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Epoq Legal sets its sights on SA

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 22 Sept 2017
Legal technology company Epoq Legal heads to SA.
Legal technology company Epoq Legal heads to SA.

UK-based legal technology firm Epoq Legal plans to enter the South African legal profession market in the first quarter of 2018.

Epoq Legal is a provider of a value-add online legal document and advice services, as well as document automation technology solutions.

"Essentially, [Epoq's] document automation software, Rapidocs, is designed to deliver large volumes of tailored legal documents and contracts, replicating the face-to-face question and answer session a lawyer would normally have with a client and then formulating a final document in real-time," explains the company in a statement.

"The software makes the process of creating complex legal documents quick, easy, consistent and affordable, as opposed to the use of flat forms and the age-old method of cutting-and-pasting clauses together from previous templates, which is time-consuming, inefficient and prone to errors."

The documents, according to the company, are designed with end-users in mind and have explanations next to every question, as well as a set of built-in searchable guidance notes. It also has an application program interface that can be used to mine data and prepopulate other related documents.

Emile Gerber, COO of Epoq Legal (South Africa), says technology will inevitably reduce legal costs and in so doing avail access to legal services to the majority of the South African population.

"The number of Internet users in the country has more than doubled in the last five years. We know consumers are becoming more confident about using online services in general and as more consumers choose mobile and online as their preferred method of access to an increasingly wide range of services, the banking, insurance and legal industries also need to look at ways to make their services more accessible and affordable."

Epoq Legal services are in use in the UK and US by firms such as Slater & Gordon Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, and More Th>n (part of the RSA Insurance Group).

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