Legal Tech Challenge: Students harness technology to improve access to justice
image: Yuvraj Klaassens
On 20 March, the final of the Legal Tech Challenge 2025 took place at Leiden University. After weeks of collaboration, brainstorming sessions and workshops on legal accessibility, five student teams presented their innovative legal apps to a jury.
Young innovators creating impact
The Legal Tech Challenge brings students from Leiden University and Hogeschool Leiden together with professionals from the legal and technology sectors. Their mission? To develop digital solutions that make legal services more accessible for all. Using real-life case studies taken from the municipality of Leiden, the Women's Legal Aid Centre in Leiden and VoorRecht, the teams developed innovative ideas that connect technology and law.
During the final, the teams pitched their solutions before a panel of experts, in a setting similar to the popular ‘Dragons’ Den’ format. Led by jury chair Ilse Wezenberg (P&C Business Partner at Appjection), the presentations were judged on their social impact, innovation and feasibility.
Three winning teams with pioneering ideas
After an exciting jury deliberation, the three winning teams were announced. Each unique and innovatie app makes a valuable contribution to a justice system that is more accessible and fair for all.
The first prize was won by the team of Ishana Bhadai, Lizzy Streng, Erez Wohl, Jeroen Mook, Viswajit Srinivasan and Jonathan Scholten van den Belt. They developed BenefitCheck for the municipality of Leiden. Their idea helps citizens to easily learn which social benefits and allowances they are entitled to, making financial support more accessible to those who need it most. BenefitCheck was awarded the main prize of €3,000 because it has a strong social impact, is innovative and also practical.
The second prize was awarded to Valentina Curatella, Pablo Valderrama Sanz and Maurice van der Meer for their idea VICTOR, The Terms of Service Risk Predictor. They developed VICTOR for VoorRecht. This system analyses and simplifies the complex terms and conditions of online services and helps consumers better understand the potential risks in contracts. The high potential impact on consumer protection earned this team the second prize of €1,500.
The third prize was for Monika Abol for her Legal Match idea. This is an innovative platform that makes legal help more accessible through a smart matching tool that connects users with the right legal support. The innovative and low-threshold approach of this idea was rewarded with the third prize of €500.
Valuable experience
Besides the prizes, which help the winning teams to develop their concept further, the Legal Tech Challenge offered students a valuable learning experience. The realisation that their ideas could actually have social impact was a great motivator for many to participate.
‘It was inspiring to work with a real problem from a client, instead of a theoretical assignment that eventually ends up in a drawer,’ said one of the participants. Collaborating with experts, clients and other designers not only gave students new insights, but also energy and perseverance. ‘It takes you out of the daily grind of your studies and shows you that you can achieve much more than you imagined.’
For some students, the Challenge also meant giving a new perspective to their studies. 'Studying law can sometimes be very theoretical and tough, but this challenge showed me how technology can make the legal world more accessible. I really felt I was contributing to social change.'
Join next year’s Legal Tech Challenge!
The Legal Tech Challenge 2025 proved that young innovators can shape the future of law. Would you also like to participate and make an impact next year? Stay up to date via https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/ and who knows, maybe you’ll be competing in the final next year!