The Global Legal Hackathon ‘literally changed some people’s lives’
Dera Nevin visited 19 cities to document how the historic hackathon unfolded in local communities across the globe
The Global Legal Hackthon “literally changed some people’s lives,” said Dera Nevin, whose passion for disruption and discovery has brought her on a journey around the world. In the last four days, Nevin has been on three different continents, learning about the Global Legal Hackathon events that began in cities worldwide and their impact on local communities as part of her documentary #ToTheMars.
We caught up with the eDiscovery expert on the last leg of her trip, in Nevin’s hometown of Toronto, before she headed off to the Global Legal Hackathon Finals in New York.
“I was struck by the degree of the enthusiasm people had for the hackathon in various communities,” said Nevin of the GLH participants and organizers she met. “These people are passionate about improving service delivery and justice outcomes.”
Nevin was also impressed with the GLH venues. “The local hosts did such a great job finding fabulous venues and great food and programming.” In total, Nevin visited 19 cities across six continents during her 40-day sprint.
Beyond documenting the impact that this historic event has had, and discovering areas it could improve on next year, Nevin explained that a key part of her recent travels is “community building.”
“During the hackathon, we noticed a number of teams in different countries may have been tackling very similar challenges,” said Nevin, “and so developing relationships and putting these people in contact with each other is helpful.”
She did not necessarily set out to visit the hackathon “winners” but instead focused on locations that lacked “hackathon cultures” or robust communities of people working in legal innovation, “in order to listen to them and find out what they need.”
Nevin believes hackathons present great opportunities not only for lawyers but also for their clients to participate, as they can work in tandem to identify and solve problems specific to their needs.
A hackathon enthusiast herself, Nevin’s journey actually began as a participant in the first round of the Global Legal Hackathon in New York. She recounts her own hackathon experience:
I got to sit in a room with very senior members of legal departments for two banks for 40 hours — new contacts, and we’re still in touch. That’s gold. I would have had to spend years at conferences making those contacts. But instead, we worked on a problem, and I [now] have very good insight into what is animating them in their choice of counsel and what some of their major problems are. So I don’t know why these things aren’t jammed with lawyers doing business development and client development.
In part, she believes that one of the problems with legal hackathons in general is that “we haven’t done a good job at explaining to IT people why solving legal problems matters…from a technical and social impact perspective.”
Nevin muses, salary considerations aside, “If you’re a full-stack developer, would you rather spend your whole time maximizing ad revenue or help people not have their houses foreclosed?”
While it’s clear that the GLH participants have already been persuaded on this point, going forward, Nevin hopes to convert more minds to help solve problems in the legal industry. “I think we just need to let the [tech] community know that this could be a vertical that you may choose to work in at some point in your career — because lawyers can’t do it alone.”
Nevin’s documentary will undoubtedly bring this message to life.
You can catch a sneak peek of her work at the GLH Finals & Gala this Saturday, April 21, in Manhattan.
Here are some highlights on how the GLH has brought tech and legal industries together to make lasting impacts in local communities around the world.
Seattle (USA)
The GLH event in Seattle was hosted by Davis Wright Tremaine and Microsoft. On one of the first stops in her far-reaching journey, Nevin reflected on the importance of search engines in the legal sector:
It’s possible lawyers do not really spend a lot of time thinking about how the internet serves up search results when a customer wants to find a lawyer, but there’s a science — and lots of money — behind this. Understanding how customers will find you by key words in internet search engines, is essential, because the key words you own and associate with your business can affect who finds you…
Read the rest of Dera Nevin’s post, “Thinking about the Search Premium on Law.”
Shanghai (CHINA)
After departing North America’s West Coast and stopping over in Melbourne, Australia, Nevin made her way to Shanghai. The GLH event in Shanghai was hosted by Bestone Information and Technology. Here’s what she observed when meeting with the teams:
The Chinese teams generated substantial products over the weekend, many involving novel applications of automation, chatbots and machine learning… The Chinese teams’ productivity is more remarkable when one considers that they are working without much of the technology stack the teams in other countries used and take for granted…
Read the rest of Dera Nevin’s post, “Shanghai: Explosive Innovation Without a Full Toolset.”
Kharkiv (UKRAINE)
The GLH event in Kharkiv was hosted by The Hague Institute for Innovating Justice (HiiL). While in Ukraine, Nevin spoke with the teams and organizers responsible for giving the GLH community its mascot along with Nevin’s signature, #tothemars:
…Ukraine has already had a super-sized impact on the Global Legal Hackathon community. This shouldn’t come as a surprise: the co-hosts and instigators of the Ukrainian GLH reflect that country’s aspirations in the legal innovation sector. This country wants to push the envelope in legal innovation and punch above weight…
Read the rest of Dera Nevin’s post, “Ukraine: Aspirations for More.”
Stockholm (SWEDEN)
The GLH event in Stockholm was hosted by Synch Law. While visiting with organizers and teams in Sweden, Nevin observed that the country’s legal sector was only just emerging compared to its booming tech sector.
The Global Legal Hackathon may have been the first legal hackathon in the Nordic region, say those I spoke to who were involved in it. Certainly, no-one could point to any other hackathon with a legal focus although Stockholm already has an engaged technology sector…
Read the rest of Nevin’s post, “Stockholm — For LegalTech, the Awareness and Conversation has Started.”
Alexandria (EGYPT)
The GLH event in Alexandria was hosted by المدونة القانونية (Legal Blog). While in Egypt, Nevin observed:
That any legal hackathon happened at all in Egypt is an incredible achievement, and much credit needs to go to Ahmed Mofta, a lawyer and its organizer. We are not aware of any previous legal hackathons in Alexandria or elsewhere in Egypt… Few lawyers routinely use technology for service delivery, the court system generally is not digitized, and there is currently a limited market for legal technology…
Read the rest of her post, “Cairo: We need knowledge, networks, connections (and materials in Arabic).”
Florianopolis (BRAZIL)
The GLH event in ‘Floripa’ was hosted by Softplan. It was one of Nevin’s last stops, and she noted the lasting impact the hackathon had on its organizers and the bar association.
The Global Legal Hackathon had a significant impact on [Softplan]; it’s now incorporating hackathon modeling into its business processes…The emphasis on collaboration, and lawyers working together with other stakeholders to clearly identify problems and craft solutions was a wonderful feature of the event.
Read the rest of her post, “Florianopolis: Innovation as Process.”
Read Nevin’s reflections on each GLH location she visited on LinkedIn or click on the city below.
Belo Horizonte | Berlin Bucharest | Budapest | Cairo | Dubai Florianopolis | Johannesburg | Kharkiv | LA London | Melbourne | San Francisco | Seattle | Shanghai | Singapore | Stockholm | Toronto Vancouver
Dera Nevin will show a preview of her documentary at the Global Legal Hackathon Finals & Gala, April 21, in New York. For more information on the event, visit globallegalhackathon.com. For updates on #tothemars, follow Dera Nevin on Twitter @dera_nevin !
To learn more about Dera Nevin’s world tour, read David Lat’s recent Above the Law article, “Around The World In 40 Days: An Interview With Dera Nevin.”
