Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) form a binding agreement between you and Oduduwa Muziq (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2023/250283/07), a South African private company with its registered office at 41 Aston Road, Lonehill, Sandton, Gauteng, 2062, trading as Legal Buddy. In these Terms, “Legal Buddy”, “we”, “us”, and “our” refer to Oduduwa Muziq (Pty) Ltd trading as Legal Buddy.

By using our website, AI assistant, voice features, WhatsApp service, document drafting tool or any related feature (together, the “Service”), you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, please don't use the Service.

Legal Buddy is an AI-powered intake and matching service. We listen to what's going on, give you general information about the relevant law in your jurisdiction, help you draft preliminary documents, and connect you with a qualified, independently licensed lawyer who can advise on your specific situation.

Legal Buddy is not a law firm. No lawyer–client relationship is created between you and Legal Buddy by your use of the Service. The information our AI provides is general in nature. It is not legal advice and must not be relied on as a substitute for advice from a qualified lawyer in your jurisdiction.

Documents generated by our drafting tool are drafts and must be reviewed by a qualified lawyer before signing or relying on them.

You must be at least 18 years old to use the Service. By using the Service, you represent that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms in your jurisdiction.

Most of the Service is available without creating an account. If you sign up via one of our forms (Individuals, Small Business or Lawyer), you agree that the information you provide is accurate and that we may use it as described in our Privacy Policy.

You agree not to use the Service to:

• Plan, encourage, or facilitate illegal activity, fraud, or anything that would harm another person.
• Submit false, misleading, or impersonating information, including in lawyer applications.
• Attempt to extract, reverse-engineer, scrape, or otherwise misuse the AI assistant, including by trying to bypass safety measures.
• Send spam, malware, or content that infringes another person's rights.
• Re-publish or commercially exploit the Service without our written permission.

We may suspend or terminate access to anyone we reasonably believe is violating these rules.

Lawyers listed in our network are independently licensed professionals. Legal Buddy verifies their credentials at intake but does not employ them, supervise their advice, or guarantee the outcome of any matter. The lawyer–client relationship, fees, scope, and confidentiality are between you and the lawyer.

Lawyers who join our network agree separately to our network terms, including verification requirements and professional conduct standards.

Our AI assistant generates information and documents based on the inputs you provide and on its underlying training data plus any documents in our public knowledge library. AI can make mistakes. Legal regimes vary by jurisdiction and change over time. You are responsible for verifying the accuracy of AI-generated content before relying on it, ideally with the help of a qualified lawyer.

You retain whatever rights you have in the inputs you provide. We claim no ownership over the documents drafted for you. Our AI providers may apply their own usage policies; see the linked provider terms in our Privacy Policy.

When you message Legal Buddy on WhatsApp or use our voice features, additional terms from Meta, Twilio, ElevenLabs, and Anthropic apply to the underlying communication and processing. By using these features you agree those providers may handle your messages and voice in line with their own policies.

You can end any chat or call at any time and we will respect your decision to stop.

The intake AI, document drafting tool, voice modes, and WhatsApp conversations are currently provided free of charge. Lawyer consultations and engagements are paid arrangements between you and the matched lawyer. Any platform fees, subscriptions, or paid plans we introduce in future will be made clear before you commit.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided as is and as available, without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that any AI response will be accurate, complete, or suitable for your purposes.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under applicable consumer protection law.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Legal Buddy is not liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Service, including loss of profits, loss of data, or damages arising from any decisions or actions you take based on AI-generated information. Where liability cannot be excluded, our total cumulative liability to you in any 12-month period is limited to ZAR 1,000 (one thousand South African Rand) or the equivalent in your local currency.

You agree to indemnify Legal Buddy and our service providers against claims, damages, and reasonable costs arising from your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Service, or your infringement of any third party's rights.

You may stop using the Service at any time. We may suspend or terminate access if you breach these Terms or if continued provision of the Service becomes commercially impractical. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 7, 10, 11, 12, and 14) survive.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute arising out of or in connection with the Service that cannot be resolved informally will be submitted to the exclusive jurisdiction of the South African courts. This does not affect mandatory consumer protections under the laws of your residence.

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by updating the effective date and, where appropriate, by direct notice. Continued use of the Service after a change constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

Questions about these Terms can be sent to hello@legal-buddy.co.za.