The LTL is one of the key outputs of two Law, Technology and Access to Justice Conferences organized in 2014 and 2015 by the UMKC School of Law and sponsored by The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City. By design, those conferences brought together leading law technologists, access to law and justice advocates, and entrepreneurship educators. The LTL was proposed by its current Program Director, John Cummins, of Queen Mary University London, after being inspired by a law tech and civic tech “prototype jam,” a variation of the growing legal hackathon movement connected to an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional Law, Technology & Public Policy course launched at UMKC as a collaboration of a team of faculty there, Dazza Greenwood of the MIT Media Lab, and Jonathan Askin of the Brooklyn Law School.
The beginning of 2016 saw the initiation of a “Scoping Phase” for LTL. During that phase, and with funding from the Kauffman Foundation, an initial LTL community was formed, and an impressive initial portfolio of prototyping projects was assembled. With additional funding from the Kauffman Foundation, the Scoping Phase culminated in a two-day event at the MIT Media Lab in May of 2016 to explore and to further develop the LTL’s range of exciting legal technology, access to justice, and entrepreneurship-advancing projects.
Because of its initial success, an “Advancement Phase” began in the fall of 2016 and continued through 2017. Kauffman Foundation continued its generous support of the project, which created further growth to attract more donorship. UMKC provided financial and program management support for projects led by innovators at multiple academic institutions in the U.S. and abroad. Both UMKC and the Kauffman Foundation made it possible for the LTL to become what it is today. The LTL portfolio currently includes over a dozen projects that involve project leaders from eleven universities law schools, participation by faculty and students from fifteen additional academic institutions, and several industry collaborators and other organizations.
Building on its successes to date, LTL’s three principal objectives heading into the future are to:
- Expand the LTL Community, in all key components—faculty, and students from multiple disciplines; partnering networks involved with entrepreneurship and innovation, people-first approaches to developing and deploying new technologies, digital equity, and social justice; law firms; tech industry partners; and sponsoring/funding partners.
- Broaden the LTL Projects Portfolio and bring the existing projects to a level of maturity where they have had a demonstrable impact.
- Disseminate policy papers generated by the LTL Community relating to law, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
LTL Prototype Jam - MIT Media Lab in May of 2016
Original organizers/founders are John Commins, Tony Luppino, Ellen Suni, Dazza Greenwood, and Jonathan Askin.