Agile Elephant are proud to be joining Cambridge Strategy Group and Pinsent Masons as the joint team hosting the London event for the world’s largest legal hackathon – the Global Legal Hackathon on February 23-25. It’s only 3 weeks away, and we need your help! We need hacker teams and team members, helpers for the weekend to make it happen, mentors to advise the teams and keep them on track, and sponsors to help cover the costs – this is a not for profit initiative for the 3 host companies involved, and we are delighted to be supported by the Law Society too.
So what is this thing all about? Let me explain….
What is the Global Legal Hackathon?
The Global Legal Hackathon (GLH) is happening simultaneously over the weekend of February 23-25 in more than 40 cities, across 6 continents. The purpose is the rapid development of solutions to improve the legal industry using innovative ideas and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, or the Internet of Things. The GLH will engage law schools, law firms and in-house departments, legal technology companies, governments, and service providers to the legal industry across the globe.
What is a Hackathon?
A hackathon is a competition where multi-disciplinary teams come together to collaborate, build and launch mobile or web apps aimed at solving a particular problem. They usually work in small groups over a couple of days. People can come individually or as a team, with an existing idea to pitch, or to listen and join one of the teams that will be formed at the start of the event. The goal is to come up with a prototype or proposal at the end of the hackathon to present in front of a panel of judges.
In our case teams will be a minimum of 3 and a suggested maximum of 6. Anyone has the chance to pitch an idea at the start of the event on Friday evening, teams will be formed, they’ll work over the weekend, and then present to the judges at the end of the weekend. A winner will be declared for London and that team will go through to a global competition, culminating with a winner announced at a banquet in New York on April 21.
It is a competition, but we aim to be inclusive. All teams must be willing to accept individual participants on the first day of the event.
What is the goal of a team entering the GLH?
The goal is to apply innovative ideas and emerging technologies to progress the business of law or facilitate access to justice for the public.
Who is organising the London GLH?
The London event is being organised by Cambridge Strategy Group, Agile Elephant, and Pinsent Masons who are kindly providing the venue at 30 Crown Place, Earl Street, London EC2A 4ES.
Who is behind the GLH?
The GLH is being organised globally by Integra, IBM Watson Legal, the Global Legal Blockchain Consortium, Cadence and ONE400.
Who are the judges for the London GLH?
We are assembling a balanced team of 5 judges, which we hope to announce soon.
How do I get involved in the GLH?
It’s free to get involved – go to GlobalLegalHackathon.com and register. Then download the Cadence event app to your phone and complete your profile. To find the app on the app store, it is best to search for Cadence and events. We will use a mix of email, the Cadence app, social media and our various websites to make announcements and keep you posted on our progress.
In what ways can I get involved in the GLH?
We need:
- Hacker teams and team members – Anyone involved in the law, interested in the law, involved in technology for the law, or coders and technologists who want to join the fun. We know some firms will submit teams, and other teams will form around a great idea at the GLH.
- Helpers – We need volunteers over the weekend of February 23-25 to make it happen and keep everyone happy.
- Mentors – We need subject matter experts and technologists who can mentor the teams over the weekend to help crystallise their ideas, challenge them, or keep them on track.
- Judges – We are assembling a balanced team of 5 (don’t call us, we’ll call you).
- Sponsors – As well as the venue we will be providing food and drinks, name tags and supplies. We may even add a main prize and additional prizes. We need sponsors interested in helping us fund all of this. This is a ‘not for profit’ exercise for the hosts, but we need to cover our costs.
Who do I contact if I want to participate or help?
Get in touch with Rob Millard or David Terrar, but please register, download Cadence to your phone and then you will be able to message us directly through the app.
How do I make a noise about this?
We will be broadcasting on social media channels using the hashtags #GlobalLegalHack & #GLH2018. Follow the GLH on Twitter at @WorldHackathon and follow the London organisers at @robmillard & @DT. GLH have also partnered with legal media sources ArtificialLawyer.com and Legal Talk Network.
Where do I find out more?
All of the detail about the event including the judging rubric, event schedule, the other cities and companies involved and more can be found at GlobalLegalHackathon.com, where you will find guidance for attendees, guidance for hosts, or just ask.
We’re really looking forward to it!
UPDATE:
The London stream of the GLH now has its own website at LegalHackathon.London