Inside View Podcast: Fusion’s Spin‑off From Webber Wentzel and some AI Home Truths

Why It Matters

The spin‑off gives Fusion the flexibility to deliver AI‑powered legal solutions at scale, reshaping how law firms monetize technology and offering clients faster, ROI‑focused services.

Key Takeaways

• Fusion becomes wholly owned subsidiary for greater agility and growth.
• New structure enables direct product sales and tailored AI pricing for Africa.
• Fusion offers end‑to‑end legal tech consulting, from strategy to implementation.
• Partnership with Weber Wentzel ensures combined expertise and joint market offerings.
• Emphasis on ROI, adoption metrics, and responsible AI deployment.

Summary

The podcast discusses the recent full spin‑off of Fusion, the legal‑tech arm of South African firm Weber Wentzel, into a wholly‑owned subsidiary. Host Caroline Hill and partner Alia Mani explain why the move was made and how it positions Fusion to capitalize on the accelerating AI wave in legal services.

Alia emphasizes that operating as an independent entity gives Fusion the agility to adopt new pricing models, sell AI‑driven products directly to clients, and negotiate region‑specific rates, especially for the African market. The new structure also separates the firm’s traditional billable‑hour model from outcome‑based tech offerings, allowing faster product development, talent acquisition, and risk‑managed experimentation.

“Innovation is part of our DNA,” Mani notes, recalling Fusion’s early adoption of Luminance and its alternative legal services unit. She highlights concrete services—from fractional legal COOs to white‑label implementation partnerships with vendors—and stresses the importance of a 360‑degree view that balances technical feasibility, commercial viability, security, and user experience.

The spin‑off signals a broader shift in the legal industry toward hybrid advisory models that blend law practice with technology productization. Clients gain access to tailored AI tools with clearer ROI, while Weber Wentzel retains strategic collaboration, creating a differentiated market offering that could accelerate AI adoption across African corporates.

Original Description

In the latest episode of Legal IT Insider’s Inside View podcast, we sit down with Aalia Manie, director of Webber Wentzel’s innovation arm, Fusion, to discuss Fusion's spin-off into an independent subsidiary and its evolution into a full-service product development and advisory business. We also discuss the logistics around developments such as the Anthropic Claude legal plug-in release, and why the advantage of building your own GenAI offering rarely outweigh the practicalities of buying in this fast-paced world.

Fusion's spin-off is the latest evolution for Webber Wentzel’s alternative legal services offering, which started as an internally incubated centre, before being rebranded and expanded as Webber Wentzel Fusion in January 2024. In 2025 Fusion, launched a Legal Innovation Lab that co-develops client-focused technology solutions, working with partners such as Legora.

Speaking to Legal IT Insider about the creation of the independent subsidiary, Manie said that the new structure will give Fusion complete agility. Fusion's clients now include legal technology vendors and the subsidiary is working not just in a legal advisory capacity, but testing products and working as an implementation partner. Manie and her team are also acting as a technology consultant to in-house legal departments.

When Claude released its new plugin, Fusion gave advice on what that actually means and how you can benchmark that against legal AI tools. The team is helping clients with procurement and benchmarking; how they test ROI; how they take projects to the board; and what feedback to the board should look like a year in.

Manie shares her takeaways here on the things to consider before deciding your own strategy.