23,000 people brought together.
51 candidates.
6 recipients.
​​​​​​​One Asia-Pacific.

After months of planning, nominating, voting and judging, we're proud to bring the inaugural ALITA SOLIA Awards - Asia-Pacific's first legal innovation and technology awards - to a successful close!

After an exciting round of voting and close assessment by our esteemed judges during TechLaw.Fest 2021, we're pleased to present our ALITA Main Awards winners for 2021:

• Lower The Bar: Recipient of Legal Technology Entrant Award 2021

• InSync Evidence Platform - DR Transformed: Recipient of Legal Transformation Award 2021

• Lower The Bar: Recipient ofTech-cess to Justice Award 2021

They join the winners of the People's Choice Categories as our inaugural award recipients of the ALITA SOLIA Awards 2021 - congratulations!

Asia-Pacific coming together as one

Besides celebrating our winners, we also celebrate our wins as a community. As the first celebration of the Asia-Pacific legal innovation and technology industry's innovation, daring and purpose, the Awards show even the toughest skeptics that the sparks amongst us are worth cheering on, and that our community is at its finest when we unite together.

The Awards also saw an amazing reception. It brought together over 20,000 people online. Organisations from over 20 jurisdictions around the world threw their hats in the ring, from the humblest teams to large law firms. This inspires us to want to do even better for the community in the Award's next edition!

The people who made it happen

We'd like to thank our esteemed judging panel, comprising Justice Lee Seiu Kin (Judge, Supreme Court of Singapore), Mary O'Carroll (Chief Community Officer, Ironclad, Inc.) and Mark Beer, OBE (Co-Founder, Seven Pillars Law), for their support, time and keen eye for thoroughly ensuring the quality of our award recipients!

We'd also like to thank our partners: Linklaters and CLOC (Gold Partners), Clifford Chance (Silver Partner), TechLaw.Fest (Event Partner), Prophet.ru (Website Partner) and Skolkovo Legal Tech (Outreach Partner) for supporting us in making the event possible.

Most of all, we'd like to thank all 51 candidates for stepping up to the plate and inspiring us all with your amazing projects, and to all voters for cheering your favourite teams on. The buzz generated is what really made the Awards come to life!

The saying goes: "All good things must come to an end". But in ALITA, we believe otherwise -- we're only just getting started. Thank you all once again, and we'll see you at an even bigger and better ALITA SOLIA Awards 2022!

For the Asia-Pacific,

ALITA.

Announcing our inaugural winners of the People's Choice categories for the ALITA SOLIA Awards 2021

Following a long journey of nominations and voting, ALITA is pleased to announce the recipients of the People’s Choice categories for the inaugural ALITA SOLIA Awards 2021!

At the outset, we wish to thank all nominees for your commendable performance. Over the course of voting, the ALITA SOLIA Awards platform registered over 21,000 impressions and thousands of votes — a sheer testament to the spread and reach of the clarion call of legal innovation in the Asia-Pacific. This certainly bodes well for the future of our region’s legal innovation industry.

To nominees that did not win this time, please let this take nothing away from the good work you have accomplished. If anything, it merely shows the room available for your work to reach, touch and shape, as well as the potential markets for growth. The Asia-Pacific eagerly awaits your impact!

To the winners, heartiest congratulations! This award is a testament to the impact your projects have made (and can and will make going forward). We hope you will continue to advance the mission of legal innovation in the Asia-Pacific, and work with other stakeholders big or small (including other projects who participated in the Awards!) to further transform our region’s legal industry.

Without further ado, it gives us great pleasure to announce the winners of the three People’s Choice Categories:

• Sans Silo Award 2021: Collaborate by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

• Legal Technology x COVID-19 Award 2021: InSync Evidence Platform - DR Transformed by Litigation Edge

• Legal Tech Wildcard 2021: Lower The Bar

Catch these projects as they share more about their work on the Tech Talks Stage at TechLaw.Fest 2021 next week!

ALITA Main Awards Categories

For projects in the ALITA Main Awards Categories, remember that voting ends this Sunday (19 September 2021, 11.59pm SGT) - so there's still time to collect more votes! Remember that the top two most-voted candidates will progress to the Finals at TechLaw.Fest 2021 next Friday, 24 September 2021.

For everyone else, we welcome you to join us at the Finals for the ALITA Main Awards at TechLaw.Fest, happening on 24 September 2021, 1pm SGT, and the official prize-giving ceremony later that day at 3pm SGT!

For the Asia-Pacific,

ALITA.

Announcing Our Finalists for the ALITA Main Awards Categories

ALITA is pleased to announce the finalists of the ALITA Main Awards categories for the inaugural ALITA SOLIA Awards 2021!

