Aequo has announced its creation of the "Aequo Legal Tech Challenge," which it describes as "an annual innovation competition in legal services."
According to Aequo, "the launch of Aequo Legal Tech Challenge pursues a number of ambitious goals challenging traditional views on the provision of legal services, disrupting the legal industry through innovation and technology by creating innovation-friendly environment for legal industry in Ukraine. The key objective set by the organizers of the competition is to bring the legal services in Ukraine to a completely new level, constantly increasing lawyers’ efficiency and client care excellence."
The firm will be accepting applications describing innovative Legal Tech ideas on the firm's website by August 31, 2017. Participation is free. The proposed projects will be analyzed and evaluated by a panel of judges consisting, Aequo reports, "of the leading international and Ukrainian experts in innovation, IT, technology and law, including:
- Dmytro Shymkiv, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, innovator, Ukrainian top-manager in IT, ex-Director at Microsoft Ukraine
- Andrey Kolodyuk, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA), venture capital investor, cofounder and managing partner of AVentures Capital
- Igor Mazepa, CEO of Concorde Capital, investment banker, Chairman of the Board of the Price of the State's Business Council, member of Ukrsotsbank Supervisory Board
- Marina Vyshegorodskikh, Vice President of Culture, Communication & Organisational Development at Ciklum. Supervrisory board member of BrainBasket Foundation
- Taras Polishchuk, Co-founder and CTO of the best travel start-up 2016 – TripMyDream, development engineer in IT with 10 years of experience
- Denis Lysenko, Managing Partner at Aequo. For over 15 years Denis has been acting for foreign investors (strategic players, private equity, banks and other lenders) in cross-border transactions
Following this analysis, a bootcamp involving a presentation of ideas, keynote speakers, and the announcement of the winner will be held on November 11, 12, 2017. The winner will receive USD 20,000, along with "access to the leading legal and IT professionals, opportunities to attract investments for project development, and much more."
“We are passionate about legal innovations, invest in Legal Tech in Ukraine, and believe that AEQUO Legal Tech Challenge will be a unique platform to generate ideas that will help to provide high-quality legal services to clients in a more convenient way and for a fair price," commented Aequo Partner Anna Babych. "It is the place where legal services meet talents from other spheres, fostering disruptive innovations that change the market for the better,” comments."
