Why LegalWise?
Since our founding in 1984 a number of companies (for example banks, insurance companies, clothing retailers and mobile networks), have launched products that offer everything from free legal advice to legal cover. With so many choices available, from so many different companies, it’s often confusing to know whether or not you are getting the best value for your hard-earned money. So, what makes LegalWise different?
Firstly, we’re a specialist.
Protecting the legal rights of our Members is not a small part of what we do, it’s all that we do. We don’t offer clothes or airtime and data or cheque and savings accounts. We don’t offer other forms of insurance, like motor and household insurance. We have a single-minded purpose, enabling you to enforce and defend your rights.
We’re fiercely independent.
We cherish our independence and our power to act without interference, protecting your legal rights, whoever the transgressor (even if it’s us).
Think about it, what if you had legal cover with the same company that you had your household contents
insurance with, and you had a dispute about a claims payment. Who would you turn to?
Do you think the company would be fair and objective in resolving your dispute? Would they allow you to use your legal cover to sue them?
We’re so fiercely committed to fairness, we will even let you use your Membership against us.
We offer more than just free legal counselling or just insurance cover.
A prominent lawyer once said, ‘free legal advice is worth every cent you pay for it,’ we offer more than legal counselling. Our 117 Legal Counsellors at no charge, will offer you legal assistance and advice and will mediate and negotiate on your behalf in attempt to resolve your matter before it needs to go to court. They will even assist you with matters that are not covered by insurance. And unlike many providers, there is no limitation on the usage of this benefit. You have a problem, you can consult with us.
Our Legal Counsellors are qualified lawyers, some of whom are admitted. They’re experienced in the types of matters we handle on behalf of our Members and know how to get the best results. Our Legal Counsellors are approachable and will communicate with you in a clear and easy to understand way, free from legal jargon and unnecessary complexity. We monitor the service they offer, ensuring that we meet your expectations and if something goes wrong we have ability to fix it. Over the last twelve months our dedicated Legal Counsellors have had over 130 000 consultations on new matters with our Members.
And you can consult with us on your own terms, 24/7/365. If you want to meet us face-to-face, we have 46 Branches and Attorney Branches around the country, and we offer the convenience of e-mailing us, talking to us over the phone, or via our new video consultation service on either WhatsApp or Zoom.
And like some others, we also offer legal cover, so if your matter needs to go to court, we will, subject to the terms and conditions of our Membership Agreement pay for a lawyer to represent you. We offer cover per matter with no maximum on the value per annum. Over the last twelve months we have opened over 39 000 new files and have referred over 7 700 claims on behalf of our Members.
We will refer your matter to the one of the 220 legal firms on our Network, but if you so choose, we give you the option of using your own lawyer.
We offer you options.
We offer Membership options to suit every pocket, ensuring that our comprehensive cover is accessible to all. All our Membership options includes your spouse or life partner and children, and cover for labour, civil and criminal matters.
Like with everything in life there are always terms and conditions that apply and we would encourage you to read them and contact us if anything is unclear. For more information on our benefits and Membership options please visit www.legalwise.co.za.
We continue to invest in our service and benefits.
Over the past few years, we’ve launched a number of new services and insurance cover benefits. A tax advice and assistance service for personal income tax matters, a municipal service offering Members assistance when dealing with their Municipality and recently a service for the drafting and safekeeping of Wills. We’ve added matters that enjoy insurance cover, increased our tariffs on our Gold and GoldPLUS Membership options and recently launched the LegalWise Legacy Accumulator and new Claims Booster.
We continue to refurbish our Branches and launched a video consultation service via WhatsApp and Zoom.
Finally, we’ve enhanced our communications platforms to ensure speedy responses to e-mails and SMSs and giving you the option to chat to us on our website, App, on Facebook Messenger, X Messages, or on WhatsApp.
You can trust us.
We have a 40-year track record, and we are the pioneers of legal cover in South Africa. We remain committed to our founding purpose, enabling you to enforce and defend your rights.
To give you peace of mind and to meet our obligations we’re a registered financial services provider, a voluntary member of the National Financial Ombud Scheme (NFO), we work at ensuring that we comply with all the regulation governing the financial services and insurance industries, as regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), the Short-Term Insurance Act and the Legal Practices Act.
Legal Expenses Insurance South Africa Limited who underwrites the LegalWise Membership Agreement was granted the very first specialist insurance license and they remain the largest insurer of legal expenses insurance in South Africa.
Finally, LegalWise has been recognised for the second year in a row as a Top Employer for 2024.
Thinking of switching?
If you are thinking about taking up another legal product or if you’ve been approached by another company, ask yourself these four questions:
- Do they sell other products? Would I be able to use my legal cover if I experienced a problem with one of the other products they offer?
- Would I be able to take legal action against the company itself?
- Do they offer me a free service that helps sort out my problems without the need of going to court?
- Am I able to consult with somebody face-to-face in Branches across the country, with the convenience of also being able to contact them over the phone, via e-mail and video consultations?
If you didn’t answer yes to all these questions, we would encourage you to think carefully about your decision to switch.
If we’re not living up to your expectations?
If you have had a bad experience or if we are not living up to your expectations, and are thinking about cancelling your Membership and switching please give us an opportunity to fix it. Please contact customercare@legalwise.co.za or 010 271 2255.