We’ve started with a look at legal tech, sales and marketing, guides or hubs, web seminars/e-learning and, most important, wellness and mental health.
This list will be constantly updated. Please send additional free resources you would like to see listed to Africa Legal here
To keep up to date with Africa Legal’s own (totally free) news and content sign up to our mailing list here.
Legal Tech
Free collaboration tools (basic products and trials)
1. The fantastic team at UK-based Legal IT Insider has created a great list of free collaboration tools which can be found here.
Online collaboration tools are designed to take all the usual activity we would do in face-to-face (meetings, workshops, brainstorms, negotiation, document creation etc.) and take it online. Through a number of visual, audio and interactive methods they ensure that you can work alongside your colleagues without having to be in the same room, city or even country.
2. Juro (free basic plan) - Juro allows users to create, close and manage contracts with ease. Used to help you digitally create, negotiate and close contracts wherever you are working.
3. Transperfect - Free video on preventing transmission with the option to include your company logo - available in 10 languages.
This is great for rolling out a simple but effective, and customised, health and safety video to educate all employees without in-person contact and in a more engaging format than text.
4. Sixfifty rapidly develop thoughtful policies and gather information on your workforce.
Allows you to design and share considered employee and business policies as well as gather important information of your workforce, totally online. This is particularly useful as law firms shift their working from home (WFH) policies from, in some cases, tick box exercises to workable policies that provide genuine guidance and support.
5. Cloudflare - Cybersecurity and VPN support for small businesses until September 1.
Allows your employees to securely access internal applications without the need for a VPN (Virtual Private Network). As law firms and in-house teams review their security policies as teams access case management systems and CRMs (Customer Relationship Management) from home this could provide a valuable interim offering.
6. Pandadoc - Free e-sign document solution. Ditch the ink and pen and move contract and document signing entirely online. A solution we would recommend adopting for the long term!
Sales/Procurement/Marketing
1. Flume Training - Selling in a Crisis. The approach we take to continuing to buy and sell services during this period will resonate with our customers and suppliers for many years to come. Ensure that you are acting in the best way possible with this thoughtful training that will help you set your business up for success once we have all pulled together to ride out this pandemic. You can find out more on their Youtube channel here
2. HootSuite - Social Media free access to a professional plan through to July 1. Allows businesses to streamline and consolidate all their social media activity and monitor engagement.
3. Moz - Free online SEO courses and training.
SEO has always been important. Search engine use is on the rise given the current requirements for information and lack of in-person resources. Ensure that your businesses services are most easily discoverable through this helpful training.
4. Box Business - Store and share documents - You can access a free 90 Day trial here. With most of us unable to access physical storage of documents there has never been a better time to move this online. Move, store, access and collaborate on documents remotely with this tool.
Guides and Hubs
1. Hogan Lovells - Covid-19 Hub includes a response team and supply chain contracting/disruption tools.
2. Webber Wentzel - Covid-19: Practical guidance on significant commercial and legal issues.
The resource centres and hubs below aggregate all firm content in relation to coronavirus. Expect to find news, guides, web seminars, tools and information on specialist lawyers.
3. Baker Mckenzie - Coronavirus Resource Centre. See also: The Impact of Covid-19 on key African sectors.
4. DLA Piper - Coronavirus Resource Centre
5. Eversheds Sutherland - Global Covid-19 Hub
6. Dentons - Global Covid-19 Hub
7. Barbri - QLTS update page providing up-to-date information on developments affecting the QLTS (Qualified Lawyer Transfer Scheme) for lawyers becoming dual-qualified in the UK.
Web Seminars/E-Learning
1. Hogan Lovells - Covid-19 and the supply chain – contracts and force majeure took place at the end of March 2020. You can access the slides here
2. Africa Legal - Free e-learning:
3. DLA Piper - Coronavirus Webinar: managing and implementing global cost-saving measures across the workforce. You can access the webinar and slides here
4. Zoom - Best Practice for Hosting Online Events
Wellness and Mental Health
1. HeadSpace - free guided meditations and exercises. Mindfulness can help us deal with stressful situations and prevent ‘spiralling’ into a panic which doesn’t help us at all! Be sure to take some time each day for a mental rest.
2. DoYogaWithMe - free 2 months of premium yoga content. Yoga can improve your physical and mental fortitude. Put some time aside and try incorporating this free resource into your daily exercise regime.
3. Calm - the award-winning app aims to provide more sleep, less stress and better quality lives. With both free trials for individuals and business sign up options Calm provides an effective way in which HR teams can remotely support their employees during this unusual time. This app is already used by international law firms and recommended by John Hopkins University.
To join Africa Legal's mailing list please click here