HiiL Justice Accelerator Examined Ukrainian Innovators

The Ukrainian tech and legal communities looked forward in anticipation of the Innovating Justice Boostcamp, an event organized by the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) and held in Kiev on September 28. After the voting stage, the best eight Ukrainian “legal innovators” that reached the semi-final of the HiiL Justice Accelerator international competition, presented their legal tech projects to the public.

Olena Vardamatska, associate at Wolf Theiss and deputy head of the UBA IT Committee, explained how the Innovating Justice Boostcamp works and presented the HiiL team.

Wilfried De Wever, the head of the accelerator head, defined the Ukrainian market as fresh and interesting. He also talked about the countries of operation, having dwelled on the selection procedure of participants, and how work with the winner is continued.

Nathalie Dijkman, justice sector advisor, opened the first session of innovators’ pitches, where AELITA Law Firm EcoSystem, EXIP: The first exchange of intellectual products, Legal Alarm: emergency legal help in one click and Legal_IT_Bot were presented

Evgeniy Bessarabov, managing partner of PSA Consulting & Management Systems, described AELITA, a professional ERP-system designed to manage a law firm/company providing professional services. According to the innovator, it is a unique platform for individual PSA-Class solutions (Professional Service Automation), which has brought together years of experience and knowledge of consultants that came out of the leading law, accounting and consulting companies.

Nataliia Riazanova, managing partner of Sion Company, introduced EXIP Internet platform for rights to intellectual property advertising, protection and disposition in any country in the world according to the norms of international law in the field of intellectual property protection. According to the speaker, this project seeks to solve two main problems. How to find an investor? Where to invest money?

Legal Alarm was presented by Valentine Pivovarov, chief  innovation officer at Juscutum attorney at law. This is an application to provide emergency legal help for people in situations when they can't choose a lawyer and can't correctly describe their location. He noted that Ukraine has more than 10,000 illegal police actions per year. This app has international potential but so far only works in Ukraine.

Anton Tarasiuk, lawyer, Law office Avokado, introduced Legal_IT_Bot, telegram messenger bot in a form of the chat game about the detective agency of cyber lawyers. The authors noticed that before HiiL, it was just an idea, while on the day of the event it had already been downloaded 50 times.

During the second session of pitching, OpenLex: litigation financing, Rate Your Judge App, The International Arbitration and Cryptography Centre, Pro-Bono.in.ua: a tool to connect legal & social innovators and the guest team from UAE Legal Advise Middle East were showcased.

Mykhaylo Goncharuk, OpenLex founder, presented an already operational platform with simple and accessible investments search algorithm for all types of cases.

Oleksandr Mamunya, partner, AEQUO, noted that Ukrainian courts have become a symbol of corruption and 61% of the population does not trust them. He introduced the concept of Rate your judge App, a mobile application that enables attorneys at law, legal professionals to rate and comment on the work and impartiality (or lack of) on the part of judges and courts.

Max Baryshnikov, founder of https://cryptonomica.net/#/, presented his innovation and explained its technology. According to his words, this technology makes possible legal binding and smart contracts, and makes justice accessible for people and companies from different countries of the world.

Ukrainian Hopes & Ambitions Legal Loop was presented by Vitaliy Baev. Pro-Bono.in.ua will connect NGOs with the pro bono legal aid. Partners of Pro Bono are civil society organizations and legal information and advice centers.

The guest team from UAE presented their product Legal Advice Middle East. Suzanna Kalendzhian, founder of legaladviceme.com, drew the audience attention on fact that the Middle East region has the highest percentage of emigrants and all of them are in need of legal aid. The main objectives of this platform understand local legislation, select the right lawyer for solving particular issue and to get reliable legal advice and assistance.

During the panel session Nadia Vasylieva, general manager at Microsoft Ukraine, told about the judicial reform and electronic declaring and at the end she paid attention to the necessity to introduce management of electronic documents.

Gia Getsadze, Deputy Minister of Justice, said that is necessary “to get rid of paper documents” and also drew attention to the fact that the IT sector is better developed in Ukraine than in Georgia. Mr. Getsadze also discussed the main activities of his department. According to him, this is a simplification of business registration, as well as acts of civil status, minimizing the number of licenses and other control documents and, of course, the overall reduction in regulations.

Andriy Krugliashov, head of Chesno Movement and Vladimir Flionts, Head of NGO Electronic Democracy also participated in the session.

The winner of the event and the best legal innovation of this year in Ukraine was Legal Alarm mobile app from Juscutum. The jury also gave special recognition to The International Arbitration and Cryptography Centre as a most impactful project, to AELITA Law Firm EcoSystem - as the most sustainable project, and noted the guest team from UAE Legal Advise Middle East for best presentation and extra recognition for the app Rate Your Judge.