A legal tech hackathon for students in Singapore, backed by Linklaters, Clifford Chance and Dentons Rodyk, has announced the winning teams.
The event was organised by the Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Legal Innovation and Technology (LIT) group, and took place earlier this month.
Singapore has developed a reputation for a high level of engagement with legal tech from both the government and academic institutions. This has followed decisions made in 2016 to promote the benefits of innovation to the local legal community. This matters more than just locally as Singapore is one of the key legal centres in the Asia-Pacific region.
Nanda Min Htin, President of SMU LIT, told Artificial Lawyer: ‘During the event, our law firm partners provided a set of ‘Problem Statements’, which covered diverse topics such as: automating research, legal analytics, and access to justice.
‘Participant teams chose a single Problem Statement from those provided and build a prototype solution. Participants also got the opportunity to interact with industry leaders, academics and other legal tech stakeholders to get further inspiration and advice for their submissions.’
Winners of the various categories won cash prizes and other goodies. Clifford Chance provided an Impact Award and Dentons Rodyk the Access to Justice Award. There was also a Singapore Academy of Law ‘Best Tool to improve Law Firm Operations/Productivity’ Award and a LexisNexis ‘Advancing What’s Possible’ Award. Linklaters and local firm Rajah & Tann also provided support for the hackathon as donors. Legal tech company, Avvoka, also got involved.
List of prize winners:
- Champions and winners of the Dentons Rodyk Access to Justice Award:
- Team name: QWERTY
- Member: Lee Yu Hao
- Member: Natalia Mai Do Ngoc
- Member: Galen Ong Kiat Loon
- Member: Ezra Lim Pin
- Member: Aw Khai Loong
They produced: LowerTheBar, which uses speech recognition and deep learning to classify legal problems and find lawyers tailored to their needs, without requiring prior knowledge of the law.
- 1st runner-up and winners of the Clifford Chance Impact Award:
- Team name: Astrazenacca
- Member: Tan Jun Han
- Member: Tan Min Hui
- Member: Teo Boon Khang
- Member: Chan Ming Kai Alvin
- Member: Jolene Tan
Their product, Luman, is a one-stop application that caters specifically to legal professionals. It includes mental wellness resources, various help channels, and a space for you to stay connected to others.
- 2nd runner-up: Baristars
- Team name: Baristars
- Member: Fabrianne Effendi
- Member: Patricia Seow
- Member: Clarissa Bella Jew
- Member: Carine Teo
- Member: Geraldine Soo
- Winners of the Singapore Academy of Law Best Tool to Improve Law Firm Operations & Productivity Award:
- Team name: Spam Conspiracy
- Member: Sreya Sobti
- Member: Carmen Yip Ji Yan
- Member: Kwek Sin Yee
- Member: Poo Jing Fei Nikki
- Member: Bryan Lim
Their product, LawSuite, is an integrated social-driven platform that connects trainees to their seniors and colleagues through gamification.
- Winners of the AWS Cloud Award and LexisNexis ‘Advancing What’s Possible’ Award:
- Team name: WWT LLP
- Member: Wong Kok Rui
- Member: Tang Yetong
- Member: Wong Kok Chee
Congratulations to all who took part. We haven’t had too many hackathons in the US and UK since the pandemic hit, so it’s good to see them continuing, even if this one was conducted remotely. It’s always encouraging to see a new generation of students engaging with legal technology in a creative way.