Initiatives
The Legal Innovation Bootcamp is designed to introduce you to the impact of technology and innovation in the legal domain. Participants in the program have an exclusive opportunity to network with diverse mindsets, explore innovation concepts and principles, and apply newly learned skills to develop potential solutions.
Why Join?
As a participant of the Legal Innovation Bootcamp you’ll enjoy opportunities to:
- – Engage with entrepreneurs, lawyers, and industry leaders;
- – Gain insights into startup culture, and the entrepreneurial journey;
- – Learn about TMU's Zone Learning community;
- – Access to top law firms and startup spaces;
- – Collaborate with students across many faculties at Toronto Metropolitan University;
- – Be awarded a certificate upon completion of the program.
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The LIZ was selected to partner with the UK’s national Innovation agency, Innovate UK (external link) . Through this partnership, seven innovative legal tech companies were selected to join Innovate UK’s Global Incubator Programme (external link) , an acceleration program for innovative UK-based SMEs. Participating companies got the opportunity to build their Canadian market plan, and bring their global legal technologies to the Canadian market.
This 6-month program gave selected companies a unique opportunity to grow and explore the potential of the Canadian Market with expert resources and guidance provided by the LIZ.
On Monday, May 15th, 2023, the LIZ hosted a conference all about AI, ChatGPT & legal services, 'Al, ChatGPT & Legal Services: Today, Tomorrow and the Days After.' The conference aimed to discuss topics surrounding advancements in AI and ChatGPT, innovative ideas in legal service delivery led by these advancements, and how we can utilize these technologies now, in the future, and beyond to provide legal services that cater to the needs of individuals, corporations, governments, and organizations while also being affordable.
Five legal and/or tech experts led the discussion, shared their insights with attendees. Speakers included Shelby Austin CEO & Co-Founder of Arteria AI, Junaid Mirza, Legal Transformation Leader at PwC Canada, Jack Newton CEO & Founder of Clio, Amy Salyzyn, law professor at the University of Ottawa, and John Weigelt, National Technology Officer at Microsoft Canada.
The LIZ Demo Lunch is a new series designed to bring together the legal industry and showcase the best new legal tech solutions from around the world.
The 100 Day Challenge looks to bring together the community organizations and resources families need when facing separation or divorce in one place, searchable by jurisdiction. We will focus on Ontario, and hope to launch 10 jurisdictions.
Justice For All: Focus on Families Facing Separation or Divorce
On Thursday, February 11, 2021, the LIZ is hosting its second Justice For All conference — Focus on Families Facing Separation or Divorce. The full-day event will look at building a better foundation and address the following question: How would you build a better approach for the families the current system leaves out, or doesn't serve effectively?
Over 80% of women, men, small businesses, and consumers do not receive the justice they have a right to. People are left in situations of danger and vulnerability. Jobs are lost. Businesses fail. Yet, the law - the legal monopoly - denies them the right to find some measure of justice where they can, even though they now have none. Ontario’s laws protect the legal monopoly; Ontario, it's time to change the law and put the people first. End the monopoly. Let the people decide.
On October 29, 2020, the Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ) will host Justice for All. International and Canadian legal leaders will discuss why opening up the legal market and expanding justice options is good for people, businesses, and lawyers. They will share their work opening up their own justice system.
The Legal Gold Rush: Unmet Legal Needs is a series of online discussions with leaders in the industry sharing their thoughts on how you can get your share of the latent 1 trillion dollars legal market.
Every week we discussed different aspects of innovating and providing consumer-focused legal services.
Lawyering From Home: Tips for mobile lawyering is a series of online discussions focused on supporting legal professionals as they adapt to working remotely.
Every week we discussed different aspects of the legal profession with experts in the industry. See more sessions on our YouTube channel
The Legal Innovation Zone’s Family Reform Community Collaboration
The Legal Innovation Zone launched a 4-month Community Collaboration initiative to reform family dispute resolution in Ontario and benefit parents and children of separating families. Over five sessions, our goal was to create and develop a faster, more efficient, more affordable, and less adversarial approach to resolving family law disputes out of court. Nearly 200 community members came together and helped us several approaches from which workable solutions/prototypes could provide better results for families.
Our Lunch and Law events provide startups and the broader TMU community an opportunity to connect with top sector specific lawyers and other legal tech leaders to learn the key concepts of starting a business.
Innovation requires change. Change requires leadership. Whether you are leading legal innovation from inside a business, law firm, or government, or building your own startup, the Leaders in Legal Innovation workshop will help you succeed.
Hear from those who know about strategies for success, and how to overcome challenges.
A Call for Startups using Artificial Intelligence in their Innovative Legal Tech Solutions
The AI Legal Challenge was a competition supported by the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General to help drive the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of legal technology solutions. The winners of the Challenge had the opportunity to compete for a total of $80,000 in seed funding, moved into the Legal Innovation Zone for 4 months and gained access to top mentors and advisors. Ontario is a leading jurisdiction when it comes to artificial intelligence and has become a hub for the development and use of legal technology in the delivery and access to legal services.
A Call for Startups with Innovative Solutions that improve access to justice (A2J) in Ontario
Delivering legal services faster, simpler and more affordably will give many more people access to those services. New products, technologies, or processes have the potential to transform legal services and make them more accessible. Unleashing the creative potential of innovators can help improve justice services for many Ontarians, both individuals and businesses.
The Ontario Access to Justice Challenge fuelled the success of six innovative Ontario startups that are building products and solutions that challenge the status quo of legal services and enhanced access to justice.
The Legal Innovation Zone, in partnership with the Law Foundation of Ontario and with support from the Ontario Justice Education Network is launching a Youth Access to Justice Initiative this Fall. It will apply technology and the law to address the access to justice needs of youth in Toronto.
We want your help in strengthening youth access to justice by designing approaches that better reach youth, provide answers to important questions and help youth navigate justice issues.
This initiative will collaborate with many of the organizations and leaders working in the youth access to justice sector and help build on the great work that they have been doing for many years.
The Youth Access to Justice Initiative wants your input in creating the building blocks that will help improve youth’s access to the legal system.
Lead Law is a quick and easy program, composed of 3 ten-minute webinars and 3 events, that offers an opportunity for currently enrolled TMU students interested in the legal sector to learn about legal innovation, engage with leaders in the sector while expanding their professional network, and apply a mindset of innovation in their future career path.
The program will run over the course of a semester, not including final exam period, and will be broken down into 3 parts. Each part of the program will have an online component comprised of webinars and will have a corresponding event at the end of the month where participants will have a chance to network with thought leaders.
The Legal Innovation Zone partnered with CBIE and Legal Aid Ukraine, introducing innovation concepts and tools to the Legal Aid professionals and legal stakeholders in the community. The workshops were based on design thinking principles and empowered over 80 participants to explore innovation within the legal aid community. Participants included lawyers, legal aid professionals, clients, as well as business and tech leaders from across the region.