A legal hackathon is an event at which law students, lawyers, developers, designers and other community members gather to address a specific problem, often drawing on shared momentum from private-sector, non-profit, and government partners. Participants work intensively, typically over the course of one to three days, to prototype and present solutions. Solutions generated at these events have ranged from chatbots to virtual platforms that help individuals navigate the complexities of the legal system. More than ever, hackathons hold the potential to generate ideas that can be harnessed and implemented to create more equitable approaches and systems.

This panel brings together experts and innovators from hackathons, including The Justice Hack (BC), the Stanford CodeX Hackathon, the Philly (Philadelphia) Social Justice Hackathon, and the Cambridge Hack the Law (LLM x Law) Hackathon. Together, they will share how hackathons contribute to user-centered and multi-disciplinary approaches that generate novel tools, strategies, and partnerships. With a focus on access to justice and the evolving role of technology, this discussion will showcase the speakers’ leadership in hackathon coordination and continuity. The session is also a part of preparations for another justice hack in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Brandon Hastings is a litigator and mediator at Cassady Law LLP and the founder of The Justice Hack, dedicated to bridging the justice gap through innovative solutions at the intersection of law and technology. He holds an LLM in Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship from Cornell Tech, and is a co-founder of Vancouver Legal Hackers, fostering a legal technology community and advancing discussions on computational law, access to justice, and policy reform.



 

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Dr. Megan Ma is a Research Fellow and the Associate Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science, and Technology and the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics (CodeX). Her research focuses on the use and integration of generative AI in legal applications and the translation of legal knowledge to code, considering their implications in contexts of human-machine collaboration. She also teaches courses in computational law and insurance tech at the Law School.

Dr. Ma is also currently an Advisor to the PearX for AI program, Editor-in-Chief for the Cambridge Forum on AI, Law, and Governance, and the Managing Editor of the MIT Computational Law Report and a Research Affiliate at Singapore Management University in their Centre for Computational Law. Megan received her PhD in Law at Sciences Po and was a lecturer there, having taught courses in Artificial Intelligence and Legal Reasoning, Legal Semantics, and Public Health Law and Policy. She has previously been a Visiting PhD at the University of Cambridge and Harvard Law School respectively.
 

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Zarja Hude is a PhD candidate at London School of Economics, researching tax data modelling. She’s a senior associate at King’s Entrepreneurship Lab at University of Cambridge, where she runs Weekly Workshops and LLM x Law Hackathon. Previously, she worked at EY’s technology centre of excellence, focusing on generative AI applications in immigration practice. She graduated from the Faculty of Law at University of Cambridge.


 

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Amy A. Emerson is Assistant Dean for Library and Information Services and Professor of Law at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, and serves as a Co-Organizer of the Philadelphia Chapter of Legal Hackers. She brings experience in organizing social justice hackathons focused on the intersection of law and technology.


 

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Insiyah Jamal is a Project Manager for the Responsible Computing for Just Futures Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. She has a multi-disciplinary background in project management, data management and analytics at higher ed institutions and an Am Law 200 law firm.  She is passionate about legal tech, data, community building and social impact. She co-founded the Philadelphia Social Justice Hackathon series  as co-organizer for the Philadelphia Chapter of LegalHackers.org, to bring together all the Philly law schools, local legal aid providers and technology groups and the Philly community.




 

This webinar is hosted by CBABC, which is located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam First Nations. We encourage our members to explore the rich history and knowledge of Indigenous people, and to continue learning about their experience in Canada, past and present.
 

Registrants will be sent an email directing them to access materials and recordings via the Video tab at the top of this page. 

Closed captioning is available in the video player.