Nine legal tech innovators/innovations received awards during the recently held Africa Legal Innovation Week held at Lawyers Hub Kenya and Radisson Blu hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
During the annual conference convened by the Lawyers Hub, 32 legal tech innovators/innovations from different countries in Africa were awarded.
The Kenyan-based legal-tech start-ups and innovators awarded include: Arshitiva LLP in the category, of the law firm of the year; the tech lawyer of the year was Mercy Mutemi of Sumbi law; the most innovation solution for the justice sector award was scooped by Wakili fees start-up.
Judge of the year award was presented to Justice Professor Joel Ngugi, the court of appeal judge of Kisumu.
IP lawyer of the year award was won by Liz Lenjo of MYIP legal studio, while the In-house lawyer of the year was Caroline Simba of Jamii telecommunications.
The content creator of the year award went to Diana Nyakundi of Research ICT Africa and the firm was also awarded as the company/enterprise of the year on legal tech research, AI, and innovation.
The event brings legal technologists across the African continent together to discuss the role of technology in supporting access to justice.
“Congratulations to the winners of the Africa Legal Tech and Innovation Awards 2022. Lawyers Hub is truly honored to announce this year’s finalists for their commendable work and active efforts to advance access to justice in Africa,” the firm stated.
The theme of this year’s innovation week was ‘legal-tech and AI shaping the future of justice and the legal industry’.
During the event, the state of digital transformation and artificial intelligence adoption in African justice systems report 2022 was also launched.
This years event attracted 1200 applicatons.
In attendance were government justice and technology leaders (Judges, heads of judiciary ICT departments, digital justice transformation officers); development partners working on access to justice, rule of law, justice innovation and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.
Also present were policymakers (Africa Union Commission, parliamentarians, data protection commissioners, competition authorities, communication regulators, digital trade and identity authorities); Legal-tech innovators and ecosystem enablers, lawyers in tech including in-house counsel and partners at big Law, civil society organizations working on access to justice and justice Innovation and tech companies including mobile operators, fintech, digital ID providers and start-ups.