At the outset, we wish to thank all nominees for eagerly participating in, and supporting, the ALITA SOLIA Awards. Collectively, your projects obtained over 23,000 engagements on our voting platform! This is an amazing reach - and besides showing that everyone is a winner, it also shows the heights we can achieve when we celebrate legal innovation in the Asia-Pacific together.

The show will go on. The Finals will be held at TechLaw.Fest 2021 on 24 September 2021, at 1pm SGT, with the results announced at the close of ALITA's Innovation Dialogue Panel at 3pm SGT. Held in an innovative talkshow format, the Finals will see our Finalists engaged by our Judges: Justice Lee Seiu Kin (Supreme Court of Singapore); Mary O'Carroll (Ironclad, Inc.); and Mark Beer OBE (Seven Pillars Law).

Without further ado, it gives us great pleasure to announce the Finalists of the three ALITA Main Awards Categories:

• Legal Tech Entrant Award 2021: (1) OnPoint Law and (2) Lower The Bar

• Legal Transformation Project Award 2021: (1) InSync Evidence Platform and (2) PageLightPrime

• Tech-cess to Justice 2021: (1) Probate Helpers and (2) Lower The Bar

Want to support your favourite team? Join us at the Finals for the ALITA Main Awards at TechLaw.Fest, happening on 24 September 2021, 1pm SGT, and the official prize-giving ceremony later that day at 3pm SGT!

For the Asia-Pacific,

ALITA.

Centre for Legal Innovation Innovation Incubator Programme 
Applications open for 2021/2022 Intake

Dear Members,

On behalf of the College of Law's Centre for Legal Innovation (CLI), ALITA is pleased to share that applications are open for 2021/2022 cohort of CLI's Innovation Incubator Programme!

The Incubator is intended to be a place for law firms, legal departments, community legal centres and alternative legal service providers in Asia, Australia and New Zealand to advance innovation and change initiatives, with the support of specialist coaches over 9 months. CLI will also run a dedicated booster series to help teams settle in with the project, and position yourself to make the most of your time in the Incubator.

The Incubator is focussing on four areas for projects in the 2021/2022 Programme:

1. Building a digital strategy;

2.Client-centred design;

3. Re-defining value; and

4. Legal workforce 2025.

The Incubator is open to projects of all sizes, and at all stages of project implementation. The Incubator is also open to projects whether or not focused on technology, as long as it relates to advancing change to improve effectiveness or efficiency, removing client pain points, or experimenting with innovations.

As there is only 1 cohort per year, don't miss your chance to apply! Applications close on 5 July 2021 at 5pm AEST. Participation is free, and the Incubator will be held entirely virtually.

For more information about the Incubator, please visit here, or contact CLI at LPLab@collaw.edu.au.

​​​​​​​For the Asia Pacific, 
ALITA.

ALITA signs Memorandum of Understanding with Asian Law Students’ Association

The Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association (ALITA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Asian Law Students’ Association (ALSA).

The MoU will see the two Asian associations collaborate closely, on a regional and global scale, to promote legal industry knowledge between both organisations.

With its 17 national chapters and 12,000 students across the Asia-Pacific, ALSA is the primary regional representative body for law students across Asia. The MoU thus puts ALITA in the driving seat to spur interest in law and technology amongst Asia’s law students.

In signing the MoU, Josh Lee Kok Thong, Chairperson of ALITA, remarked, “It takes 10 years to grow a tree, but 100 years to train a person. As this Asian proverb reminds us, while it may take years to grow a legal technology industry, it will take decades to make it sustainable. It is important - no, essential - to plant the seeds of interest in the youngest members of our industry today, for them to be the legal tech eagles of tomorrow.”

Suitably, both associations witnessed the signing ceremony virtually and across borders — a fitting tribute to the cross-border collaboration of both associations under the theme of law and technology.

The Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association (ALITA) is hiring!

We’re looking a dedicated, enterprising and hard-working individual to join us on a part-time basis as our Business Strategy Manager. The Manager will be tasked to execute and realise our Steering Committee’s visions and directions, and be a key part in launching ALITA towards our next phase of development!

Given our regional nature, we’re also happy for the role to be filled and performed remotely!

If you’re looking for an opportunity to develop a regional organisation whilst managing other pursuits, and are interested in driving and coordinating the region’s legal innovation and technology landscape, we’re looking for you!

Interested candidates should send their CV and a cover letter to hello@alita.legal, explaining why they would like to join ALITA as our Business Strategy Manager and what they can bring to ALITA. We will be accepting applications until 31 March 2021.

Read below for the details of the role.

