Retha Beerman
Retha Beerman is a legal innovator and Director at CDH, where she leads the firm’s Knowledge Management strategy and the integration of advanced legal technologies, including GenAI.
With a career spanning leadership in employment law, knowledge management, and legal tech, Retha drives process transformation, operational efficiency, and client-focused solutions across the firm.
She also serves as Director of SA LawLabz, championing legal innovation in South Africa. Retha’s work empowers legal professionals to deliver higher quality, more cost-effective services, and positions CDH at the forefront of responsible, technology-enabled legal practice.

About Retha
About Retha
Retha was a Director at Fluxman Rabinowitz Raphaely Weiner before joining Hofmeyr Herbstein and Gihwala (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr) as a Director in 2002. Except for a three year period of absence (2005 to 2008)when she practiced for her own account, Retha remained in our Employment practice until she moved to the Knowledge Management department in 2011.
Credentials
Credentials
Education
- BLC, University of Pretoria
- LLB, University of South Africa (UNISA)
- LLM, University of Michigan (USA)
- Year of admission as an attorney: 1999
- Enrolled with the Legal Practice Council
Languages
Languages
- English
- Afrikaans
About Retha
Retha was a Director at Fluxman Rabinowitz Raphaely Weiner before joining Hofmeyr Herbstein and Gihwala (now Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr) as a Director in 2002. Except for a three year period of absence (2005 to 2008)when she practiced for her own account, Retha remained in our Employment practice until she moved to the Knowledge Management department in 2011.
Credentials
Education
- BLC, University of Pretoria
- LLB, University of South Africa (UNISA)
- LLM, University of Michigan (USA)
- Year of admission as an attorney: 1999
- Enrolled with the Legal Practice Council
Languages
- English
- Afrikaans
Experience
Leading the development and overseeing the implementation of a comprehensive knowledge management, information and training strategy.
Directing law firm quality control initiatives.
Developing and maintaining knowledge management tools and processes, and driving innovation and systems improvement by investigating, piloting, and implementing software, models, processes and tools that are non-traditional approaches to the provision of legal services, designed to improve quality and efficiency, such as automated document generation systems and corporate memory collections.
Identifying and executing strategies for closing knowledge gaps within existing systems.
Developing systems and steering collaboration to collect and curate relevant knowledge, and translate this information into usable formats.
Auditing and management of compliance issues.
Lecturing, formally and informally in the fields of contract and employment law.
Advising clients that are predominantly leading South African and international corporates, both listed and unlisted.
Dealing with all aspects of the employment relationship, including strategic planning, dealing with policy creation and implementation, advising on collective issues such as restructurings and retrenchments, advising on individual employment law, staff training, drafting of agreements, management of litigious processes (both internal and external) and the conduct of individual and collective negotiations.
Involved in various forms of civil litigation for substantial clients over the years, such as the VAT dispute between Metcash Trading and SARS during the late 90’s and early 2000’s.
Regularly represented clients in the Labour Court and before the CCMA.
News

GenAI: An old(ish) Lawyer's Fountain of Youth
I am not old. The number of birthdays I have celebrated might contradict that statement, but I maintain that I have not had time to grow old. For me, growing old means settling into...

CDH has deployed the two industry-leading GenAI legal platforms: Harvey and Legora
As one of Africa’s leading law firms, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) is committed to understanding our clients’ business needs and delivering exceptional value in an efficient and competitive...

Formatting with AI may be riskier than you realise
In Concord Music Group, Inc. v Anthropic PBC , 5:24-cv-03811, (N.D. Cal.) lawyers thought they did everything right. They researched legitimate sources, found real academic papers,...

Fictional citations, real consequences: A cautionary tale for the modern lawyer
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming almost every aspect of modern life, including legal research. Yet a recent judgment from the Pietermaritzburg High Court again showed just...

Employment Alert

CDH’s deployment of two industry-leading GenAI legal platforms: Harvey and Legora.
Retha Beerman, Director and Practice Head of Knowledge Management, recently joined John Maytham on 702/CapeTalk to discuss CDH’s deployment of two industry-leading GenAI legal platforms:...

Female leadership driving legal innovation
In this episode of our latest CDH Women's Empowerment podcast series, Female Leadership in LawLabz, Retha Beerman, CDH Knowledge Management Practice Head and Director, speaks with...
Expertise
