"Hackcess to Justice Louisiana" Hackathon Scheduled for March 21-22 The Leadership LSBA Class has partnered with the ABA Journal to present the state’s first legal aid hackathon, “Hackcess to Justice Louisiana.” The two-day event will be held March 21-22 at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. The hackathon presents an opportunity for participants to use their legal, entrepreneurial, coding and other skills to help create a technology-enabled solution for the numerous challenges faced by citizens who cannot afford a lawyer and the lawyers trying to serve them. Hackcess to Justice Louisiana will bring together legal professionals and the tech community to address specific problems faced by legal aid providers. Programmers and developers will be asked to create technological solutions to increase and streamline access to justice. These solutions could be in the form of code, software, mobile applications, websites, blogs, etc. Representatives from legal aid organizations throughout Louisiana will be on site to discuss the unique issues that they and their clients face and the types of solutions they seek. Anyone who has an idea on how to help legal aid lawyers and their clients can attend the hackathon and pitch their ideas to interested programmers. The judges will award three prizes to the winning team: $1500 to the first place submission; $1000 to the second place submission; $500 to the third place submission. 52 Businesses, a business accelerator boot camp, will also offer a week of consulting services to the winner of Hackcess to Justice Louisiana. Knowing the basics of coding is an incredibly valuable skill for any business professional, so the hackathon will also include a bonus session for those not competing. R. Judson Mitchell, chair of the LSBA ATJ Tech Committee, will present a free “How to Code” session on March 22 for anyone interested in learning more about how to program websites, games and apps. The public is also invited to watch the pitch competition and judging, which will take place at 4:30 p.m. on March 22. Click here for the full schedule of events. More information on Hackcess to Justice Louisiana, including a full description of the rules and a space to register online, can be found at: http://hackcesstojusticenola.challengepost.com/.