Liverpool Law Aug 2017

Hackathon
The Online Courts Hackathon
The online Courts Hackathon organised by the Society for Computers
and Law and Legal Geek represented a brilliant opportunity to bring
the the innovation and creativity of the UK’s burgeoning tech sector
to bear on one of the thorniest problems of our age for the Legal
Profession. Moving towards delivering justice online presents a major
opportunity and also a major challenge. How do we ensure that the
interests of parties are maintained, that those who are not
comfortable with technology do not feel disadvantaged, that those for
whom English is a second or third language still get the help and
guidance that they need, that parties feel that they are receiving
Justice and the online equivalent of their “day in court” where their
matter is listened to and given due consideration? Balance that with
the aim of improving access to Justice, helping the 9 out of ten people
who have a legal issue or problem but who never get anywhere near a
lawyer or a court for fear of costs, complexity or even just time? A
major issue but one with unlimited potential to deliver access to
justice to those who really need it, and to make legal services
accessible for all.
So the challenge, or rather eight of them formulated by the organisers of
this hackathon, were focused around develop a system to help deliver an
online court that could help with any one or more of Form Filling,
Order Drafting, Online Hearing, Argument building, Outcome
Prediction, Negotiation and settlement, Dispute Classification and
bundles for hearings. Teams were invited to enter and develop a concept
and demonstration for potential systems, all against the clock.
The venue was the University of Law, Moorgate, with over 200
competitors forming thirty teams. At fairly short notice, the Law Society
had formed a joint team with Wavelength Law, and arrived at the
previously “Secret” venue with enough supplies to last the 24 hours of
the hackathon and relieved to see that there was a Tesco Express next
door that would no doubt be relied on heavily by all of the competitors
during the coming endeavours. From 11am competitors began to
assemble, with teams from Oxford & Cambridge University as well as
entries from firms like Pinsent Masons who arrived with a large amount
of specialist IT equipment, Linklaters, Kennedys who arrived with 3
coders that they had flown in from India, and even Australian firm
Gilbert & Tobin who had flown a team in specially from Sydney.
After a briefing from President of the Society of Computers and Law
Rirchard Susskind, along with comments from the Chief Executive of
Her Majesty’s Court Service, the basis of the 8 challenges were revealed
for the first time. Crucially, while detailing the substance, it was made
clear that teams should not feel limited by each individual challenge. So
if your solution covered several areas of the challenges, such as
delivering an online hearing system that also managed negotiations and
producing bundles for the parties, this was not only permissible but
positively encouraged. So the green flag was in effect waved at 1pm,
with pizzas organised along with a breakfast at 8am before tools were to
be downed at 9am when pitches would commence.
Due to the volume of competitors it would impractical to have 30
pitches in the main hall, so there was a first round with teams split into 3
rooms of ten with their 4 minute pitches screened by judges to whittle it
down to 3 teams from each room, and a final round of 9 teams pitching
for 5 minutes in the main room where the Lord Chief Justice and the
Chief Executive of HMCTS were in attendance.
After some deliberations, the joint Law Society/Wavelength team
developed a system put forward by Mark O’Grady, the sole coder on the
team, that operated using the Amazon "Alexa" system, as well as via
mobile App and website, allowing for verbal interaction around a
housing disrepair issue, with a system that listened to the problem, noted
the evidence, drafted a letter to a landlord, kept track of replies and next
steps and made recommendations on going to the Housing
Ombudsman, Court or finding a solicitor where it would recommend a
range of specialists who could handle it for a fixed fee, and a bundle of
evidence was then available to help the solicitor or support court
proceedings. So we covered about 4 of the 8 areas within the challenge.
Furthermore the system was built around helping the user, not
necessarily directing them to Court if it wasn’t the most effective
resolution for them. Indeed, if services could be provided but the matter
kept out of Court while the user is satisfied and has received real
practical help and support, everyone is a winner with the user departing
happily and the Court’s resources being saved.
Law Society Director of Legal and Regulatory Policy, Sophia Adams
Bhatti was integral in putting a Law Society team together with
Wavelength Law at very short notice. She presented both the first round
pitch and the winning pitch excellently, proving to be a polished
unflappable speaker who contributed to a presentation that talked about
people and their problems and how our system could help them, which
seemed to have a positive impact on the judging panel. We progressed
through the first round even though an AV issue meant that the room
could not hear our pre – recorded video of the interaction with Alexa
that had been prepared. However the supportive comments from other
competitors started to raise our hopes, and the final presentation was
seamless, with everyone able to hear COLIN (abbreviation of “Court
On Line”) and the interaction with “Steve”, our hypothetical client. It
was still a surprise though to hear the final words that Wavelength and
the Law Society were winners, with the award presented by Lord Chief
Justice Thomas.
Amongst the busy social media traffic afterwards, HMCTS tweeted
about the victory, which was retweeted by Cabinet Secretary and Head
of the Civil Service Sir Jeremy Heywood. Clearly eyes had been focused
on the Hackathon. Now we have to ask if COLIN will become a reality?
Peter Wright
DigitalLawUK
Wavelength - The Law Society team