JOB DESCRIPTION FOR ALITA BUSINESS STRATEGY MANAGER

Description

The ALITA Business Strategy Manager should be a dedicated, enterprising and hardworking individual who will be tasked to execute and realise the ALITA Steering Committee’s visions and directions, thus launching ALITA towards its next phase of development. The Manager’s key tasks and prerogatives include the following:

• Identifying, creating and capturing funding and sponsorship opportunities for ALITA;

• Helping ALITA establish a robust and sustained presence in APAC through ALITA’s

  initiatives;

• Helping to organise Board of Advisor and Steering Committee meetings;

• Lead and direct the existing Secretariat, as well as to help establish the regional

  Secretariat;

• Helping establish ALITA’s corporate and governance structures; and

• Other related or incidental activities.

Pre-requisites

A candidate for the ALITA Business Strategy Manager position will be considered if he or she possesses:

• Experience seeking and capturing funding and sponsorship opportunities

• Good sense of responsibility and responsiveness

• A character of good standing, trustworthiness, dependability, and uprightness

• Ability to converse and work professionally in English

A candidate will also be given extra consideration if he or she has:

• An ability to work with people from different cultures and regions; and

• Some understanding of legal innovation and technology and the state of legal technology in the Asia-Pacific.

Other remarks

• This is a role that can be performed remotely.

• This is also a part-time role. A candidate may be employed in another role whilst holding the role, subject to the lack of any conflicts of interest, and further subject to approval from ALITA and from any other organisation(s) the candidate may be employed in.

Remuneration

• Base part-time salary: ​S$500 / month for 15 - 20 hours of work a week.

• Bonus incentive: ​5% of the amount of any financial funding/sponsorship deal that the candidate is able to acquire for ALITA (of which benefits must accrue reasonably

  immediately for ALITA).

Virtual Open Day Saw the Launch of the LTI&I and LTIC

ALITA is pleased to be a Global Partner of the Legal Technology & Innovation Certificate (LTIC, pronounced “li-tic”) which was launched at the Legal Technology & Innovation Institute (LT&I)’s Open Day on 19 November 2020. LT&I is a market leading institute to deliver practical technology training, develop understanding and awareness and increase experience of relevant legal technologies for legal practitioners across the globe. 

The Legal Technology & Innovation Certificate (LTIC) aims to bring a breadth of understanding and engagement to legal practitioners around the world to enable them to engage fully with all relevant technology.

As a global programme with an outstanding global faculty and set of partners, LTIC is designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice to enable the participants to acquire hands-on skills across a broad range of technologies. Heavily focused on functional and practical skills, LTIC will ensure that participants engage with technology and innovation use cases to pick up key and valuable skills.

LTIC has gathered an impressive team of partners ranging from big tech, including Microsoft, which will be supporting the programme by providing technology and expertise from their practitioners and clients across international markets, through to some exciting startups and legal institutions from across the globe. These include Middlesex University Dubai, which will be delivering the AI, Data Security and Big Data Analytics modules, with some excellent practical coverage from their faculty and industry practitioners. 

LTIC’s partnerships are impressive. They extend to global industry practitioners like the World Commerce and Contracting Association, which will support the programme with its participation in the Contracts Innovation module, and we are finalising engagement with numerous international law societies and bar associations to provide another layer of reach, recognition and credibility to the programme.

LTIC also features an internationally recognized Faculty which includes Mark Beer OBE, Bruno Barata, Laura Fauqueur, Mo Zain, Lucy Endel, Robert Millard, Joanne Fischlin (among others), as well as ALITA’s Steering Committee Members including Brian Tang and Josh Lee.  Some of the modules within the programme are Innovative Thinking, Blockchain, Smart Contracts, Artificial Intelligence, Responsible AI, LawTech Strategy and Legal Operations.  In all there is a selection of 20+ modules.

LTIC’s Head of Faculty is Christina Blacklaws, former President of the Law Society of England and Wales and a key player in the UK Lawtech field, Christina says, “I’m really delighted to head up the LT&I Faculty and to be involved in this exciting global project. We’ve brought together a dream team of faculty members who are truly global in their perspectives and we already have some great sponsors who also want to be involved. The LTIC is unique in that is designed for those working in law firms and legal departments to gain all the information they need, have the practical experiences that give them confidence and access to some of the most interesting technologies and practitioners through our interactive courses. I’m proud to be involved and excited about what we can achieve for the global lawtech community.”

At LTIC’s Open Day, which saw over 800 registrations, LTI&I has announced the first cohort will start in February 2021. The link to the LTIC Open Day is https://fortemarkets.com/event/ltic-open-day/.

Sign up and register your interest for LTIC by clicking on the button below.

For the Asia-Pacific,

ALITA

ALITA is celebrating its 1st birthday at TechLaw.Fest 2020 - and you’re invited.

