Leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills’ Johannesburg Alternative Legal Services (ALT) team has been named the Alternative Service Provider of the Year for the second year running at this year’s African Legal Awards. The African Legal Awards recognise exceptional achievement from Africa’s legal elite.

Since 2017, Herbert Smith Freehills’ investment in developing an ALT capability in South Africa has seen the firm's ALT Johannesburg hub successfully disrupt a rapidly evolving legal services market in Africa. ALT utilises innovative, market-leading solutions to deliver high volume, document/data intensive legal work for clients. In winning this award the firm has been recognised for the way it combines cutting-edge technology with legal expertise, ensuring clients benefit from a high quality, cost-competitive, bespoke service, on a global scale.

Vanessa Kingsmill, Head of Alternative Legal Services, Johannesburg said: “We are honoured to have been recognised for the second year in a row as the Alternative Service Provider of the Year by the African Legal Awards. This is a testament to the ongoing excellent work and service that our team and offering has provided to clients.”

ALT is a fully integrated and integral part of Herbert Smith Freehills' international network and its 400+ lawyers, technologists and legal analysts operate as a seamless global team, across 10 international hubs. The Africa team is 50+ strong and growing.

Lyn Harris, Partner – Alternative Legal Services, added: “In just five years, we’ve truly changed the landscape for legal services in South Africa, by utilising our distinctive mix of the right technology and practitioners and we are thrilled to have been recognised again by the prestigious African Legal Awards as Alternative Service Provider of the Year for 2022.”

Jean Meijer, Managing Partner, Johannesburg concluded: "We are delighted to be recognised, again, by the African Legal Awards in the Alternative Legal Services space. ALT enables us to deliver innovative, cost-effective and technology driven solutions for our clients on the ground in South Africa and across our global network. This award enhances the growing reputation of this high-performing, talented and diverse team. We are exceptionally proud of the work that they do and the immense value they add to the firm and deliver to our clients."