The Paris Bar Legal Tech Incubator (L’Incubateur du Barreau de Paris), which was the first legal tech incubator in Europe, is seeking new applications for this year’s innovation prize. There will be two awards, €10,000 for the lawyer group and €3,000 for the students group.
The incubator, which was created in 2014, ahead of many other organisations across world, is looking for people who have developed legal tech applications that cover the following areas:
- Faciliter l’accès au droit et à la justice (Improve access to justice.)
- Améliorer et optimiser les ressources internes des cabinets (Improve and optimise the internal resources of law firms.)
- Promouvoir le droit français à l’étranger (Promote the use of French law abroad).
- Développer des technologies visant à renforcer la compétitivité des avocats (Develop legal tech that increases the competitiveness of lawyers.)
- Participer à la modernisation et à la professionnalisation de l’enseignement juridique (and which helps to modernise legal education.)
For the lawyer category, applicants can be a lawyer or law firm in France, or a company that is linked to the legal market, where some of its managers/founders are also lawyers.
For the student category, well, you have to be a student….
A number of applications will be presented to a jury comprised of Parisian lawyers, then voted on. The Incubator points out that it is essential that any innovation must respect the local Bar rules on the practice of law, which is understandable.
If you fancy a go, then allons-y! The deadline is 14 October, i.e. in two weeks. You can email applications or requests for more information to: prixinnovation@incubateur-barreaudeparis.com
Some of the key questions you will have to think about and respond to for the prize include:
- How does your innovation help lawyers?
- What are its competitors in the market?
- What added value does it provide?
- What is your business model?
- And, does your innovation/application conform to the local bar rules?
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P.S. One thing that has always been surprising is the fact that London and Paris are both great centres of legal tech innovation, yet it can sometimes feel that we are 10,000 miles apart and in fact know little about what the other is doing, rather than being just a short journey by Eurostar apart and with plenty in common.
For a while now Artificial Lawyer has been quietly sounding out parties that may be interested in developing an Anglo-French legal tech meetup, to share ideas across La Manche/The Channel. Let me know if this sounds of interest.
(N.B. translations from the French above are Artificial Lawyer’s, apologies if there are errors.)