Centre for Legal Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Focus

The centre knows a several pillars:

Information platform

The center will provide an information platform that closely monitors the latest trends in legal entrepreneurship and Legal Tech. The center provides a network of relevant parties in which the exchange of knowledge is central. The center establishes a working group where academics and market parties meet to exchange insights. Specifically for students, there are regular meetups in which themes from the work field are presented and discussed.

Education and research

Education and research are the two academic spearheads of the center. In everything we do, the relevance for the academic community is paramount. Students are entitled to information about relevant developments in the field and support in preparing for the labor market. The impactful changes that are driven by technology should be brought to the attention so that students themselves can form an opinion about the relevance for their future. Furthermore, our focus areas offer many starting points for academic research. This is also what the field requires and expects from us.

Events: Legal Tech Hackathon

Although Legal Tech is only one aspect of the more comprehensive objective of the center, a Hackathon is an inspiring and challenging form to draw attention to developments in the legal field. The first Leiden Legal Tech Hackathon will be organized in 2018. The intention is to make this a recurring event. For more information, visit www.legaltechleiden.nl.

The center will organize events several times a year around the themes Innovation and Entrepreneurship. There is also a series of master classes and a conference on the planning.

Legal startup support

There is still much potential in the field of technological developments in the legal industry. As a center, we motivate our students to come up with ideas for innovations themselves. Then we guide them in the actual establishment of the company and the development of the company. External startups can also contact us for advice. We understand better than anyone what the entrepreneurial side of the legal services looks like.

Transition in legal services

We talk a lot with in-house lawyers about what legal innovation means for them and for the organization. Many offices see developments coming in, but have no concrete idea what it will mean for them. Are the business models really going up? Which adjustments must be made in the organization? What skills should lawyers have in the future to successfully make the transition. The center wants to assist legal service providers with knowledge and practical solutions. We develop workshops and practical 'tools' for offices that want to investigate where the opportunities and threats are.