BBA(Law)&LLB Students Win 1 of 4 World Championship Titles for Hackathon Invention
Team Decoding Law comprising three BBA(Law)&LLB students, two law students from another university, together with experienced software developers, data scientists and AI researchers was crowned one of the four winning teams in the Global Legal Hackathon.
Co-organised by Asia Capital Markets Institute and Thomson Reuters, with supporting organisations Fintech Association of Hong Kong, HKU, Cyberport, WHub, InvestHK, Korum Legal and Association of Corporate Counsel – Hong Kong, this hackathon drew entrants from 40 teams from 40 cities across 22 countries worldwide.
The team’s invention, also named Decoding Law, is a machine learning powered browser plug-in that helps people, especially unrepresented litigants, to read and understand legislation by breaking down complex legislative drafting into simple language and explaining defined terms.
The team developed their prototypes over a hectic weekend under the supervision of experienced mentors from diverse backgrounds in the local competition, and was selected as Hong Kong’s overall winner. Its efforts to improve access to justice had also gotten the attention of Hong Kong’s Department of Justice, who invited the team for a mutual sharing before they left for New York to compete with 13 teams for the world championships.
Team members from HKU (2nd to 4th from left):
Miss Sally Yiu Man Ki, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 3
Miss Alison Li Pui Wun, BBA(Law)&LLB), Year 3
Miss Edelweiss Kwok Yuet Yi, BBA(Law)&LLB, Year 3
