Law firm Webber Wentzel has announced the launch of a new AI, technology and legal operations subsidiary during this year’s African GC Summit, on February 16.

This comes as general counsel across the continent confront increasing regulatory complexity, cost pressure and accelerating AI adoption challenges, the firm points out.

In a media release, Webber Wentzel says the decision signals an expansion of its business model.

Its AI and innovation arm, Fusion, will now operate as a standalone subsidiary with a broader mandate and suite of solutions.

The company explains that the decision to scale Fusion as a separate entity is driven by client demand for practical technology enablement and strong market interest from both clients and technology vendors in the firm’s Legal Innovation Lab.

The law firm says this move marks the next chapter for the firm that has spent nearly a decade building, testing and refining alternative solutions for the legal sector in Africa, and which won the Innovation Award at the African Legal Awards in both 2024 and 2025.

Fusion delivers innovation grounded in legal insight and lived experience.

Unlike detached internal innovation teams or licence-only technology providers, it operates across the full legal AI value chain as a digital solution architect, advisory and implementation partner and product reseller to clients, lawyers and vendors in equal measure.

Webber Wentzel says this model reinforces operational credibility and ensures solutions are shaped by hundreds of active mandates across complex, regulated environments.

The result is a rare, 360º applied AI capability that anticipates implementation challenges, navigates technical and regulatory complexity and delivers outcomes that work in practice, not just in theory.

Webber Wentzel says it works closely with clients to zoom in on where technology genuinely improves outcomes and where it does not.

This starts with defining the problems worth solving, assessing if and where AI is a practical fit, prioritising solutions and making disciplined build-partner-buy decisions, the company explains.

In this way, clients benefit from a "value-first" approach that ensures new technologies are not just deployed but are fully optimised – technically and commercially.

Fusion's offerings include the development of custom digital playbooks, tailored AI workflows and prompt libraries, supported by comprehensive benchmarking, business cases, team training, change management and roll-out support.

"Our AI solutions are built around how legal work actually gets done.

“By embedding legal expertise directly into AI delivery, we help organisations move beyond experimentation to AI solutions that are both governable and effective at scale,” says Fusion partner and director Aalia Manie.

The company says it does not limit itself to proprietary solutions.

Building on a set of curated, pre-vetted legal technology products that form part of its Legal Innovation Lab, Webber Wentzel says Fusion is enabling direct client access to leading legal AI products that support daily work and have proven value within the firm and among clients.

Fusion's partners include Microsoft, Legora, Luminance, Harvey, Clio, Definely and Wordsmith. For selected vendor partners, Fusion has negotiated preferential commercial terms and pricing for the African market.

Webber Wentzel Fusion will continue to work closely with the firm's AI legal advisory experts.

The group offers an integrated platform to ensure AI programmes are holistic and accelerate value while meeting regulatory and enterprise standards.

"Our offering is unique. We do not offer legal services or legal tech in isolation.

“By combining the product and operational mindset of a technology company with the authority and accountability of a leading law firm, we enable organisations to move faster and more innovatively without compromising trust or professional standards,” says Webber Wentzel managing partner Safiyya Patel.

The law firm says Fusion’s launch as part of the GC Summit signals a clear shift in how legal AI should be delivered – not as technology bolted onto legal work, but as AI designed around real client needs, legal judgement, accountability and lived operational experience.

Webber Wentzel Fusion is the applied AI and legal operations subsidiary of Webber Wentzel.

It delivers enterprise legal AI solutions that embed legal expertise, commercial needs and operational rigour into AI implementation, ensuring investments are defensible, governable and effective in real-world legal environments, the company explains.