NewLaw Career Series 2026

Aalia Manie

Partner and Director at Webber Wentzel Fusion

Aalia brings a unique blend of legal expertise and business acumen to Webber Wentzel Fusion, the firm’s hub for alternative legal solutions, legal tech, and client-focused delivery. A former intellectual property and technology law partner at Webber Wentzel and COO of a tech scale-up, she combines deep industry insight with strategic and operational know-how. Passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship, she led the firm’s first start-up incubator and advocated for regulatory reform to support innovation in South Africa. Aalia and her team champion technology and inventive delivery models to solve complex legal problems in fresh, client-centric ways that challenge traditional boundaries.

Abi Abderoof

Vice President - Operations at Stella Legal

Experienced legal operations and technology leader with over a decade in the ALSP and Legal Tech industry. Beginning as a document reviewer, I progressed through project, delivery, and operational leadership roles across eDiscovery, contract review, legal technology, and CLM consulting. Throughout my career, I have led high-performing teams, managed complex client engagements, and driven operational excellence across global legal service environments. Currently serving as Vice President of Operations at Stella Legal, I oversee strategic delivery and business operations, helping organizations optimize Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), legal technology solutions, and eDiscovery programs to achieve measurable business outcomes.

Alex Hamilton

Founder & CEO at Radiant Law

Alex Hamilton is the CEO and founder of Radiant Law, an award-winning NewLaw firm based in the UK. Alex spends much of his time working closely with clients and spearheading product and tech development at Radiant to make clients' contracting processes fly. Alex wrote the book (Sign Here) on how to speed up contracting and create better commercial relationships and he regularly talks and writes about improving contracting, legal tech, and the evolving legal landscape. Alex is a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and has led a bunch of projects recognised by the FT's Innovative Lawyer awards. Before founding Radiant Law, Alex was a Partner at Latham & Watkins and co-Chair of their global Technology Transactions Group, and when he used to be a real lawyer, he worked on some of the larger technology and outsourcing deals out there.

Alison Trappler

Legal Solutions Architect at Cognia Law

Alison Trappler is a Senior Associate working as a Solutions Architect in the Business Advisory team at Cognia. She started her journey with Cognia in 2013 and although she left briefly to complete her articles, she returned to gain valuable experience in project management in areas including commercial contracts, regulatory compliance, financial documentation and litigation. She is passionate about legal tech and strives to assist clients in finding innovative and workable solutions.

David Halliwell

Partner at Pinsent Masons Vario

David is a lawyer who started asking 'surely there's a better way of doing this?' 25 years ago, and hasn't stopped trying to answer that question ever since. His focus as Client Solutions Partner in the Managed Legal Services team in the Vario Group is on understanding what matters to the firm’s clients, to help them make legal services work better for their business. Vario’s new resourcing and technology models drive greater value for business from legal services, bringing the best of both worlds to our clients - the expertise of a leading international law firm, with the scale and agility of flexible resourcing.

Eiméar Mullan

Manager in the Legal Operations Advisory team at HSF Kramer

Eimear is a Manager in the Legal Operations Advisory team at HSF Kramer. She works with in-house legal functions to guide them through transformation projects, including legal technology and AI implementation programmes, technology-enabled process design and legal operations strategy development. Eimear has been on two client secondments. She joined a global retail company last year to help define their legal operations strategy. She successfully implemented a CLM system and an AI tool whilst there. She is currently seconded to a global media business as their Legal GenAI lead, where she is driving the implementation of Harvey, which includes building bespoke workflows within the platform and upskilling lawyers on AI.

Ian Teague

Head of MLS Legal Delivery at Pinsent Masons

Ian recently joined Pinsent Masons Vario in Cape Town to oversee delivery of Managed Legal Services. Much of Ian’s focus is on working with global corporates to design and implement innovative solutions to varied legal challenges. He previously worked at Radiant Law for 11 years and led overall delivery and continuous improvement. Ian is a qualified Attorney and Solicitor, a proud Capetonian (although he still supports the Sharks), dad to two little girls and an avid trail runner.

Kimlynne Olivier

Senior Delivery Director at Consilio

Kimlynne Olivier leads the Cape Town eDiscovery Project Management team at Consilio, where she focuses on building a diverse, agile team of Project Managers and analysts delivering eDiscovery services to international clients, including law firms, corporations, and financial institutions. With over 18 years of experience in eDiscovery and litigation support, Kimlynne brings deep expertise across digital forensics, intelligence, data analytics, compliance, and fraud investigations. Her technical skills span device imaging, data preservation, eDiscovery workflows, document scanning and review, and trial support. Prior to joining Consilio, Kimlynne served as a Director at a global risk consultancy, where she led the Discovery and Data Insights team in South Africa. She has also held a senior management role at a Big Four professional services firm and spent eight years in London as a Senior Forensic Technology Consultant at a global law firm. Kimlynne holds a BSc (Hons) in Information and Communications Technology.

Matthew Hill

Senior Legal Engineer at Cognia

Matthew Hill is a Senior Legal Engineer in Cognia Law’s Legal Tech Team, where he helps bridge the gap between legal expertise and technology innovation. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, he works with legal professionals and business stakeholders to design and implement technology-driven solutions that improve legal operations, streamline contract processes, and support more efficient ways of working. With a background spanning legal operations, legal technology, and solution design, Matthew is passionate about applying emerging technologies - including artificial intelligence - to solve practical legal and business challenges. He holds an LLB and a specialised certificate in Artificial Intelligence in Law from Stellenbosch University, combining legal knowledge with a strong focus on innovation and digital transformation. Through his work, he helps organisations navigate the evolving legal landscape and realise the potential of technology-enabled legal services.

Matthew McConkey

Principal at Lighthouse Law