From 27 April to 22 May 2020, more than 50 CMS employees from a wide range of legal fields and jurisdictions took part in the "FT Innovative Lawyers Hackathon" organized by the Global Legal Hackathon (GLH) and supported by the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Programme. Among them were three CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz teams, which contributed exciting projects: they developed innovative concepts for an IP sharing platform, a sustainable travel platform and an app for reviewing contracts.
With more than 2,500 participants from over 70 countries, around 200 organisations and about 300 projects, there was great interest in this year's "Global Legal Hackathon 2020," which once again brought together lawyers, software developers, designers and business people to develop solutions to important economic and socio-political challenges. This year marking its first appearance at the hackathon, CMS was well represented with a total of seven teams, of which three project teams – with a total of around 20 team members – almost entirely comprised CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz employees from Vienna and other CEE offices.
Translating innovative theoretical ideas into practical solutions
A team led by Robert Kordić, Associate at the CMS office in Ljubljana (Slovenia), developed the concept for the IP sharing platform, which they named "Sharp". Their wide-ranging challenge was to improve the framework for the development of successful drugs and medicines for viral and bacterial diseases – i.e. to accelerate, de-bureaucratize and simplify these processes. The team's approach: sharing intellectual property on a platform whose financial conditions are acceptable to all.
Link to the "Sharp" Hackathon explanatory video.
The team led by CMS partner Gregor Famira, an expert in the hotel and leisure industry, dedicated itself to "promoting sustainable travel". They developed a concept for a platform or community that rewards its members for every sustainable purchase made in the hotel and leisure industry. The system, based on secure and transparent blockchain technology, was developed by a multi-professional team. External experts from the fields of hotel consulting and IT strengthened the CMS team in the development of this future-oriented concept.
Link to the "Greener Token" Hackathon explanation video.
Sustainability was also the focus of the third team, led by CMS Partner and CMS Sustainability Committee member Döne Yalçın. They developed the CMS Sustainability Law App, an app for contract review. The app makes it easier for corporate lawyers to keep their contracts legally compliant and to keep them up to date with the latest developments in sustainability laws. In addition to a filterable overview of sustainability laws, the app also offers push notifications of current developments.
Link to the "Sustainability Law App" Hackathon explanatory video.
Working together across borders and creating added value
"It was fascinating to see how single-mindedly all team members worked together. Thinking outside the box, innovating and creating added value – that’s the approach we take in our daily work as lawyers and it also drove us forward in this exciting project," summarized Gregor Famira. This experience of the hackathon was shared by Döne Yalçın: "We had project members from Austria, the Netherlands, Northern Macedonia, Russia, the United Kingdom and of course Turkiye. Working together with colleagues from different offices and from different departments such as legal, marketing and IT has always been an enriching experience. In this project we acted as we usually do for our clients: across national borders and cultures, combining comprehensive know-how from a wide range of legal fields, and, where necessary, in close cooperation with experts from other professional fields."
A photo of Döne Yalçın that you may use free of charge can be found here.
A photo of Gregor Famira that you may use free of charge can be found here.
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