Interdisciplinary Innovation at the Justice Hack

What does “hacking for good” mean to you?

To the sixty participants in British Columbia’s largest access-to-justice hackathon, it meant answering a call to action: to collaborate across disciplines and create innovative legal technology tools, all within a condensed 24-hour sprint. The Justice Hack, held at McCarthy Tétrault’s Vancouver office in late October, brought together lawyers, law students, software developers, designers, and community advocates to reimagine how technology can serve as a force for good. The result was an inspirational demonstration of how interdisciplinary innovation can unlock new solutions to increase equity in access to legal supports.

A Positive Vision of AI in the Legal Profession

At a time when AI is often met with skepticism in access-to-justice circles, the Justice Hack offered a refreshing counter-narrative. Rather than dismissing AI as a threat to conventional practice or merely an efficiency booster for dominant players, participants embraced it as a tool for empowerment. The teams showed how AI tools can extend the reach of legal services, reduce administrative burdens, and meaningfully improve client experiences and outcomes. The concepts developed by participants illustrated AI’s potential to be a force for good in the legal system, when it is shaped by ethical and professional judgement.

How a Hackathon Can Help Us Rise to the Challenge of Access-to-Justice

For many legal professionals, the term “hackathon” may seem inapplicable to a legal setting, as it conjures images of caffeine-fueled coders racing against the clock on university campuses. But at its core, a hackathon is a collaborative innovation sprint that fosters cooperation and creativity on a condensed timeline. Teams form around shared interests or challenges, contribute diverse skillsets, brainstorm solutions, and build working prototypes in a short timeframe.

The access-to-justice crisis continues to be one of the most pressing issues in the Canadian legal landscape. Individuals face barriers to navigating the legal system that range from cost and complexity, language and geographic challenges, to not knowing they have a legal problem in the first place. The hackathon format of inclusive and fast-paced innovation provided an environment for participants to create technology-based solutions to tackle these amorphous challenges. Solutions in a hackathon setting are fueled by creativity and collaboration, but unbounded by conventional ways of doing things.

Solutions Focusing on Employment & Workplace Rights

The theme of this year’s Justice Hack focused on access to justice in the employment and workplace context. Each of the nine pitches left a strong impression. Judges and observers alike were surprised by the novelty of the ideas and level of development accomplished within the 24-hour turnaround time.

Three projects stood out for their impact and potential, earning distinct awards:

The Champion’s Award recognized the team whose solution best demonstrated scope, impact, innovation, usability, and technical execution, effectively creating the greatest positive change for those navigating everyday legal problems.

Emily Martin and Andrew Munro-West received the Champion’s Award for their employment-agreement analyzer that combined AI and legal expertise to translate contracts into plain language and help connect workers with lawyers.

The Impact Award celebrated the team with the solution that best advances the principles of accessible and user-centered justice, especially in the areas of fairness, inclusion, and community well-being. This award recognized a project that makes justice simpler, more human, and more equitable, whether through technology, process, or storytelling.

The team from Amici Curiae, Jenny Gu, Mary Childs, Ian Rodriguez, Lakshay Sethi, Jade Li, and Jennifer Buckley, received the Impact Award for their multilingual voice and text-based intake tool designed to help community legal services collaborate on shared client files.

The Growth Mindset Award honoured the team that best embodied a growth mindset by staying curious, testing boldly, learning from failure, and supporting each other with honest and actionable feedback. It celebrated a team that approached the hackathon as a place to experiment, learn, and iterate.

Lachlan Deyong, Mariia Morello, Gurv Bhandhar and Tomohiro Yamamoto received the Growth Mindset Award for their guided pathway tool that helps workers route harassment complaints to the appropriate resolution process or tribunal.

Innovating into a Just Legal Future

As the legal profession navigates digital transformation, initiatives like the Justice Hackathon provide a blueprint for lawyers to lead meaningful change. By partnering with community advocates, technologists, and designers, legal professionals can co-create tools that are responsive, inclusive, and human-centered. Progress toward a more accessible legal system doesn’t require perfection. It requires humility, curiosity, and a willingness to collaborate across disciplines. The Justice Hack offered a hopeful glimpse into how collective innovation can advance legal technology in a person-centered way.

Kudos and thanks to Chair Hayley Woodin Hastings, Co-Chair Brandon Hastings, and to members of the Justice Hack Advisory Committee for creating such an inspiring event.