Emilie Schwarz (on left) of Columbia Law took first prize for her Pocket VAWA app built in Neota.
Last week, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) announced the winners of the Inaugural Justice Innovation Challenge, a legal tech app-building competition for law students. The LSAC press release notes that there were “50 individual submissions and more than a dozen team submissions from law students around the country.”
Neota Logic is pleased to announce that the three winning apps were all built in the Neota platform:
- 1st Place – $15,000: Emilie Schwarz, Columbia Law 3L – Will work for Latham & Watkins in NYC next year. Had access to the Neota platform through Neota’s support of the Legal Tech Association at Columbia Law School
- 2nd Place – $10,000: Anna Stone, Georgetown Law, 3L– Requested to continue using the Neota platform this summer after completing the Georgetown spring Neota course (in which her team won the top prize, so Anna has had two recent wins using Neota)
- 3rd Place – $5,000: Talia Boiangin, Miami Law, 3L – Used the Neota platform this summer as an intern at Neota client law firm, Carlton Fields
First place was awarded to Emilie Schwarz for an online tool to help increase access to justice for immigrant domestic violence survivors.
Using the online tool, immigrant domestic violence survivors can access justice through legal information, checklists, and pre-screening for VAWA self-petitions and U visas.
In second place, Anna Stone built a web-based app that helps LGBT and non-binary people identify their medical and legal needs.
In third place, Talia Boiangin built an accessible resource guide for victims of online abuse.
The judges of these awards were:
- Judy Perry Martinez – President-Elect, American Bar Association
- Kellye Testy – President, Law School Admissions Council
- James Sandman – President, Legal Services Corporation
- Kristen Sonday – Co-Founder & COO, Paladin
- Chase Hertel – Deputy Director & Counsel, ABA Center for Innovation
- Maya Markovich – Head of Product, Nextlaw Labs
- Joshua Lenon – Lawyer in Residence, Clio
- Kristina Jones – Co-Founder, Court Buddy
- Tom Martin – Founder & CEO, LawDroid
- Nicole Bradick – Founder/CEO, Theory and Principle
- Chas Rampenthal – General Counsel, Legal Zoom
- Elizabeth Grossman – Director of Strategic and National Partnerships, Cities Team, Microsoft
- Christy Leos – Director of Operations, Internet Bar Organization
- Jake Heller – Co-founder & CEO, Casetext
The three winners did not list any traditional tech skills in their biographies for the event and were able to build their winning solutions in Neota’s no-code AI automation platform.