involved in making it a reality.