Youth display potential of digital legal aid in Bangladesh

Young innovators from across Bangladesh demonstrated how technology, creativity and public-service thinking can help transform access to justice at the “Legal-Tech Hackathon 2026: Digital Legal Aid for Future” which concluded on Sunday in the capital.

The two-day national 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, said a press release.

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 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The project is supporting Bangladesh’s transition towards a more accessible, efficient and people-centred digital legal aid system, initially across eight pilot districts.

The competition attracted around 1,250 students forming nearly 250 teams from across Bangladesh, reflecting strong interest among young people in contributing directly to the country’s justice-sector transformation.

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.

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Following an initial selection process, mentoring and expert engagement, the finalist teams refined their concepts and presented their solutions before a multidisciplinary jury during the grand finale.

Beyond identifying winning ideas, the hackathon created a platform for young people to engage directly with real institutional challenges and explore how innovation could contribute to the ongoing development of Bangladesh’s digital legal aid services.

Md Monjurul Hossain, director general of Directorate of Bangladesh Legal Aid (DBLA), Law and Justice Division, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, attended the closing ceremony as chief guest.

Highlighting 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 of Democratic Governance Cluster at UNDP Bangladesh, highlighted the broader significance of investing in the ideas and capabilities of young people.

“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,” he said.

At the conclusion of the grand finale, Res Judicata Digitalis from the University of Dhaka 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 winning teams were recognised not only for technological innovation, but also for the practicality, inclusiveness and potential public value of their solutions. Their proposals demonstrated how youth-led innovation can contribute to making legal aid services more responsive, accessible and user-centred.

The hackathon forms part of the wider justice reform effort under ADLASB to place people at the centre of Bangladesh’s digital legal aid transformation, combining institutional reform, technology and innovation to help ensure that legal assistance is easier to reach for those who need it most.