The Inaugural LegalTech in Leeds Hackathon is a Huge Success

Mon

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13 Mar

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23 Last Friday, LegalTech in Leeds hosted its first ever Hackathon, and it was a huge success!

'The Big Hack', hosted in partnership with Bruntwood SciTech, saw over 50 people brave the snow to join us for our first ever LegalTech in Leeds Hackathon. At the Platform building in Leeds, six teams gathered to work together over the course of a day to solve key challenges faced by the legal sector.

The day began with networking over breakfast before Julian Wells, Director at Whitecap Consulting welcomed all attendees and introduced Hackathon. Starting with a brief overview of the LegalTech in Leeds initiative, followed by an explanation of how the day would run including the agenda, the key challenges and the judging criteria for the pitching session.

Prior to the event, attendees were told to bring their own technology and that there would be no restrictions on the use of low-code and no-code solutions.

It was then time for the teams to start hacking. Each team had at least one person in the following roles:

◾ Developer

◾ Business Analyst

◾ UX

◾ Legal Specialist

◾ Student

Teams also had access to a number of Expert Advisors who were on hand throughout the day to observe the teams and offer support and guidance.

Set with the task of working together to find a technology-based solution to a key challenge faced by the legal sector. Teams were able to choose a challenge from the framework below:

By lunchtime, the excitement of the day had built and the teams had been working non-stop with lots of high energy and enthusiasm. A selection of sandwiches, crisps and cookies were delivered to the teams as they powered through to the pitching sessions at 16:30.

Everyone gathered back together for the afternoon session where Julian Wells introduced the judging panel:

◾ Deb Hetherington, Head of Innovation at Bruntwood SciTech.

◾ Richelle Schuster FRSA, Head ofInnovation - Design and Impact at Leeds City Council.

◾ Adam Roney, Founder and CEO at Calls9.

◾ Natalie Ledgard, New Business Development Relationship Manager at Jungle IT.

◾ Patrick Craig, Senior Tutor and Project Director (North), University of Law.

Each team was given 10 minutes to present their solution, followed by questions from the judging panel. After each pitch, the judges left the room to discuss their feedback and allocate their scores based on the criteria.

A brief summary of the solutions and concepts pitched by the teams:

Team 1 - Illuminate, pitched an AI document scanning solution.

Team 2 - EffiMax2B, pitched a knowledge management solution.

Team 3 - Legalease, pitched a solution for workflow automation for claims management.

Team 4 - Settlemate, pitched a litigation and disputes resolution tool.

Team 5 - Remedy Robin, pitched a solution for customer disputes in the retail sector.

Team 6 - CompliCo, pitched a compliance management system for in-house legal teams within SMEs.

All of the teams had worked extremely hard to deliver fantastic pitches with innovative tech-based solutions. Once all the teams had presented, the judges settled on their LegalTech in Leeds 'The Big Hack' winners - Team 5, Remedy Robin.

Image of the winning team 'Remedy Robin'

"I really enjoyed participating in such an innovative event, spending the day working on a solution like that really gave me a feel of what it could be like to work in a very new startup and it was really exciting. Not knowing whether or not we would have a full solution ready to demo by the end of the day also added an element of thrill to the work! Would definitely take part in such an event again and LegalTech/Whitecap did a great job of hosting the hackathon." - Declan Daws, Business Analyst, xDesign.

"I am a Legal Technologist and this was my very first Hackathon. It was a great experience and fascinating to see how diverse minds from different backgrounds came together with unique and innovative ideas in just one day! The event showcased the enormous opportunities we have to utilise technology and deliver legal services in a more accessible and efficient way for all those who use our services." - Nikita Sakhare, Legal Technologist, Addleshaw Goddard.

All attendees joined together to applaud and congratulate the winning team before heading downstairs to celebrate over pizza and drinks.

Overall the day was an enormous success and we would like to say a huge thank you to the Bruntwood SciTech Team for facilitating and hosting the event, to all attendees who worked exceptionally hard to deliver tremendous pitches, the esteemed judging panel who gave up their time to support the event and lastly, our LegalTech in Leeds sponsors and partners: Addleshaw Goddard, Bruntwood SciTech, Barclays Eagle Labs, Barrister Link, Calls9, CSP, DAC Beachcroft, Jungle IT, Leeds City Council, Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, Leeds Law Society, LawtechUK, Leeds Trinity University, rradar, Page White Farrer, SYKE, The University of Law, Toca, University of Leeds and Walker Morris.