Korbitec’s roots date back to 1976 when two childhood friends in their final year at the University of Cape Town formed a company that merged stationary with data via a personal computer.  Today these founding partners are still part of the senior management team of a company that is one of the leading Document Assembly and Automation companies in the world.  With the goal of developing cutting edge software, Korbitec has had much success over the last 32 years.  The company’s history in the legal market started with the first word processor developed for lawyers – GhostWriter, which became the defacto standard for the legal profession in South Africa and elsewhere.  Other legal applications were then introduced by Korbitec, initially aligned to the real estate and mortgage verticals in their home market.  Korbitec also developed the gateways for banks and lawyers to transmit confidential mortgage instructions and documentation, thus offering a one stop service for the real estate transaction.  These applications served to entrench Korbitec in the legal community and recently the company began to expand its presence into other areas of the law firm with Ghostpractice – a practice management solution encompassing time management, accounting and correspondence.

The real estate branch of Korbitec also continued to expand in South Africa with the addition of Windeed, an automated search and land registration business, similar to Toronto based Teranet.

Parallel to the events noted above, Korbitec continued to improve its document automation software and started marketing it under the GhostFill brand.  GhostFill became known worldwide as it was sold as a development tool to many companies including CIBC, MGM, Thomson West and the American Institute of Architects.  It was this document assembly engine that brought Korbitec and Automated Civil Litigation (ACL) together.  ACL was initially developed and marketed by Xenex Media, a local Ontario based company.  Korbitec partnered with Xenex’s founder, Brian Walls, to develop the next generation of the legal application.  As the story goes, Korbitec liked the software so much that in 2006, it bought the company and soon after, ACL2 was released.  Brian stayed on to lead the business development initiatives and guide the sales and marketing efforts.

Korbitec was looking to expand its reach outside of South Africa and Ontario, Canada was a natural extension.  The nature of business in the two countries is conducted in a similar fashion and the legal systems in Canada and South Africa are both derived from their Commonwealth roots.  Korbitec was already doing GhostFill business in the Toronto area with Xenex and others, so planting some permanent stakes here seemed to be a perfect fit.  Daniel Todes moved from Cape Town at the outset, and braved a Toronto winter while he set up the business.  When he moved back to the warmer climate, Alan Bass was brought in as President to lead the company through the next phase. 

With a team of over 300, a third in research and development, Korbitec is a privately owned software development company that prides itself on being a technology innovator that commercializes usable software solutions.  Korbitec develops all products in-house, allowing it the flexibility and capability to customize applications to meet client demands.  Korbitec has just completed development of, currently for use in its own products, the next generation document automation engine – Ghost Draft, Modeller and Integrator (GDMI) which was used in the newest release of Automated Civil Litigation – ACL3.

Automated Civil Litigation (ACL) automates the entire process of creating court documents and standard correspondence.  It inlcudes Rules of Civil Procedure Court Forms 4 through 78, all Estate forms, Federal Court Forms, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Forms, 14 Common Motions, Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) Defence forms, Mandatory Mediation, Commercial List, Factums, Releases, Small Claims Court Forms (1A to 20R), E-Discovery Plan, Agreements, Orders, a pre- and post-judgment calculator,  and over 100 standard letters. Firms may also add and organize an unlimited number of their own precedent clauses.

The philosophy of Korbitec is that great software should not be sold to sit idle.  Our business is built around developing products that meet a true need, and then train the users so they are comfortable utilizing it to the fullest.  As such, the software, all updates and training are provided free of charge.  On a fee per use model, there is only a small cost when the software is used to open a litigation file and when the first (and only the first) court document is produced.  Many firms also choose to disburse this fee.

All of the Korbitec trainers are former litigation legal assistants.  This is truly beneficial to the training process as they understand the work, the process and the pressures that surround the job.  In addition to the initial training session and follow up support, our team visits law firms to refresh skills, deliver useful tips or assist with difficult files.  Updates to the software are delivered electronically and are installed with the click of a mouse.  They will include interest rate changes, updates to the software, and the addition of new content.

Automated Civil Litigation is currently being taught in many of the schools or community colleges that teach legal assistants, law clerks and paralegals; so future graduates are already well versed in the usage of ACL.

From its early beginnings at the southern tip of Africa, Korbitec has emerged as valuable supplier, across many disciplines, to law firms both at home and on this continent.