Singapore Telecommunications : Academy of Law and Singtel organise the “Olympics” of legal hackathons

Competition gives local legal technologists a chance to gain global exposure

Singapore, 16 January 2019 - The Singapore Academy of Law ('SAL')'s Future Law Innovation Programme ('FLIP') and Singtel are co-organising the Singapore leg of the Global Legal Hackathon 2019. The competition challenges participants to conceptualise and develop innovative technological solutions to tackle real world issues faced by the legal community.

Dubbed the 'Olympics' of legal hackathons, the Global Legal Hackathon 2019 is open to legal, technology and design professionals. It gives local legal technologists a chance to gain international exposure and to compete against the best from around the world.

The Singapore leg of the competition will take place from 22 to 24 February 2019 at Singtel's newly refurbished community and collaboration space, Singtel@8George. Teams are expected to draw from the multidisciplinary experience of their members and develop solutions for problem statements posed by SAL and Singtel. Submissions will be judged on design, feasibility as well as revenue models by members of the law community and Singtel Innov8, Singtel's corporate venture fund. The winning team from Singapore will win prizes and could advance to the global finals, to be held in May 2019. If successful, the team would join the ranks of Regall LT, a local team that made it to the global finals in New York last year.

Ms Shantini Sanmuganathan, Singtel Group's General Counsel said, 'Digital has become a new way of working in Singtel, whether we are improving our internal processes or creating new solutions for customers. Events such as the Global Legal Hackathon provide an opportunity for us to foster innovation and collaborate with the brightest minds in different fields. We look forward to working together with them to come up with creative solutions to problems that would benefit both Singtel and the larger legal community as a whole.'

'We are happy to have Singtel on board for this year's edition of the legal hackathon,' said Mr Paul Neo, creator of FLIP and Chief Operating Officer of SAL. 'It is a positive sign that the business world is looking at how innovation and technology can enhance efficiency in all areas, including in the legal departments of companies. We hope to be able to continue supporting the transformation of the legal ecosystem through FLIP's programmes and look forward to working alongside organisations both within and beyond the legal sector to do so.'

As in last year's inaugural edition, the Singapore leg of the Global Legal Hackathon 2019 is expected to attract diverse participants from various professional backgrounds, as well as age groups. For instance, teams last year comprised senior and young lawyers, in-house counsel, legal technologists, students and non-law professionals from the fintech and tech sectors. This multidisciplinary factor ensured that they created commercially viable and creative products, while adopting solutions and strategies from sectors outside their own. This year's hackathon will once again require all teams to accept additional members on the first evening, encouraging participants without teams to join.

For more information on the Singapore leg of the Global Legal Hackathon 2019 and to register, please visit http://www.flip.org.sg/events-1/global-legal-hackathon.

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