ALITA was first launched in September 2019 at TechLaw.Fest 2019. One year on, ALITA is excited and proud to celebrate its first birthday with two events and three launches at TechLaw.Fest 2020!

Panel on the State of Legal Innovation in the Asia-Pacific 2020

2 October 2020, 4.30 pm - 6pm (GMT+8)

A year on from the signature and ground-breaking State of Legal Innovation in Asia-Pacific (SOLIA) Report 2019, the legal innovation picture globally has changed drastically. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, we have seen a significant rise in legal innovation and the use of technology in providing justice. These include the rise of virtual courts, transformational shifts to a fully-virtual mode of working. At the same time, as economies take a beating, we see both light and dark spots in the appetite for legal innovation.

Building on the goal of SOLIA to provide actionable market intelligence to key legal innovation decision-makers and players in the region, this panel will see the launch and discussion of the SOLIA 2020 Report. Featured in the discussion will include new jurisdictions, insights on legal tech investments and money flows, and how enabling policy environments can be built to take legal innovation forward – which together will help you make sense of the shifting sands in legal innovation in the Asia-Pacific. At the same time, bringing matters from 30,000 feet level to ground-level, a second panel of regional law firms will be sharing with us their breakthroughs, experiences and insights in how they have embraced legal innovation and adopted legal technologies. 

Uniting APAC’s Common Aspirations for Legal Innovation and Technology (ALITe)

2 October 2020, 6 pm - 6.30pm (GMT+8)

Closing off TechLaw.Fest 2020 will be an APAC-wide open ideation project to determine and unite common aspirations and hopes for legal innovation and technology for the region. Tapping on the Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association (ALITA)’s convening power to encourage coordination and cooperation in legal innovation, the session will give participants a say in identifying the region’s aspirations, concerns and imperatives for legal innovation and technology, based on statement submissions from TechLaw.Fest attendees over the 5 days of TechLaw.Fest.

The session will also see ALITA officially launch three new exciting initiatives for the region: the 2020 State of Legal Innovation in the Asia-Pacific Report, as well as the world’s first Legal Technology Observatory and Asia’s first Legal Innovation Strategy Toolkit.

ALITA is also launching three significant projects - including two projects-of-firsts.

State of Legal Innovation in Asia-Pacific (SOLIA) Report 2020

The SOLIA Report was first published in 2019 at Stanford University’s Future Law Conference, and then at TechLaw.Fest 2019. Building on these successes, the SOLIA 2020 Report contains several substantive improvements. These include covering new jurisdictions like Brazil, Indonesia and New Zealand, featuring updates from four regional law firms (Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Rajah & Tann and White & Case), and covering the impact that COVID-19 has brought to this sector. Much like a kaleidoscope, the SOLIA 2020 Report was made possible by contributors across APAC, and published in conjunction with the Singapore Management University School of Law, whose academic expertise was instrumental in putting the Report together. 

Legal Innovation Strategy Toolkit and Legal Technology White Paper

Launched on the basis that legal innovation flourishes best with a whole-of-jurisdiction approach, the Legal Innovation Strategy Toolkit a first-of-its-kind document that seeks to advance legal innovation regionally by providing guidance on creating a coordinated jurisdictional-level legal innovation strategy. It is accompanied by a Legal Technology White Paper that, with ALITA’s regional perspective, provides an overview of adopting legal innovation through a coordinated effort with the aid of practical and illustrative examples to mobilise action. Both the White Paper and Toolkit are intended to be guiding documents. They do not instruct; rather, they share ideas in the hopes that these are useful and instructive. They are also “living” documents, which will be evolved in line with technological, industry and societal developments.

ALITA Legal Tech Observatory

ALITA’s Legal Tech Observatory is the world’s first regulatory observatory for legal technology. Modelled after the OECD AI Observatory and the EU Blockchain Observatory, the ALITA Legal Tech Observatory provides a real-time database of legal tech players and initiatives in the Asia-Pacific. It will be a hub for actionable insights for jurisdictions and industries, with input from a broad spectrum of legal tech actors. 

At the heart of the Observatory will be an extensive directory of players in the APAC legal tech ecosystem. It will give viewers a clear picture of the vibrancy of the legal tech ecosystem in the APAC region. It also seeks to complement the SOLIA Report 2020 by allowing viewers to draw actionable insights through data dissected by jurisdiction, market research, technology and other categories. It will also house ALITA’s other initiatives, like the SOLIA Reports series and the Legal Innovation Strategy Toolkit.

We hope you are just as excited about ALITA’s involvement at TechLaw.Fest 2020 as we are!

For the Asia-Pacific,

ALITA.