Leading global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills’ Johannesburg Alternative Legal Services (ALT) team has been named the Alternative Service Provider of the Year 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 in respect of high volume, document/data intensive legal . By combining cutting-edge technology with legal expertise, the practice delivers a high quality, cost-competitive, bespoke service, tailored to  clients' requirements on a global scale. This includes support for high-volume contentious matters, repeat contracting and document intensive parts of non-contentious legal transactions, and a flexible, scalable resourcing capability.

ALT is a fully integrated and integral part of Herbert Smith Freehills' international network and its 350+ lawyers, technologists and legal analysts operate as a seamless global team, across 11 international hubs. The Africa team is 30+ strong and growing.

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

Lyn Harris, Director – US, EMEA and Disputes West, Alternative Legal Services said: “In just four years, we’ve truly changed the landscape for legal services in South Africa, by utilising our distinctive mix of the right technology and practitioners. We’re so proud that the high quality services we’ve been providing were recognised by the African Legal Awards and the legal community at large."