Law firm Trowers & Hamlins welcomed over 60 participants across two cohorts for its sixth annual legal hackathon. This year’s event brought together Summer Vacation Scheme candidates and Business Services interns on the 10,000 Black Interns scheme for an immersive, time-pressured challenge designed to simulate real-world client issues and explore how AI can be used to enhance legal service delivery. Participants worked collaboratively across offices, using Gen AI tools to develop solutions that balanced efficiency, accuracy and professional judgement.
The Challenge
Teams were introduced to a fictional client scenario and tasked with using AI tools to analyse information, test and challenge outputs, and design a solution that demonstrated clear value to the client while meeting the standards of legal accuracy and judgement.
With just under three hours, teams were required to:
- Analyse complex information and identify key legal and operational issues
- Test, challenge and refine AI-generated outputs
- Design a solution that was not only efficient, but also accurate, reliable and client-ready
A key focus of the challenge was recognising that while AI can accelerate tasks, legal value lies in applying judgement; questioning outputs, identifying risks, and ensuring advice remains robust and defensible.
Judging Process
Each group presented their solutions to the judging panel which consisted of Richard Elson, Director of Information Services and Gagandeep Dadial, Senior Product Manager, Innovation and Legal Technology Team.
Outcomes
The hackathon showcased strong collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking across all teams, particularly in:
- Applying AI responsibly in a legal context
- Validating and refining outputs
- Working effectively under time pressure
The quality of the ideas and the enthusiasm of participants highlighted the powerful potential of combining legal expertise with emerging technology.
There was a winning solution from each of our cohort of vacation scheme students.
Vindy Kaur, Legal Operations Analyst at Trowers & Hamlins, commented:
"We were delighted by the energy and engagement shown throughout both Hackathons. The quality of work produced was fantastic, but just as importantly, it was clear the students were enjoying the process. It was great to see everyone fully involved and building a strong understanding of how generative AI should be used responsibly in a modern law firm."
Gagandeep Dadial, Senior Product Manager at Trowers & Hamlins, added:
"This year's Hackathon demonstrated the importance of combining technology with human expertise. It was encouraging to see participants not only using AI tools to accelerate tasks, but also applying critical thinking, legal judgement and collaboration to challenge and refine those outputs. These are exactly the skills that will be essential for the next generation of lawyers."
One of the participants added:
"One of the most valuable aspects was realising how technology and legal analysis can complement each other to produce sharper and more efficient solutions than either could alone."
The winners in the first cohort included Rohan Reddy, Simran Rayet, Felecia Ogunnuga, Gabrielle Pallinskaite and Catrina Heath. The second cohort winners were Lynette Sillo, Natalie Cheung, Tadeshola Omiteru, Nando Rodriguez, Megan Burton-Brown, Molly Ahern and Khush Sheth.
