Junior Legal Engineer (1-3 years experience)

Cognia Law; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 200 000 - 300 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading legal tech firm in Cape Town seeks a Legal Engineer to drive transformation in the legal industry. This role involves mapping legal workflows, designing and testing legal-tech tools, and collaborating with technical teams. The ideal candidate holds a degree in Commerce, Law, or Computer Science, possesses problem-solving skills, and has a genuine interest in legal technology. You will thrive if you enjoy innovation and can communicate complex concepts effectively. Join us to help reshape the future of legal work.

Qualifications

• Genuine interest in technology's impact on the legal field.
• Experience using AI tools for real-world applications.
• Able to analyze processes and propose improvements.

Responsibilities

• Support mapping and documentation of legal workflows.
• Design and test legal-tech tools, taking ownership of tasks.
• Research emerging trends in legal technology.

Skills

Problem-solving

Clear communication

Interest in legal-tech

Basic coding

Education

Degree in Commerce, Law, or Computer Science

Tools

Power Apps

SharePoint

PowerBI

Dataverse

Job description

Want to be at the forefront of the legal industry’s biggest transformation? Join us as a Legal Engineer and work where law, technology, and AI collide.

Role Description

Legal Tech is moving fast and changing an industry that hasn’t changed in decades. We’re building a team that wants to be right in the middle of that shift to drive this change, and our Legal Engineer role sits right on that front line. You’ll be working where legal services, technology and AI collide. One day you might be mapping a legal workflow and spotting automation opportunities; the next, testing a new tool, building a prototype or helping shape how our teams work with AI. You won’t be watching senior people do the interesting work. We are looking for someone who can take ownership, ask insightful questions, and bring forward innovative ideas.

If you’re curious about how technology can transform a traditional industry, enjoy solving complex problems, and want a role where you can directly shape the future of legal work, you’ll thrive on this team.

Company Profile

Cognia seamlessly extends corporates, banks and law firms’ legal capability to deliver sustainable outcomes. Our goal is to connect the legal sector, moving it from a siloed approach to integrated partnerships. We help in-house legal teams by bringing simplicity to complex matters and replacing broken procedures with efficient processes.

Cognia is a Chambers-ranked law company which integrates how legal services are provided so our team, partners, clients and communities thrive together with people at the heart of what we do. We encourage our people to bring their whole self to work and focus on enabling them to realise their full potential.

For more information, please visit www.cognialaw.com

Key Responsibilities

• Support with mapping and documentation of legal processes, contributing insights and spotting opportunities to improve workflows.
• Help design, test and workflows and legal-tech tools, taking ownership of small components and tasks.
• Research emerging legal-tech trends, platforms, troubleshooting issues and suggesting improvements.
• Maintain and update legal-tech platforms, troubleshooting issues and suggesting improvements where needed.
• Work closely with legal and technical teams to support the rollout and adoption of tools, helping users understand and apply them.
• Produce reports and basic data insights to support matter management, using data to help colleagues make informed decisions.
• Take part in ongoing training to build technical, legal-process and business understanding, and apply new skills to day -to-day work.

• Degree in Commerce, Law or Computer Science, (Law preferred)
• Genuine interest in how technology is reshaping the legal world, and the enthusiasm to be part of that shift.
• Experience using AI tools to tackle real problems, whether in legal work or creative side projects, is a strong advantage.
• Exposure to tools like Power Apps, SharePoint, PowerBI or Dataverse is a bonus.
• Clear, confident communication skills with the ability to break down technical or legal concepts for different internal and external audiences.
• Problem-solver at heart, with the ability to analyse a process, ask good questions and spot smarter ways of doing things.
• Openness to learning new tools and skills - whether that’s basic coding, automation platforms or industry-specific legal-tech.

Desirable (nice-to-have)

• Coursework, projects or internships involving Power Platforms, coding (Python, JavaScript, SQL) or legal-tech tools.
• Examples of how you’ve used technology to make something easier, faster or smarter - in law, university projects or personal work.
• A basic understanding of legal concepts or terminology that helps you engage confidently with legal teams.