1. Who we are
Lekana Legal Research, operating as Lekana ("Lekana", "we", "us", or "our"), provides software tools for South African legal research and practice. This policy explains how we handle personal information when you use our websites, applications, and related services (the "Services").
For most of this processing we are the "responsible party" under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 ("POPIA"). Where you submit personal information about other people in your matters — clients, opposing parties, witnesses, and others — you are the responsible party for that information, and we process it as your operator, on your instructions and for no other purpose.
Our information officer can be reached at support@lekana.org.za for any question, request, or complaint under this policy.
2. Information we collect
We collect:
- Account information — your name, email address, contact details, firm or organisation details, and authentication records.
- Matter and document content — what you submit to the Services, including case details, court records, legal documents, research questions, and drafts. Because these are legal materials, they may contain sensitive information about you and others, including identity numbers, addresses, health, and other special categories of information.
- Integration data — information from integrations you connect, such as Court Online case records and identifiers, or Microsoft Outlook email and calendar data, where you enable those features.
- Billing information — subscription plan, billing history, and payment records. Card details are collected and processed by Paystack, our payment processor; we do not store full card numbers.
- Usage and technical information — device and browser information, log data, and product analytics about how the Services are used.
- Enquiry information — what you provide when you contact us, join a waitlist, or use public tools such as the court-day calculator.
Whether you have to provide it. Account and billing information is required to use the Services — without it we cannot give you access. Everything else is voluntary, but some features will not work unless you provide the information they need.
Court Sync browser extension
If you choose Connect Court Sync, the extension handles only the information needed to import and maintain the Court Online matters you select:
- your Lekana user ID, email address, and authentication tokens, stored in Chrome extension storage so the extension can act for your Lekana account;
- your Court Online user and firm identifiers and the signed-in session information needed to request Court Online data, but never your Court Online password;
- the identifiers, names, numbers, status, court, filing details, and other metadata of matters visible to your Court Online account while you scan and choose matters;
- the metadata and contents of documents belonging to the matters you select; and
- local operational information such as selected matter IDs, last-sync time, progress, errors, and document fingerprints used to avoid unnecessary downloads.
Scanning lets you review visible matter names and metadata before selecting anything for import. Lekana currently monitors no more than three matters selected by you. The extension then sends the selected matter data and documents over encrypted HTTPS connections to Lekana's services on Google Cloud and Firebase. Documents may be indexed and processed by the enterprise AI providers described below so that Lekana's document and matter-intelligence features work.
Automatic checks occur only while the extension is connected and a signed-in Court Online tab is available. You can pause automatic sync, sign out of the extension, or remove it from Chrome. Removing or signing out of the extension clears its locally stored connection information; deleting information already imported into Lekana follows the account and deletion process described in sections 9 and 10.
3. Why we process personal information
We process personal information to:
- provide, operate, secure, and support the Services;
- carry out the research, drafting, document analysis, deadline calculation, and other features you ask for;
- manage accounts, organisations, subscriptions, and payments;
- send you service, security, and billing communications;
- monitor performance, prevent abuse, and improve the Services; and
- comply with our legal obligations.
We rely on the POPIA grounds of performing our contract with you, our legitimate interests in operating and improving the Services, your consent where the law requires it, and compliance with law. If we send you marketing about our own similar services, we do so only where permitted, and you can opt out at any time using the link in the message or by emailing us.
4. Artificial-intelligence processing
The Services use artificial-intelligence models to analyse documents, answer research questions, and generate drafts. Content you submit to these features is processed by enterprise AI providers on our behalf, under agreements that prohibit them from using your content to train their models.
You control what you submit. You remain responsible for confidentiality, legal privilege, and deciding what client information is appropriate to place in the Services.
5. Sensitive information
Legal materials you submit may contain "special personal information" under POPIA, such as information about health, race, or religious or other beliefs. We process this information only to provide the Services to you and on your instructions. You are responsible for ensuring you are entitled to submit it, including having any authorisation POPIA requires.
7. Cross-border transfers
Some service providers store or process information outside South Africa, including in the European Union and other regions. Where we transfer personal information outside South Africa, we do so in line with section 72 of POPIA — relying on the recipient being subject to laws or binding agreements that give substantially similar protection, or on another lawful transfer ground.
8. Security
We take appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, including authentication and access controls, owner-based data isolation, and hosting on infrastructure certified against recognised security standards. No online system is completely secure. Where POPIA requires it, we will notify you and the Information Regulator of a security compromise.
9. Retention
We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy: for the life of your account, and afterwards for a reasonable period to meet legal, tax, and record-keeping obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. Matter and document content you delete is removed from active systems, subject to residual copies in backups that are overwritten in the ordinary course.
10. Your rights
Under POPIA you may:
- ask us to confirm whether we hold personal information about you, and to give you access to it;
- ask us to correct or delete personal information that is inaccurate, out of date, excessive, or unlawfully held;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests;
- withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and
- complain to the Information Regulator.
To exercise a right, email support@lekana.org.za. We may need to verify your identity first, and will respond within the periods POPIA allows.
Information Regulator (South Africa)
Website: https://inforegulator.org.za
Email: complaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy and will post the revised version with a new date. For a material change we will give reasonable notice by email, in the application, or both.
13. Contact
Lekana Legal Research
Operating as Lekana
South Africa
Email: support@lekana.org.za
Website: https://lekana.org.za
The use of information received through the Court Sync browser extension adheres to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use that information only to provide or improve the extension's disclosed Court Online synchronization purpose, and do not sell it or use it for advertising.