In the age of algorithms and automation, artificial intelligence is fast becoming the silent partner in many law firms across the world. From contract review bots to predictive analytics, AI promises faster, cheaper, and more accurate legal services. But beneath the surface of this digital revolution lies an uncomfortable truth most African legal practitioners are being priced out of the future.
At the heart of the problem is a quiet divide that few are talking about: the dominance of proprietary AI tools and the absence of affordable, open-source alternatives in Africa’s legal landscape. The result? Justice is no longer just blind it may be becoming exclusive.
The Rise of Legal AI—and Its Price Tag
Across Europe and North America, legal AI platforms like ROSS Intelligence, Luminance, Lexis+ AI, and Casetext CoCounsel are reshaping everything from due diligence to court submissions. These platforms often come with annual licenses running into tens of thousands of dollars a cost well within reach for global firms but utterly unaffordable for most small African law practices, let alone legal aid clinics or public defenders.
What makes this more alarming is that these tools are not optional luxuries. They’re becoming industry-standard, increasingly used to secure an edge in litigation, corporate negotiations, and compliance reviews. In short, the legal AI revolution may be leaving behind the very lawyers who are needed most: those working in under-resourced communities.
Proprietary vs Open Source: A Structural Divide
The distinction between proprietary and open-source AI is more than technical jargon it’s a gatekeeper of access.
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Proprietary tools are built, owned, and licensed by private companies. Their code is locked, their pricing opaque, and their customization limited.
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Open-source tools, on the other hand, are publicly available, modifiable, and often free or low-cost.
Globally, fields like healthcare and education are witnessing a rise in open-source AI to bridge equity gaps. Law, however, remains deeply commercialized. Legal tech startups are targeting top-dollar clients, not pro bono lawyers in Kumasi or human rights defenders in Kisangani.
The African Reality: High Demand, Low Access
Africa is not short of legal talent or complex legal challenges it is short of affordable AI solutions tailored to its realities.
“The irony is that African lawyers arguably need AI tools more than their Western counterparts,” says Naa Manko Crentsil, a legal tech advocate based in Ghana. “They are overburdened, under-resourced, and often navigating outdated legal systems. But they simply can’t afford the tools that could transform their work.”
Some African legal startups have emerged, such as Baobab.law and LegalFundi, but few are building AI at scale—and fewer still are doing so in open-source frameworks. Meanwhile, legal practitioners are left to choose between manual labor or high-cost subscriptions to tools built for different legal systems.
The Risk of Digital Exclusion
This affordability gap is more than an inconvenience it threatens to entrench inequality within the legal profession itself. Imagine two lawyers appearing before the same judge: one assisted by AI that has reviewed 1,000 cases in 10 seconds, the other relying on memory and a dusty law report.
Even within firms, junior associates from wealthy firms will train on AI platforms. Those in rural or resource-strained contexts will not. This is how digital exclusion quietly becomes legal injustice.
What Can Be Done?
1. Develop Local, Open-Source AI Tools
African universities, bar associations, and legal tech hubs must be incentivized to build and maintain AI solutions tailored to local legal frameworks and release them as open-source or low-cost platforms.
2. Legal Aid Integration
Governments and donor-funded legal aid programs should prioritize investment in AI-assisted platforms for public defenders and community-based lawyers.
3. Transparent Pricing Models
Big legal AI companies must be challenged to provide tiered or subsidized pricing for African users. Justice is a global concern not a Western commodity.
4. Create an African LegalTech Consortium
A collaborative effort between African lawyers, engineers, and policymakers to pool legal data, share code, and co-develop AI tools that meet Africa’s real needs.
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Justice Must Not Be Paywalled
If AI is truly the future of legal work, then access to its tools should not depend on one’s billing rate or postcode. The risk is real: a legal ecosystem where only the privileged can afford digital justice. And for a continent already battling inequality, corruption, and weak access to courts, this is a future Africa cannot afford.
It’s time to change the narrative. Legal AI should not be a luxury. It should be a public good—accessible, equitable, and designed with Africa in mind.
Ready to join the conversation? Email us at info@legalafrica.org or tag us @legalafricamag on X, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
