Cecile is a sophisticated tool, but like any tool — or any human — it can make mistakes. Legal documents produced by Cecile may contain errors, omissions, or formatting that does not comply with the specific requirements of your court or matter.
It is your personal and professional responsibility to review every document Cecile produces before filing it, serving it on any party, or relying on it in any legal proceedings. Never file a Cecile document without a thorough review by a qualified legal practitioner.
Seekefy (Pty) Ltd, the developer of Cecile Pro, accepts no liability for any loss, prejudice, or harm arising from the use of documents produced by this tool.
What does Pleadings Writer do?
Pleadings Writer takes your draft document (a working .docx or .pdf containing your facts, arguments, or notes) and reformats it into a court-ready legal document in the correct formal style for your jurisdiction.
It applies the proper heading structure, paragraph numbering, court block, notice block, prayers, appearances, and formatting conventions — all without sending your document to OpenAI or any third party. Processing happens on Cecile's secure EU server.
How to use it
Select your jurisdiction Choose the country whose court rules apply. South Africa uses the Uniform Rules of Court (High Court) and Magistrates' Court Rules.
Upload your draft Upload a .docx or .pdf — max 10 MB. This can be rough notes, a previous version, or a body of facts. It does not need to be formatted already.
Enter document type and any instructions In the text box, tell Cecile what type of document to produce and any specific changes you need. See examples below.
Click "Format & Download .docx" Processing takes 20–50 seconds. Your formatted document downloads automatically when ready.
South Africa — Supported document types
Type the document name exactly as shown in the Document type & instructions box:
Document type
What you type
Court rule
Notice of Motion
Notice of Motion
Rule 6
Founding Affidavit
Founding Affidavit
Rule 6
Answering Affidavit
Answering Affidavit
Rule 6
Replying Affidavit
Replying Affidavit
Rule 6
Particulars of Claim
Particulars of Claim
Rule 17
Plea
Plea
Rule 22
Exception
Exception
Rule 23
Heads of Argument
Heads of Argument
—
Notice of Appeal
Notice of Appeal
Rule 49
Notice of Set-Down
Notice of Set-Down
Rule 30
Bail Application
Bail Application
CPA s 60
Judgment
Judgment
—
If you do not specify a document type, Cecile will infer it from the content of your uploaded file. Specifying it explicitly always gives better results.
Other jurisdictions
For Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ghana, and the United Kingdom, type the document type in plain language as it is known in that jurisdiction. Examples:
Kenya: Plaint, Chamber Summons, Grounds of Appeal
Nigeria: Writ of Summons, Statement of Claim, Written Address
United Kingdom: Particulars of Claim, Defence, Skeleton Argument
Cecile adapts the formatting conventions to the selected jurisdiction automatically.
Instruction examples
Notice of Motion with prayers
What to type
Notice of Motion. Prayers: (1) interdict the first respondent from disposing of the immovable property described as Erf 123 Sandton; (2) costs on attorney and client scale; (3) further and/or alternative relief.
Founding Affidavit with translation
What to type
Founding Affidavit. Translate all headings to Afrikaans. Fix spelling and grammar throughout.
Particulars of Claim
What to type
Particulars of Claim. The defendant is a company. Add a prayer for payment of R150 000 plus interest at 10.5% per annum and costs.
Heads of Argument
What to type
Heads of Argument. Case number 12345/2026. Applicant is represented by Adv. J. Smith SC.
Bail Application
What to type
Bail Application under section 60 of the Criminal Procedure Act. Accused is charged with fraud. Fix grammar errors.
General reformatting only (no document type change)
What to type
Fix all spelling and grammar errors. Correct paragraph numbering. Add missing commissioner of oaths block at the end.
Tips for best results
Always state the document type first, before any other instructions.
Include the case number and party names in your uploaded draft — Cecile will extract and format them into the court header automatically.
For prayers in a Notice of Motion, list them clearly separated by semicolons or numbered. Cecile will format them as (a), (b), (c) automatically.
If your draft is a rough Word document with no formatting at all, that's fine — Cecile reads the content, not the formatting.
Maximum file size is 10 MB. Very long documents (over ~80 pages) may be truncated. For long matters, split into sections (e.g., upload the founding affidavit separately from the annexures).
Cecile produces a court-style formatted document but does not provide legal advice. Always review the output and satisfy yourself that it is correct before filing.
After your document downloads
When your .docx downloads successfully, Cecile shows you a list of corrections and changes it made. Review these, then open the file in Word for any final edits before filing.
Click "Format Another Document" to go back and process a second document in the same session.