Elmariese Vermeulen, 30, is the founder and director of Opreg, a legal advising app tailored for South Africans. As an admitted attorney and notary of the high court, Elmariese wanted to makes legal advice affordable and accessible to more people. Opreg provides users with reliable legal guidance, education and free resources on critical legal issues. Elmariese oversees the app’s development and manages the company’s social media presence, ensuring it remains connected to its audience through informative content. Her job involves providing legal advice to the company’s corporate clients, as well as product development and marketing. Elmariese says that starting the Opreg app with no experience in coding has been one of her most significant achievements. The process taught her the importance of stepping outside of her comfort zone, a lesson that she says extends beyond personal growth into her professional development. Elmariese says Opreg is inspired by a desire to provide accessible legal knowledge to empower people and companies, particularly those for whom legal services are costly, with the information they need to navigate their legal rights. Her latest venture at Opreg is a course that can be downloaded for candidate legal practitioners.
Admitted as an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa (2020)
Admitted as a notary of the High Court of South Africa (2022)
Bcom (Law) (2015) and LLB degree (2017), University of Pretoria
Deans Merit List at the University of Pretoria law department (2017) Golden Key National Honour Society (2014 and 2015)
As an attorney with no prior experience in coding or marketing, creating the Opreg app was a leap into the unknown and its success a considerable achievement.
I owe much of my professional development to Brian Macgregor, Jason Stuart and the rest of the team at MRR Attorneys, where I served my articles. The training I received there created a solid foundation for my legal knowledge and their guidance was vital in honing my legal writing skills. Annick Hough-Bergh, of HJV Attorneys, with whom I worked for two years, taught me the importance of balancing justice with compassion. These mentors shaped my approach to law and I will forever be grateful to them.