UK law firm Weightmans has used no-code platform Neota Logic to build an immigration law app to help people fleeing the war in Ukraine. The free product was built as part of Law School 2.0’s ‘Support48′ idea sprint for legal tech solutions to support Ukraine.
The virtual event, which took place 18th to 20th March, gathered together eight teams which worked on ‘looking deeper into challenges faced by people fleeing Ukraine, and the organisations and lawyers seeking to assist them’. Law School 2.0 is a UK-based group that organises educational events around innovation and legal tech.
Throughout the 48 hours participants were guided through the process of: problem-framing; solution creation; and ensuring solution adoption, the group said. While most participants applied individually, including a large number from BPP University, Weightmans submitted a team of 21 lawyers, the group noted.
Weightmans’ solution, called Instruction+, which as mentioned is based on Neota Logic, ‘helps immigration lawyers by reducing the time it takes to gather initial information for a person’s claim’, i.e. it’s a guided Q&A workflow.
CTO of Weightmans, Stuart Whittle, said: ‘[This was] a great initiative by Law School 2.0 and it was fascinating working with a diverse group of people within our firm all of whom have very different experiences and ideas. We even had a former refugee share her perspective. I really hope that the ideas coming out of the weekend can be turned in to something that is actually useful and solving some of the real-world problems that the Ukrainian refugees are experiencing right now.’
Along with Weightmans, participants will now work with BRYTER, Neota, and fellow UK law firm Addleshaw Goddard, to turn their ideas into deployable solutions, said the organisers.
Annabel Pemberton, Co-Founder of Law School 2.0, concluded: ‘In times like this, sometimes it is the aggregated effort of many people that can make a difference. We hope through bringing skills together for Support48 and the next solution building phases, we can coordinate and spark change in such an awful situation.’
The group added that if you would like to get involved in supporting the teams to build out their solutions, please email Law School 2.0 at: hello@lawschool2-0.com
The Weightmans team included: Stuart Whittle, Catriona Wolfenden, Bea Beale, Beth Wells, Bethan Davies, Chris Chan, Dev Devadason, Ed Barry, Emily England, Emmett Boyce, Iuliana Ghemis, Jane Price, John Schorah, Lia Tong, Louise Neave, Lydia Hazlehurst, Mandy Higgins, Pauline Rozario, Rebecca Benson, Wendy Perry.