- Legal profession launches AuxBrief to modernise briefing, improve transparency, and expand access.
- Digital visibility changes briefing practices and boosts pro bono commitments.
- Platform cuts disputes, delays, and unclear billing by capturing work and fees in real time.
On 25 October, the South African legal profession made history at the Houghton Hotel in Johannesburg. Attorneys and advocates gathered for the launch of AuxBrief, the world’s first live digital briefing platform.
Led by the Johannesburg Society of Advocates in partnership with Vezi, de Beer Inc, and Auxcon, this event marks a significant shift in how people access justice. For the first time, attorneys can brief advocates digitally within minutes, upload documents instantly, and track work as it happens. For communities already struggling to access legal aid, faster processes, clearer information, and transparent billing bring hope that justice may finally move with the urgency it deserves.
Advocate Tiny Seboko SC, Chair of the Briefing Patterns, Transformation and Pro Bono Committee at the Johannesburg Society of Advocates, said: “By replacing traditional manual processes with a digital briefing platform like AuxBrief, we can embed ideals like fairness, efficiency, and transparency into the system.”
She added, “When a bank account is frozen, when an eviction is imminent, or when a child’s safety is at risk, every hour counts. However, delays from manual processes can leave families stranded and business owners exposed, even when legal aid is available.”
Quicker justice when urgency cannot wait
Legal emergencies rarely offer advance notice. Protection orders, bail hearings, commercial interdicts, and unlawful evictions require immediate action. Until now, attorneys have spent days on phone calls and emails searching for an available advocate. Documents were couriered back and forth, causing cases to stall before they began. AuxBrief eliminates those delays.
Attorneys upload their briefs digitally, specify requirements such as urgency and area of law, and are quickly matched with qualified advocates ready to assist. Cases can proceed within minutes. In a country where pro bono work is part of community service, speed is not just useful; it is a matter of dignity.
Fairer access to work and true transformation
Mustafa Mohamed, Director at Vezi and de Beer Inc, said: “This means we can meet our clients’ commercial needs while also fulfilling our transformation commitments by selecting advocates who represent the future of the Bar, not just its past.” When attorneys can filter by seniority, background, and experience, briefing becomes data-driven. Equity becomes visible, measurable, and trackable.
Legal work can be complex, and no digital tool can remove the uncertainty of litigation. However, AuxBrief makes the process clearer. Advocates log their time, attorneys track progress, and clients understand what work has been completed. Coupled with Auxcon’s billing administration system, fees incurred, outstanding tasks, and next steps are shown live, removing the ambiguity that leads to disputes. As clarity increases, trust follows. For South Africans relying on legal aid, predictability can mean the difference between representation and giving up.
A strong conversation at the launch focused on how technology could change pro bono work. Under the Legal Practice Council’s community service framework, practising legal professionals must complete 40 hours per year, while candidate practitioners must clock eight. Yet opportunities often remain hidden. Good intentions get lost in busy schedules.
Platforms like AuxBrief could present pro bono matters exactly where attorneys and advocates already work, allowing them to take on and track such commitments as easily as any commercial case. Seboko noted: “In the coming year, my goal is to prioritise pro bono work in our efforts, and to find ways to ensure that every hour dedicated to justice truly reaches those who need it the most.”
A conversation that is just beginning
The launch was more than a celebration of technology. It opened an honest, sometimes uncomfortable discussion about the challenges that erode trust in the legal system. Attorneys, advocates, regulators and technologists came together to consider how shared digital tools could track pro bono hours nationally, uphold transformation goals, and promote transparency from the first instruction to the final bill.
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