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Newsletter SignupWinning team of Denver’s chapter of the Global Legal Hackathon, hosted at Legal Talk Network’s headquarters, offers explanations and reviews of online legal contracts and terms in plain language.
Denver, CO – At the Global Legal Hackathon, LexLucid, a team of developers and lawyers, came together to create a useful solution to a real legal access problem. They started with the idea of a Chrome browser extension that, when terms of a contract were highlighted, would explain the concept in plain language. For example, if you were to highlight the word “arbitration,” this plugin would explain that you waive your right to a jury trial.
As the project progressed, the team realized that many people signing online contracts would be unlikely to read all the way through and ask specific questions. So they refocused on a product that allows users to simply see a summary or “fairness score” of the contract.
In the end, they came up with and built LexLucid, a product that brings attorneys and users together to provide transparency in complicated legal contracts. The online platform enables attorneys to grade consumer contracts on their general fairness so that consumers are aware of the terms to which they agree.
The LexLucid team included two lawyers, Katherine Snow and Otto Hanson, and four developers, Jeremy Church, Carlos Gochez, Chad Jolly, and Nathan Benes.
Katherine said of the experience, “It was incredibly rewarding for us to go from pitching an idea and forming a team, to producing a MVP and winning the competition. More importantly though, is that I truly believe in our idea and its ability to make the law more accessible to the public.”
For more information on the winning team, listen to Legal Talk Network’s episode of On The Road, recorded after they won. LexLucid will compete in the second hackathon round online, and the global winner will be announced on April 21 after final presentations in New York. You can check out their product now at LexLucid.com, download their plugin from the Chrome Web Store, and follow along with their progression at @LexLucid.
Not to be forgotten are the four other competing teams from Denver. The runner-up, CyberHelper, is a mobile app which aims to empower victims of cyberharassment with actionable legal tools. Forage is a simple Chrome plugin that collects selected information from the web and automatically populates legal document templates. Abax Legal is software for the legal services market that increases financial transparency. And finally, Project Muto ties in AI with blockchain technology to help people who can’t afford a lawyer find pro bono representation.
Listen to our interview with the judges, our interview with the participating women, and an introduction to all the teams, recorded on-site.
Kelsey heads up Legal Talk Network's marketing team. She blogs, tweets, Facebooks, connects with people on LinkedIn, publishes tons of podcasts and listens to even more.
