As one of Africa’s leading law firms, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) is committed to understanding our clients’ business needs and delivering exceptional value in an efficient and competitive manner. To achieve this, we combine the expertise of our legal practitioners with technological advancements in Generative Artificial Intelligence (“GenAI”) in order to achieve time and cost efficiencies for the benefit of our clients, whilst maintaining the quality of service and precision that our clients have become accustomed to.
Retha Beerman, Director and Head of our Knowledge Management practice, says, “After extensive pilot tests, CDH has deployed the two industry-leading GenAI legal platforms: Harvey and Legora.”
CDH’s approach to testing Harvey and Legora
More than 186 CDHers from legal and operational teams participated in the firm’s Harvey and Legora pilots, which spanned several months and included workshops, hands-on training, and real-world testing. Feedback was gathered through structured surveys, informal input, and targeted outreach to frequent users. “The goal of the pilots,” says CEO Brent Williams, “was simple – to identify how these tools can add the most value to our clients in an effective and productive manner, whilst also developing protocols to mitigate the risks associated with these technologies evolving. This was not a trial run. This was an intensive and rigorous, data-driven process.“
Results that benefit our clients
The results of the pilots were remarkable. Both platforms demonstrated substantial operational benefits. Whilst each platform has its strengths (and of course, limitations), the distinctions were often marginal, and continuous development of both platforms tended to remove differentiators really quickly. Both technologies are undergoing continuous improvement as we roll out the current versions thereof. That said, for now, Harvey was the preferred choice of the majority of testers, based largely on ease of use for their specific needs and use cases.
We found that matter type, use case, and user preference were important indicators of preferential outcomes in the test scenarios. With our clients’ diverse needs as our north star, and in recognition of these identified success indicators, we decided to secure licences to both platforms. Retha reveals that “In securing licences for both, CDH is strategically and competitively positioned to draw on the unique strengths of each platform, ensuring that our valued clients benefit from the most effective solution for their specific needs. In so doing, our clients will enjoy the advantages of both innovation and choice. This enables us to remain flexible and highly responsive while delivering maximum value to our clients in a fast-changing business and regulatory environment“.
Balancing opportunity with responsibility
CDH remains committed to upholding the professional standards required of us, as regulated legal professionals and will, accordingly, continue to do so in our ongoing quest of; testing, adopting and adapting to the use of these technological tools in serving our clients and continuing to do so with the requisite confidentiality, attribution, professional accountability including, human review and traditional legal research, where appropriate. While we are excited about the potential of these GenAI tools, we are also aware of the risks and challenges associated with their use. To mitigate the risks, CDH has implemented oversight and quality control measures, including mandatory training programs focused on ethics and responsible GenAI usage.
Our approach will also include ongoing user and supervision protocols, which will be regularly updated, and the requirement for a personal commitment to ethical and safe usage from all users. “The safeguards we have in place,” says Retha, “ensure that while we harness the benefits of GenAI, we continue to protect our clients’ interests, data, and, of course, their trust.”
Looking ahead
“At CDH, innovation is never for innovation’s sake but rather to always deliver deeper value for our clients. The dual-adoption of Harvey and Legora enables us to offer our clients sharper insights, greater efficiency, and tailored solutions,” says Brent. “We can now expertly and efficiently match the right tool to the right challenge. However, while these platforms accelerate routine processes, every output remains subject to rigorous review and oversight by our legal professionals. Accountability remains very much with our bench of leading lawyers who operate across the continent”.
Retha agrees, concluding, “As a firm, we are excited about what these advancements mean for our clients as we remain committed to deploying them responsibly and effectively.”
