Dhaka University team wins hackathon focused on digital legal aid
A Dhaka University team has won the Legal-Tech Hackathon 2026, a national competition focused on developing digital solutions to improve access to legal aid.
The two-day event “Legal-Tech Hackathon 2026: Digital Legal Aid for Future” concluded in Dhaka on 27 September, bringing together young innovators from across Bangladesh to develop technology-driven solutions to challenges in accessing legal aid, said a press release by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on September 28.
Res Judicata Digitalis from Dhaka University was awarded first place, followed by CoU JusticeLab from Comilla University as First Runner-up and Law Debuggers, an inter-university team, as Second Runner-up.
The hackathon was organised under the Accelerating Digital Legal Aid Services in Bangladesh (ADLASB) project, funded by the European Union, implemented by the Directorate of Bangladesh Legal Aid (DBLA) under the Law and Justice Division of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, and technically supported by the UNDP.
Md Monjurul Hossain, Director General, Directorate of Bangladesh Legal Aid (DBLA), Law and Justice Division, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, highlighted the importance of ensuring that digitalisation delivers tangible benefits for justice seekers.
He said, “Going digital is not just about turning paper forms into computer files. Technology must make justice simpler, faster, and accessible to everyone.”
Anowarul Haque, Assistant Resident Representative, Democratic Governance Cluster, UNDP Bangladesh, highlighted the broader significance of investing in the ideas and capabilities of young people.
He said, “Bangladesh's future will be shaped by people who can bring together knowledge with imagination, technology with empathy, and innovation with a sense of public responsibility. What we have seen during this hackathon gives us every reason to believe that those people are already here.”
The hackathon brought together students from law, computer science and information technology, business, governance, public administration and the social sciences to develop practical digital solutions to some of the challenges people face in accessing legal aid.
The project aims to support Bangladesh’s transition towards a more accessible, efficient and people-centred digital legal aid system, initially across eight pilot districts.
The competition saw participation from around 1,250 students forming nearly 250 teams from across Bangladesh.
Participants developed ideas across six thematic areas, including improving access to legal aid, responsible applications of artificial intelligence, digital case management, online dispute resolution, inclusive service delivery, and AI-supported call-centre services.
Following selection, mentoring and expert engagement, finalist teams refined and presented their ideas to a multidisciplinary jury, while engaging with institutional challenges in developing Bangladesh’s digital legal aid services.