Frequently Asked Questions
What is Orient?
Orient is Zambia's legal research and information platform. It provides access to Zambian legislation, case law, statutory instruments and gazette notices, and offers a suite of practical tools to support legal research, document preparation, and compliance.
Is Orient a lawyer? Does it provide legal advice?
No. Orient is a legal information service, not a law firm. It provides information sourced from Zambian law with full citations for independent verification. It does not provide legal advice. For advice on a specific matter, you should consult a qualified legal practitioner in Zambia.
Do I need an account to use Orient?
You can browse and make enquiries without an account. Creating an account unlocks your private, secure workspace, document storage, and higher daily usage limits.
How does Orient handle documents I upload?
All documents uploaded to your private workspace remain private to you. Text is extracted on the platform and personal identifiers such as contact details and ID numbers are redacted automatically; the original file is never stored. You can manage and delete your files at any time from your workspace.
What areas of law are covered?
Orient covers Zambian law including commercial, criminal, employment, family, constitutional and administrative law, among others. Answers cite Acts of Parliament, decided cases, Statutory Instruments and Gazette Notices.
What tools are available on Orient?
Orient provides three categories of tools:
a) Template-based Tools — Guided documents from Zambian templates:
- Will Creation: A step-by-step guide to create a Will using a compliant Zambian template, saved directly to your Files.
- Legal Letter Templates: Professionally drafted templates including Demand Letters, Notice to Pay Rent, and Notice of Breach.
- Employment Contracts: A basic employment contract template aligned with the Employment Code Act.
- Lease Agreements: A basic lease and rental agreement for Zambian property.
b) Research-based Tools — Turn a question into a structured, cited result:
- Case Brief Generator: Structures a judgment into Parties, Facts, Issues, Holding, Ratio Decidendi and subsequent standing — from a cited judgment, pasted text, or an uploaded file.
- Legal Research Memo: Generates a structured memo in IRAC format — Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion — with full citations.
- Law Summary by Topic: Provides a concise overview of an area of law, including key Acts, leading cases, and principles.
- Study Plan Builder: Builds a week-by-week study plan around your courses.
c) GRC / Corporate Tools — Stay on top of obligations and change:
- GRC Desk: Compliance checklists, risk registers, compliance calendars and board packs for your organisation's profile.
- Regulatory Change Alerts: Monitoring of new Statutory Instruments and amendments relevant to your interests.
- Moot Court Simulation: Argue a curated appellate problem against opposing counsel before a three-judge bench.
What plans are available and what do they cost?
Orient offers monthly plans and one-off packs; current plans and prices are always on the pricing page.
Every plan carries a daily answer allowance and a monthly word allowance for generated answers. You can see your remaining allowance beside the question box at any time.
What is the occasional-user Research Pack?
The Research Pack is a one-off pack of research answers for users who do not need a subscription. When your plan's daily answers run out, an active Research Pack answers from its own units — no subscription required. Packs never expire while units remain.
Why do answers take a little time?
Orient is built for accuracy, not for speed. Before it answers, it reads the actual Acts, cases and statutory instruments that apply to your question — not general knowledge generated from memory. That reading step is why an answer takes a moment longer than the general chat tools: what you receive is sourced law you can verify, not fluent text you must trust.