Harnessing technology for the public good

After the COVID pandemic forced a cancellation in 2020 and an online only event last year, the Allens Neota UTS Law Tech Challenge for Social Justice roared back to life, pitting four teams against each other in an exciting Grand Final in the foyer of the University’s impressive new UTS Central building.

Encouraging students to use their legal knowledge to help solve social justice problems is a key feature of the UTS Law degree. The Challenge gives competitors the added opportunity to address these problems with the help of software technology.

As Dean of Law, Professor Anita Stuhmcke told the audience:

This Challenge is the epitome of one of the key skills we want our students to take from their degree – to understand and engage with technology and to do it for the public good.

Sponsored by international Law Firm, Allens in partnership with software company, Neota Logic, it’s a key event for UTS Law’s Brennan Social Justice and Leadership program.

INTERESTED IN LAW AND TECH? Find out about the UTS Legal Futures and Technology major

This year, four teams of five Brennan students worked with an Allens mentor and their chosen NGO to identify a problem within the organisation and come up with a solution using their legal skills and Neota Logic software technology to create apps.

After months of development and preparation they pitched their apps to the judging panel comprising Professor Stuhmcke, Allens’ Head of Legal Product Lab, Peter Campbell and Neota Logic’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jackson Liu.

The Judges were impressed with all the teams but chose Team Check Protect as the winner.

The team worked with Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) which runs indigenous mentoring programs across Australia. Every mentor must obtain a Working with Children Check (WWCC) but the requirements of these vary from state to state, resulting in a lot of paperwork and often confusion. Team Check Protect built a simple to use app that helps AIME mentors navigate the complexities of the different working with children requirements and frees them up to focus on their core work.

Allens’ Peter Campbell says the Judges appreciated the app’s potential to save time and confusion as well as its potential for use in other companies and jurisdictions. He says all legal practitioners have an obligation to ensure their clients have access to justice, and technology often plays a key part in this:

Graduates with experience and interest in software and apps have an edge. They are better prepared to use the modern tools we have available, but perhaps more importantly they have had experience considering problems from different perspectives and have a more open mindset. Lawyers that have been through an innovation journey like the students in the UTS challenge are equipped to engage more meaningfully in transforming a legal process or service to make it better and more efficient.

Professor Stuhmcke says it’s important graduates understand how technology can both support and enhance their legal work:

Our students are assisted to critically analyse technology as changing law, creating law and impacting legal practice. We have a strong focus on work-ready, practically oriented legal graduates committed to social justice and the application of an ethical approach across disciplinary knowledge, professional skills and powers of critical reflection.

Neota Logic’s Jackson Liu was there for the first Challenge at UTS in 2017 and has also been involved with the competition in Law Schools across the globe.

He says Neota Logic is committed to creating connections between Law Schools, Law Firms, Corporations and the pro bono community:

Facilitating access to justice through technology solutions has always been a cornerstone of the company's mission and our partnerships with universities and the pro bono community is critical in achieving that mission. We are immensely proud of our partnership with UTS and Allens over the years and the outcomes we are able to drive for access to justice through this Tech Challenge.

As part of the Challenge, teams also compete for the best social media exposure of their app development journey. Team One Heart took out this award which was presented by Acting Provost and Senior Vice-President, Professor Lesley Hitchens.

All the apps developed for the competition will be utilised by the participating organisations.

The other apps in the 2022 Challenge included:

Team Thrive (Cassandra Reilly, John Pak, Harrison Luke, Morwarid Faiz and Maria Hakim)

Worked with an organisation which supports students with learning difficulties support organisation, SPELD (NSW). They identified a need for parents of children with learning difficulties to have a centralised app which allowed them to upload their child’s specific needs and interests. The app helps parents to engage with educational service providers to seek appropriate adjustments in school settings. Watch on YouTube

Team Thread Connect (Wendy Lam, Fauzia Hussein, Zoe Said, Salvador Arce and Jason Claughton)

Worked with registered charity, Opportunities Australia which helps job-seekers including Indigenous Australians, refugees and long-term unemployed. The charity runs a mentoring program and Thread Connect designed an app to assist in matching mentors with mentees based on their interests and personality traits. Watch on YouTube

Team One Heart (Georgia Zocco, Sami Urquhart, Sai Muthukumar, Rianne Hamad and Saja Al-Zaamily)

Partnered with the Capital Punishment Justice Project (CPJP) which works throughout Asia to raise awareness about capital punishment. The team built an app to assist people to write letters of concern about the issue to politicians. The app also connects CPJP with people who have information about individuals facing capital punishment and provides information to people wanting to learn more about the organisation and donate or volunteer. Watch on YouTube

Watch:

• Team Check Protect’s Grand Final presentation (YouTube)
• The 2022 Allens Neota UTS Law Tech Challenge for Social Justice Grand Final Facebook live stream

Apply:

• UTS Law students formally signed up to the Brennan Program can soon apply for the 2023 Challenge. Refer to the UTS website for further details.